mechanics are like opinions - everyone has one ;-)

[djBACh]

so my dear sweet mother who works for city hall in a lil' ville just outside of the big ville sends me and my car to the guy that does all the work on the city vehicles, says hes a nice guy, does good word, fast and at a good price - so i say what the heck and take my ride to him and tell him i need back passenger side strut replaced - it was making an awful racket and my back end is bouncing everywhere...

...good to go right?

he calls me a little while after he get the car in and up and says its NOT the strut making the racket and handling problems, its the fact that the stabilizer bushings are gone! the strut is fine. so he will fis the bushings AND it will be a cheaper repair - COOL!

so he calls me when its all done (bushings and AC recharge) and i go get the car, get an inspection done, get title and tags, do some errands - then its time to go get my girl from work so towards the highway we head...

round 50 mph noticed a slight shimmy, thing to myself could be wheel balance, slight alignment issue, any little thing...

round 60 mph - slightly more noticeable shimmy - nothing too concerning, trip to the tireshop for rotations and balancing...

65 mph and up - the back end is bouncing, im getting sick to the stomach, people are pulling up next to me to 'warn' me about the erratic wheel *sigh*

im going to the tire shop tomorrow to have that wheel checked, make sure its balanced, the belt isnt busted in the tire, etc etc...

...and if its that d*#n strut im going to make a stink about it.

in the meantime - if anyone else has any other thoughts on what may cause (just in case the strut is good) this i will certainly listen

 

[codypka]

i have no idea what could be causing your trouble but i share your frustration with mechanics. In my 5 years of car ownership, trying out probably 10 or so different mechanics i have still yet to find a single competent mechanic that can perform even the simplest jobs for anything short of highway robbery. it is extremely frustrating. I would very much like to find a shop i trust that i can always take my car to

aircougar performance is just too far away to go for everthing

 

[SVTGT350]

..........yet to find a single competent mechanic that can perform even the simplest jobs for anything short of highway robbery

I'm sick of hearing this highway robbery BS, if you are tired of paying it go get the training yourself and spend the money on all the tools yourself maybe after you have spent 50k on tools and training for one of the most difficult jobs out there you might understand that we need to make a living and that doesn't happen giving ???? away.

 

[mnewxcv]

I'm sick of hearing this highway robbery BS, if you are tired of paying it go get the training yourself and spend the money on all the tools yourself maybe after you have spent 50k on tools and training for one of the most difficult jobs out there you might understand that we need to make a living and that doesn't happen giving ???? away.

I was quoted $419 for replacing a DPFE sensor and upstream o2 on the front manifold. I didnt go to that guy...

 

[SVTGT350]

I was quoted $419 for replacing a DPFE sensor and upstream o2 on the front manifold. I didnt go to that guy...

Motorcraft DPFE sensor $67 on Rock Auto
Motorcraft upstream O2 sensor $65 Rock Auto

Add parts mark up because I need to make money on the parts as well, plus labor to diagnose (because your scantool says its bad isn't a diagnosis) labor to install parts, labor to verify the repairs, and then provide a warranty for the repairs because if your check engine lamp comes back on your not gonna want to pay for it even if it is something else that failed on an 11 year old car.

$419 sounds about right at least at my shop.

 

[mnewxcv]

Motorcraft DPFE sensor $67 on Rock Auto
Motorcraft upstream O2 sensor $65 Rock Auto

Add parts mark up because I need to make money on the parts as well, plus labor to diagnose (because your scantool says its bad isn't a diagnosis) labor to install parts, labor to verify the repairs, and then provide a warranty for the repairs because if your check engine lamp comes back on your not gonna want to pay for it even if it is something else that failed on an 11 year old car.

$419 sounds about right at least at my shop.

I guess I'll take your word for it. It just made me realize that a lot can be saved doing the little things myself, which is what I'm going to try and do from now on.

 

[Robert S]

Most likely different problem, but I had something like you are describing. Turned out it was the tire itself. I found this out after the tread broke off with me doing 75 down the freeway at 11pm. Luckily no one was around and I was able to pull to the side.

Broke off the bumper on the pasenger side rear and marked up the side of the car something nice. Little elbow grease took it off, and some glue held the bumper on.

 

[Mywhip]

I know what you mean. I actually found a backyard mechanic about 20 minutes away from me, that does great work. I was looking to get my water pump replaced, and i had my regular mechanic quote me at 500$+. So i ended up calling this guy, and he did it for 250, parts and all. So backyard mechanics are your friend. They don't have employees (generally) and don't have that fancy garage to pay for.

