Car repair question...

[Octavious]

I brought my car in to get a estimate on how much it would cost to repair my car because it's stalling. It took them 3 days before they gave me the estimate and it's a laundry list of items he says needs fixed. I told him that since the car is so old I need to think about if I'm going to repair the car. He wants 270 bucks for just looking at the car... 80 for the tow there since the car wouldn't start which is fine... 70 for running diagnostics and 120 bucks for time spent checking it out. They never mentioned the labor part until I asked to take the car... Is this a normal charge or are they just trying to screw me?

I'm so annoyed right now as I wanted to take it to another place to check it because the repairs are going to cost 1,400 bucks which I don't have... But if I'm going to dump another 200 bucks having someone else look at it it's going to get crazy expensive.

[ChaoZ]

All he probably did was take out an OBD meter and pull the code. That being said, I've seen more outrageous garage charges than this.

I'm no expert, but it may help if you post the list of items the mechanic claims is wrong. Somebody here may know more.

[Octavious]

This is all the stuff not including the timing belt which I was going to get done as well which would be 120.12 parts 242.87 labor...

Parts...
Gaskets 20.00
02 Sensor 121.24
02 Sensor 89.20
TPS Sensor 65.00
Vent Valve 55.35
Gas Cap 21.00
Wiring 71.98
Spark Plugs 12.64

Labor
Repair Exhaust Gaskets 67.46
Sensors, Gas cap and vent value 224.88
Tune up 67.46
Scanning ECM for codes 69.95

[Lassr]

If you don't know the mechanic then it is normal for you to pay them for their time if you do not get it repaired. If you decided to get the repairs then they would have most likely dropped the charges except towing.

[Octavious]

Ya I guess that makes sense. I still think I'll take it to the other place that my dad swears by and if they say the same thing just have them fix it. I really have a feeling that a lot of this is bs as my car was scanned not two weeks ago and only had two codes. Vap system leak and a 02 sensor..

[Scuzz]

I brought my car in to get a estimate on how much it would cost to repair my car because it's stalling. It took them 3 days before they gave me the estimate and it's a laundry list of items he says needs fixed. I told him that since the car is so old I need to think about if I'm going to repair the car. He wants 270 bucks for just looking at the car... 80 for the tow there since the car wouldn't start which is fine... 70 for running diagnostics and 120 bucks for time spent checking it out. They never mentioned the labor part until I asked to take the car... Is this a normal charge or are they just trying to screw me?

I'm so annoyed right now as I wanted to take it to another place to check it because the repairs are going to cost 1,400 bucks which I don't have... But if I'm going to dump another 200 bucks having someone else look at it it's going to get crazy expensive.

I could see the tow fee, the diagnostics fee and maybe one hour labor. I would make them review everything to make sure that what they were checking actually could have something to do with making a car stall. We recently took my daughters car in and the wife asked for an estimate of work on it and they quoted everything that the cars warranty would call for.....not what we asked for.

My garage charged me $80 to look over a car for problems before I bought it. They did a full report though so I knew they spent some time on it.

[Scuzz]

This is all the stuff not including the timing belt which I was going to get done as well which would be 120.12 parts 242.87 labor...

Parts...
Gaskets 20.00
02 Sensor 121.24
02 Sensor 89.20
TPS Sensor 65.00
Vent Valve 55.35
Gas Cap 21.00
Wiring 71.98
Spark Plugs 12.64

Labor
Repair Exhaust Gaskets 67.46
Sensors, Gas cap and vent value 224.88
Tune up 67.46
Scanning ECM for codes 69.95

That is cheap for a timing belt...my wife's old Camry cost almost $1,000 for that.....but as I understand the cost of replacing a timing belt varies with the ease of getting to it.

[RunningMn9]

If you don't know the mechanic then it is normal for you to pay them for their time if you do not get it repaired. If you decided to get the repairs then they would have most likely dropped the charges except towing.

This has been my experience as well.

[LordMortis]

Everyone's gotta make a living. While I wouldn't pay for a mechanic like that, I wouldn't be begrudge them the costs. Me? I'm cheap and I have a slight amount of know how and the resources of people with a lot of know how. So, I don't see mechanics. I get cars towed home and we work on cars at home.

From the look of it, on the outside, nothing seems unreasonable.

I also don't see a problem with them charging you to diagnose the car. If you expect a free diagnoses that's something you'd want to discuss up front. Someone needs to pay for time and equipment. Again, that's why I don't go to mechanics when at all possible. It's why I don't hire carpenters to do work around my house. It's why I don't eat out much.

