Quote:
Originally Posted by ameryki
[*]Car radiator has a bad leak and I have been told the radiator and hose's need to be changed labor alone $250 local car shop[*]Power Steering pressure hose is leaking with return hose leaking at the clamp about $600 with parts[*]Car does not start unless it is jumped about $100 if it is battery[/LIST]
|
This is the problem with people who don't know a lot about cars and don't know a trusted mechanic. It is too expensive to own a car when little things go bad because you don't know if or how to fix them yourself and people can take advantage of this. When you walk in the door of any shop they size you up as a customer who they can make money off of. If they don't find anything wrong with the car they don't make any money. The more you agree to fix...the more they make.
Here are my concerns.
1. Radiator leak. Is it really leaking...or just the hoses. Radiators don't leak if properly maintained (fluids replaced every couple years...because radiator fluids have anticorrosion chemicals in them.) If you didn't take care of it...or it took a hit...it can leak. Best to replace it with a junkyard radiator. Having said that, it just might be the hoses. The average person could replace the hoses in maybe 1/2 hour...and hoses shouldn't cost more than $30 bucks.
I'm not sure about the fan...you should be able to hear it kick on, after the car has warmed up. I'd first deal with the hoses. Always start cheapest first.
2. This price seems outrageous. Power steering hoses shouldn't be too expensive...though replacing them requires a bit more gymnastics, as they aren't quite as easy to get at as the radiator hoses.
3. You can pick up a decent battery at Walmart for $60 bucks and it is real easy to put it in yourself.
P.S. My sister needed a car for work and was really hurting so the rest of us, with jobs, pooled our money and bought her a 10 year old Mercury Villager with 100,000 on the ticker. I was familiar with the car because I used to own one and new they were solid (my neighbor is still driving his with 160,000 miles on it.) Her first inspection the shop tells her she needs a new catalytic converter...and needs a couple other things to pass inspection...it will cost more than the car originally did...over $1,400. I look at it. The flex coupling is rusted through. $200 dollars to have a new flex coupling welded to exhaust. Couldn't find anything else stopping it from passing emissions. Car is back on the road.
If you don't know a good mechanic find one. It is mandatory to keep an old car on the road, reasonably. Talk to your friends with older cars. Word of mouth is how the good guys stay in business (as opposed to taking as much money as possible from each customer that walks through the door.) Another thing, which a good mechanic will know, you rarely put new or oem parts on an old car. It is silly to put a brand new starter on a car that has 100,000 miles on it....same with factory original shocks. The new starter and shocks will outlast the car. When something really serious goes wrong, you will have a junkyard scrapper with thousands of dollars worth of almost new part on it. Save that money for your next car. Secondly, basic maintenance is every bit as important on an old car as a new one...if not more so. Change oil regularly. Change radiator fluid every two to three years...longer if you use the newer, better stuff. Know how your car sounds and feels. When it sounds or feels different figure out what is going wrong. This can stop a minor repair from becoming a major one. For example you might only have to replace the front wheel bearing, but if you wait, and it seizes to the hub, you will be stranded somewhere with a towing bill and hub to pay for.
Linear Mode