 

[stilov]

In my right now...I had a lady that had a "backyard mechanic" replace a waterpump to save 100 bucks...the guy broke off a bolt inside the intake manifold...completely messed it up trying to pul it apart. And he broke the tip off a center punch that fell inside the intake and down to the piston.
Now she needs a new motor and is paying quite a lot for the risk of savings a bit of money.

I agree on parts markup as well.

The misconception is if a shop charges 90 bucks an hour...they make 90 bucks an hour. The people that complain will always complain...but there is a lot of overhead involved in hourly rates depending on how the shop is set-up.

 

[JPS98SVT]

Well, in my case...I had a steering rack replaced 18 months ago. Picked the car up, the shop said that everything was excellent. Pump was making a whining noise which the shop said was fine and it will go away in a day. Had to replace the pump two days later at a different shop. 18 Months later, the steering rack puked. Seals were shot. I question whether this guy actually flushed the system. $900 for a rack job and 18 months later, spent the same again..This time with a lifetime warrantied rack. Have no idea why mechanics use these garbage parts, charge double for these parts, don't tell you it's remanned, and don't back up the reman with a better than 12 month parts warranty (using carquest or some poor excuse of a joker parts company. Would any of you reading this want to spend another grand on a steering rack you replaced less than two years ago? IT IS highway robbery with some of these jokers and they don't seem to care. They just want their $90 an hour. I seriously question whether some of these guys actually do care about the service they are doing and just not the money. My friend is an Infiniti mechanic (who used to work for three different gas station garages) and he says that most are just in it for the money, period.


..adding to the list..had wheel bearing replaced, puked two months later. (Goodyear Service Center)
...Alignment wasn't done right the first time. (Goodyear Service Center)
...Warped brake rotors put on..Had to go back. (Goodyear Service Center)
...Had alternator pigtail spliced and soldered, now have flickering lights..had to buy a new pigtail. (didnt happen before the splice and solder on the original pigtail).
...NTB not clearing my rocker panels for their lift, crushing my passenger door sill in about 3/4 of an inch.
...one mechanic going too high on his lift causing the roof of the car to hit the top of the lift.
...Goodyear tires put on Inside out (BJ's - Monroe Service Center)

It goes on and on, that is why I am splicing my new pigtail, replacing my passenger LCA, and doing my A/C Condenser myself this holiday weekend and did my wife's Taurus Brakes over (pitted and warped rotors - 1 year) last weekend.

I've officially had it with these Main Street mechanics...That $90 an hour has cost me more in body work and lost time than what I had initially spent. Most jobs are now being done in the driveway with a better than 12 month warranty. The one's that I can't do, I am buying the parts at Advance Auto with a lifetime warranty and up to $45 an hour labor reimbursement if you have a shop receipt for the install. Seems like a much better deal to me considering a lot of these remanned parts go just after that 12 month warranty expires. It seems that Advance Auto has thought about this issue well. Taking the customers out of the shops to buy parts in order to get a customer base by offering these warranties. It worked like a charm with my remanned alternator last week that was bad out of the box, and switched out with a new alternator). Aircougar will now be getting my business for anything I can't do. (even though he is about a hundred miles from where I live). Sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourselves. Case in point, with the remanned alternator, I got a sorry from the store. Didn't get that with the rack. Just got a "can't help ya, you need to pony up another grand, even though your dad, wife, brother, and mom (who bakes him freakin coffee cakes) comes to me, by the way, I think you're an idiot, it could be a rear main seal and your better off junking the car and what makes you think the fluid is coming from the rack". Well idiot, the fluid was no higher than the inner tie rod, all over the inner CV, and it smelled and looked like Power Steering fluid. You looked at it, and you just confirmed it was the seal. How stupid do you feel now? BTW, told me not to believe the internet, even sites like this. He now has a nice mar of a review on his Superpages listing.

 

[Mywhip]

In my right now...I had a lady that had a "backyard mechanic" replace a waterpump to save 100 bucks...the guy broke off a bolt inside the intake manifold...completely messed it up trying to pul it apart. And he broke the tip off a center punch that fell inside the intake and down to the piston.
Now she needs a new motor and is paying quite a lot for the risk of savings a bit of money.

The only reason i went to him is because my mom works with a lady at work that uses him to fix her cars all the time. She drives a Cadillac and has never had any problems with the repairs.