Sorry to hear about your pain. The even worse thing is that when it's all said and done you could be working with excellent mechanics. They could fix all these problems and you could still have problems that aren't addressed. Electrical (and now computer) problems are an absolute pain diagnose and fix in a car.

[Kasey Chang]

You're getting screwed.

Minimum 1 hour diagnostic is understandable. Another 3 hours to "look around" is BS. And they are supposed to call you with an estimate before they start work.

Offer them $200 at most for their troubles or you'll take it to the press.

[Octavious]

I ending up paying 180 and I'm taking it over to the place that my father knows. I called them and told them everything they want to repair and they seemed to think it's probably excessive. So I'm dumping my car off at the new place this weekend and hope that the bill comes in a bit lower. Fingers crossed.

[magic]

That is cheap for a timing belt...my wife's old Camry cost almost $1,000 for that.....but as I understand the cost of replacing a timing belt varies with the ease of getting to it.

Holy crap, really?

I'm a service writer for a large Toyota dealership and we charge $350 for a 4 cylinder, 400 for a v6. That includes parts, labor and even new drive belts. On anything 1994-up it takes a half decent tech 90 minutes to do. You add 50 bucks and the cost of the water pump and we do that, too.

Oct- tough not knowing what kind of car you have, but in general you've been quoted at a relatively reasonable rate for what's listed. Also tough to tell if you really need it or not.
However, total dick move by them not calling you to authorize further diag time. The guy does have to cover his tech's time to check the car out, but should have called you first to say "I need more time to check things out" before just billing you.

Feel free to bounce any questions my way. I'd be glad to offer whatever advice I can.

[Octavious]

I think his rates are perfectly fine. It's the way they don't tell me anything and the fact that he's wholesale replacing wverthibg that has me puzzled. Think it's best to at least get a second opinion.

[magic]

I think his rates are perfectly fine. It's the way they don't tell me anything and the fact that he's wholesale replacing wverthibg that has me puzzled. Think it's best to at least get a second opinion.

There's very little in the way of "repair" anymore when it comes to cars. Have a loose mirror? Don't remove the glass, adjust a tab and secure something in place. Just replace it.
It's kind of a shame really.

[Kasey Chang]

Sounds like the guy is also doing a "tune-up" at your expense. Replacing the ignition wires, O2 sensors, TPS sensors, and so on are typical money makers, and usually they are NOT needed unless the OBD2 diagnostics actually say those are not giving proper numbers REPEATEDLY. I'm surprised he didn't also do the spark plugs and throw in "fuel injection cleaning" while he's at it.

Sensors can occasionally go out of whack, but once and twice is not a problem. Check engine lights will go off if the condition doesn't show up against after 3-5 restarts (i.e. turn off ignition and restart), but it stays in memory until a OBD reader was connected to read them (or the OBD2 ran out of memory)

EDIT: My mechanic is one of those who can fix almost everything, with only 3-4 guys in the shop, they do like half-dozen cars at a time, AND do smog-checks, and so on. If the stuff doesn't need to be replaced, he won't replace it. If it needs to be, he'll tell you. If it's almost, he'll tell you how long you have left.

[FishPants]

O2 Sensor and TPS shouldn't make your car stall, it should throw it into limp mode (Service engine light, and crappy mileage/acceleration). Basically and sensor that goes out of range, your ECM should detect that and override it to factory default settings that will get you where you need to go.

Now if you've had that light on and been driving for months in limp mode, the stalling I could see from a buildup of carbon on the throttle body and the plugs. If you have enough know-how, go pull a plug and check it out for a carbon buildup between the firing points.

TPS Sensor "going" would have your car doing all kinds of crazy ass accelerating on it's own when stopped (Revs changing everywhere) until it threw a code and the ECM went to limp mode. At that point it would probably rev a little higher than normal.

E-Vap leak. These can be tough to pinpoint depending on the computer in the car.. Some can detect true leaks in the e-vap system, others will throw a code because the gas cap is leaky/not on tight. Buy a new gascap and see if that fixes it before spending hours of tech time to comb through looking for a leak that could be the size of a pin head.

[Octavious]

I've got 50 bucks that says it's a clogged fuel filter. Everything that it's done so far leads to that. The reason he didn't check that is because you have to take the rear seat out. I'm really curious to see what the other place says.

[Octavious]

Mechanic #2 Spark plugs, air filter and 02 sensor. That's all they say needs to be fixed... It's all done need to pick it up tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it's working.

[Scuzz]

That is cheap for a timing belt...my wife's old Camry cost almost $1,000 for that.....but as I understand the cost of replacing a timing belt varies with the ease of getting to it.

Holy crap, really?

