Cars suck

[gmcunni]

thanks for the reminder. we inherited a 97 Camry from my mother-in-law that my son will be driving. need to have it checked (brakes are soft) before we turn it over to him. tho it only has 70K miles on it i'm expecting a hefty bill to get it fixed up.

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

had all the 80k stuff done, needed all new plugs, some tubes/hoses were shot, brakes and rotors, switch for the trunk latch, some other stuff that needed fixing as well.....running great....

 

[WJenness]

had all the 80k stuff done, needed all new plugs, some tubes/hoses were shot, brakes and rotors, switch for the trunk latch, some other stuff that needed fixing as well.....running great....

It's an '02 3.0 IIRC, right?

-w

 

[Glenn]

I just had a drag link end on the Jeep replaced...and the rear diff cover re-RTV'd. I hate paying for stuff that I know I can do. But I just don't have the time. I did do all the brakes on my own awhile back, so that saved some money.

Some day, I'd love to have a garage with a lift. That would make life 10x easier.

$3500 for the Audi service is pricey! Hell, I had a new (used) 3.0 V6 put in our A6 for $500 less. ;-)

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

2002 1.8t avant, sport pkg

 

[Riverskier]

Not big on service myself....

2005 Honda Civic with 101,000 miles. Tires, oil, and a new battery are it so far. Car still stops, so I am happy with the breaks. Thinking about replacing the timing belt though, so it doesn't snap and kill the engine.

 

[Geoff]

Another reason why I don't drive a VW. Get a Honda.

Yeah, but then I'd have to drive a Honda every day. No thanks.

My "Cars suck" thing is referring to my Mountaineer. It's my winter beater and mostly only goes from my condo to the ski area parking lot most days and to the beach or dump in the summer. 500 really nasty miles per winter that I really don't want to subject my daily driver to. It had a 100K extended warranty so it never cost me much of anything to run. I had a huge amount of work done to it at 99K miles that didn't cost me anything. It now has 107,000 miles. Nothing wears out but the sensors and rubber parts die from sitting around.

 

[smitty77]

seems odd to me then that value based brands such as Hyundai have chains in all their cars

Belts are also used because they are quieter than chains, or so I've been told. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

Hyundai backs their with a 100k warranty, so my guess is they're trying to avoid potential conflicts of a "wearable item" (the belt) breaking at 80k and blowing the motor. I can just hear a class action lawsuit developing over that one.

They're also trying to build a reputation of quality. My dad has had one for 5 years now and has had no issues to speak of. Considering he paid under $14k for the car, I'd say he's way ahead of Honda and Toyota owners.

And I'm not drinking the Toyota quality Kool-Aid. My company-provided Tacoma already needs the heater fan replaced. After 8 months and 16k and it sounds like a hamster wheel behind my dash and I already have a few interior rattles developing. At least the gas pedal works!

 

[from_the_NEK]

My company-provided Tacoma already needs the heater fan replaced. After 8 months and 16k and it sounds like a hamster wheel behind my dash and I already have a few interior rattles developing. At least the gas pedal works!

Have you cleaned the cabin airfilter that is accessed through the glovebox? I have to do it every fall since dried leaves and pine needles pile up in there. Last year I waited too long and a hole developed in the filter and let a bunch of crap fall into the fan well. It made the fan sound awful. After replacing the filter and keeping it clean, I've had no issues. Note the Design of the filter access door is crap. If there is a lot of material piles on the filter, there is no space to pull the filter out without the edge of the opening scraping the material off into the fan well and it is hard to get that crap out :angry:.

 

[marcski]

Audi dealers' service is ridiculously expensive. After they charged me some absurd amount for a brake job, I stopped going there and have been back at my indy mechanic...Have saved a bundle since then. He also recently purchased the computer calibration machine for the rear brakes...without which you can't do a rear brake job.

 

[bvibert]

Another reason why I don't drive a VW. Get a Honda.

You don't drive a VW because Geoff's Mercury needs some new sensors? I don't see the connection?

 

[dmc]

Yeah, but then I'd have to drive a Honda every day. No thanks.

Thanks for saying that...

I drive VW because it's a great car to drive..

 

[dmc]

I just got ass raped on a new water pump.

That had to hurt...

 

[smitty77]

Have you cleaned the cabin airfilter that is accessed through the glovebox? I have to do it every fall since dried leaves and pine needles pile up in there. Last year I waited too long and a hole developed in the filter and let a bunch of crap fall into the fan well. It made the fan sound awful. After replacing the filter and keeping it clean, I've had no issues. Note the Design of the filter access door is crap. If there is a lot of material piles on the filter, there is no space to pull the filter out without the edge of the opening scraping the material off into the fan well and it is hard to get that crap out :angry:.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check it out! It only does it on the lowest 2 speeds, and not 100% of the time, more like 90%. If I turn it on high for 15-30 seconds and then back to low it will stay quiet for anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. My initial guess was a bearing in the fan, but I'll try the easy route first before I have them pull apart the dash - that's a sure recipe for squeaks and rattles later on.