 

[enduro]

Just like everything else there are good mechanics and bad mechanics. My experiences in getting the 'tour serviced have been so overwhelmingly negative I do almost everything on my car now.

For example, my radio kept blowing fuses awhile ago. I took it to 3 different mechanics all of whom were pretty much useless. I threw away about $200 just to have some idiot replace the fuse and do nothing else. 2 of the douches even insisted the problem was with the aftermarket HU and wouldnt consider anything else. Finally I found a good mechanic who actually did some work and traced the fault to a short in the trunk.

Another example - replacing the control arms. 1st mechanic wanted $1000 just for the arms themselves (300% markup) on top of 6 hours labor (6 x 120/hr). So $1700 to replace the arms? The local stealership would have been even higher.

The SVT I just bought, the garage (Crappy Tire) totally raped the previous owner for $900 just to replace the front brakes. Even worse, the effen pinhead mechanic put the wrong calipers (E1) on the E0 brackets and then charged the kid an extra hour labor just to "make it work". "Making it work" consisted of grinding the crap out of one of the brackets and wedging a bunch of washers between the bracket and caliper on the other side.

I could go on and on, but suffice is to say that competant/honest mechanics are few and far between. In my area I'd say less than 20% are even capable of working on Contours.

On the plus side, after 5 years of Contour ownership, I've acquired quite an extensive tool collection.

.And .... no offence to any of the "good" mechanics out there. I know there are lots out there and hopefully they make a good living.

 

[IRingTwyce]

In my area I'd say less than 20% are even capable of working on Contours.

A couple of weeks back I took one of our company trucks to a local mechanic for service. Got to chatting with him over some SUVs he had for sale. While talking about a wiring issue on a Bronco II he was selling, the topic of my pre-98 Contour wiring came up. The mechanic told me he emphatically refuses to work on ANY Contours. Said they're just too difficult to work on (space-wise) and he just doesn't want the hassle. :laugh: Gave me a good chuckle.

On the plus side, after 5 years of Contour ownership, I've acquired quite an extensive tool collection.

It really doesn't take too long to build up a good tool assortment. Then again, you can pretty much disassemble this entire car with a handful of tools. Screwdriver, a couple of metric sockets, a breaker bar, and a few Torx sockets/drivers will pretty much do the job!

 

[striker2]

djBach, if it turns out to be anything but the tire let me know. just buy the replacement parts and shoot me a PM and we can work out a time for you to bring it by my place and ill help you R&R the parts.

 

[icysvt]

djBach, if it turns out to be anything but the tire let me know. just buy the replacement parts and shoot me a PM and we can work out a time for you to bring it by my place and ill help you R&R the parts.

Ha do what this guy says! You will fall in love with his garage!!!!:drool:

 

[djBACh]

Most likely different problem, but I had something like you are describing. Turned out it was the tire itself. I found this out after the tread broke off with me doing 75 down the freeway at 11pm. Luckily no one was around and I was able to pull to the side.

Broke off the bumper on the pasenger side rear and marked up the side of the car something nice. Little elbow grease took it off, and some glue held the bumper on.

ding ding ding! we have a winner!

it was in fact the tire...

...the mechanic was closed that friday and through the weekend for the holiday - SO, since i still had hundreds of miles to drive that weekend AND that i was rather upset about the brutal ride i took it to the local walmart where i bought the tires at (had a 40k mile warranty) and had them look at it. they took both back tires off - checked them, said the tires were fine (the one i was concerned about in particular) and just needed balancing (which they did) and sent me on my merry way...

...now the balancing fixed the violently bouncing wheel - but not all the roughness in the ride from that wheel. i still wasnt happy so i kept going on to the right people to get the right answers. not only was i concerned about the mechanic, i certainly didnt trust the competance of the young man at walmart who was working on my tires...

...so i took it to my guy at the local goodyear shop for a look at the tires and a 2nd opinion on the strut AND tires. and lo and behold! both he and his manager got it up on the lift, brought me out to the bay and showed me (above all things) that the faulty tire in question had a big damn screw sticking out of it AND the front tires were balding on the inside AND the drivers side front was seperating from the belt! eegad!

so they let it down and i took it right back to walmart and got the issue fixed with them. then took it to a shop and bough a couple good used michelins to roll on til i can put some new rubber AND an alignment on the car.

now it rides just like the good old days!!!

thank god i just didnt take it upon myself to go barkin at the original mechanic when he didnt do anything wrong.

needless to say ill be taking my car back to him