 

[SkiDork]

That had to hurt...

LOL. It was a reference to "Gran Torino"

 

[jaja111]

No, its supposed to be at 100k on the Outback. I had it in for 60k service (at 59k in case there was warranty stuff) and they noticed a small oil leak. Opened it up and saw some wear on the timing belt while they were there and replaced it all under warranty.

Actually, oddly enough, its supposed to be replaced at 105k miles. I know this only because I did three on my WRX I had shortly before my current Outback XT. Its actually not that bad of a job if you do it yourself, affording the opportunity to flush the coolant and change the serp belt too. If I still had a warranty though, at 105k, 210k and 286k (needed crank and cam seals so I did it early anyhow) on the Impreza, I would have had the dealer do it - but now I know they would have hit me with 15 other repairs each time.

All these repair bills on this thread point to one thing - buy a shop manual. So much of this stuff is easy these days. In order to build the car faster and cheaper the side effect is that it is faster and easier to maintain it... most of the time. Alot of the dealer service horror stories equate to thievery. $180 for rear pads? No more than $90 with rotors for parts at a store. $900 for t-belt and "other stuff"? They ripped you off by telling you that there was a significant savings to do quasi-preventative maintenance of things that were not broke. The rattling heater blower fan? Take that to the dealer and they're gonna tell you that you needed the fan, the heater core, a complete flush, and "since we're in there anyhow" new rod bearings + the 12 hours of labor to account for the tech's 25 bong hits he could afford to take 'cause the 15 minute job was a cakewalk all because of a dried leaf flapping on the squirrel cage like a playing card in a bicycle.

Dealerships exist in an enforced culture of mandatory screwing of the customer if there is even the slightest hint that they can get away with it. If you're a woman they'll charge you $200 to replace your blinker fluid in a heartbeat. If you have a high-end car, they'll blow as much smoke as possible up your ass to make you believe that high end cars need high end service even though its still basically a box with four wheels and an engine. Check engine light and you didn't scan it yourself? "Well sir, we seem to have an DTC code of 'replace every sensor over $100 and change every fluid immediately'". I work in this business and know for a fact that the 99 bad apples in the lot of 100 have ruined the integrity of any dealership of any manufacturer in this country today.

Rant over.

 

[mondeo]

If you're a woman they'll charge you $200 to replace your blinker fluid in a heartbeat.

I was able to talk my mechanic down to $50 for the replacement wiring harness smoke for my Triumph. He tried to charge me $125 for that. Despicable.

I've got 80k on my car now, not looking forward to the timing belt in a year and a half. Spooks me a little bit with an interference motor, screw up and cost savings is completely destroyed, and then some. Should probably do shocks soon. Some of the stuff I'd like to have a backup car for, so it wouldn't kill me to have a car down for a couple days. Like when I snapped a bolt off in a brake caliper at 12:30AM Friday morning.

 

[WJenness]

I've got 80k on my car now, not looking forward to the timing belt in a year and a half. Spooks me a little bit with an interference motor, screw up and cost savings is completely destroyed, and then some.

I had the same fear...

However, with everything you can read / watch / learn on the internet... It really isn't that bad.

I've done two now (my girlfriend's Jetta over the summer, and last weekend my buddy and I did his S4), the first one is definitely scary, but after that, they just get easier.

Find as many how-tos and DIYs before you do it, go slow and know what you're looking at and you'll be fine.

-w

 

[bvibert]

Spooks me a little bit with an interference motor, screw up and cost savings is completely destroyed, and then some.

I don't know how hard it is to get at on your car, but once you get to the belt replacing it is usually easy. Just pay attention to the timing marks, make sure everything is lined up correctly before you button everything back up and start the motor. It's not rocket science, it just requires paying a little attention, and sometimes a special tool or two. That is of course assuming you have a decent service manual that tells you what to be looking for.

I'm going to have to do mine soon, the only reason I'm not looking forward to it is I have to take the entire front of the car off (bumper, grill, radiator, etc..) to get to the timing belt on the front of the motor. I don't usually (ever) pay to have service done, but I made sure to have the timing belt done before picking up the car at the place I bought the car from a few years ago. I wasn't anxious to tear into a new (to me) car right away...

I've done the job on other interference motors before with no issues.

 

[mondeo]

I don't know how hard it is to get at on your car

One great thing about a flat-4 is everything in the engine compartment is pretty easy to get to.

I mean, the alternator stares you in the face when you open the hood. Can't really ask for anything more than that.