I'm a service writer for a large Toyota dealership and we charge $350 for a 4 cylinder, 400 for a v6. That includes parts, labor and even new drive belts. On anything 1994-up it takes a half decent tech 90 minutes to do. You add 50 bucks and the cost of the water pump and we do that, too.

Oct- tough not knowing what kind of car you have, but in general you've been quoted at a relatively reasonable rate for what's listed. Also tough to tell if you really need it or not.
However, total dick move by them not calling you to authorize further diag time. The guy does have to cover his tech's time to check the car out, but should have called you first to say "I need more time to check things out" before just billing you.

Feel free to bounce any questions my way. I'd be glad to offer whatever advice I can.

1989 Camry.........maybe there was some other work that I don't remember on it though...a very good car that she drove for 17 years with very little problems

[Octavious]

If I recall correctly there are a few cars where you have to lift the freaking engine to change the belt. I'd be wiling to bet the camry is one of those.

[Scuzz]

If I recall correctly there are a few cars where you have to lift the freaking engine to change the belt. I'd be wiling to bet the camry is one of those.

i think that was the problem......

[Isgrimnur]

If I recall correctly there are a few cars where you have to lift the freaking engine to change the belt. I'd be wiling to bet the camry is one of those.

I know that my 2002 Chevy Malibu is one of those. Bastarts...

[magic]

If I recall correctly there are a few cars where you have to lift the freaking engine to change the belt. I'd be wiling to bet the camry is one of those.

i think that was the problem......

correct.

Be thankful it's not a mid-90's audi.

In may I replaced the timing belt in my old 98 A4 and had to remove the whole front end of the car. I did it myself for about $300 in parts including the water pump and other belts, spread across the better part of 18 hours. The Audi dealerships I called quoted me around about $1300-1600. One of my techs wanted $300 in cash and a case of beer.

After doing it, I see why.

8,000 miles (about 3 months of driving for me) later, the clutch went and I had to get rid of the damn thing - the clutch required removing the motor. It died at 230k, I owned it for three years and bought it with 90k on the clock.

[Octavious]

Mechanic #2 Spark plugs, air filter and 02 sensor. That's all they say needs to be fixed... It's all done need to pick it up tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it's working.

It's ALIVE!!! The car is running like a champ now with just the spark plugs and the 02 sensor. So ya I've got a new mechanic and one to avoid.

Oh and he fixed the damn belt that was loose. I asked two places to just tighten it and they said it needed to be replaced. I didn't even ask this guy to do it. He just said the noise was annoying him so he tightened it.

[Paingod]

It baffles me that some mechanics are pure scum like that or completely incompetent, which is almost as bad. I've only ever met a couple good, honest mechanics - and they're both too far away for me to take my cars there if they break down. Car repair is something I keep meaning to learn just so I can avoid this.

My tack with any mechanic now is one of "Can you take a look at this? My normal mechanic can't get right to it, but I plan on having him do the service once I know what's wrong." ... Telling them right up front that giving me a list of problems won't give them any extra cash. I always make sure they know they're not to start working without confirmation.

I had one quote me $600 for a new catalytic converter because my O2 sensor on it blew out (apparent the entire thing needs to be replaced when that happens) - and I rejected him flat out. I found a compatible part for $187 and had a different mechanic install it for me - worked fine for years.

[Kasey Chang]

Mechanic #2 Spark plugs, air filter and 02 sensor. That's all they say needs to be fixed... It's all done need to pick it up tomorrow. Fingers crossed that it's working.

It's ALIVE!!! The car is running like a champ now with just the spark plugs and the 02 sensor. So ya I've got a new mechanic and one to avoid.

Oh and he fixed the damn belt that was loose. I asked two places to just tighten it and they said it needed to be replaced. I didn't even ask this guy to do it. He just said the noise was annoying him so he tightened it.

See, told you the first guy was fishy.

The way you tell if the belt needs replacing is you look for "cracks" in the rubber. If there are cracks, replace. Otherwise, there's ALWAYS a tensioner that can be adjusted. How else would they put the belt on in the first place? They loosen up the tensioner so there's enough room to slip the belt on-off, then they set the tensioner back into place

Here's a good illustration on what to look for: http://autorepair.about.com/od/quicktip ... e-insp.htm" target="_blank

[Scuzz]

I would be afraid to drive in a car I had done the work on..........

[stessier]

My car has the check engine light and the IMA (integrated motor assist) light on. I plan on getting rid of it soon, but wanted to be sure I wasn't driving a ticking time bomb so I had a guy at work read the codes. We found 8 -

P0420 (x2) - Catalytic Converter
P0700 - Transmission Fault
P1600 - IMA issue
P1891 - Clutch system issue
C0848
C2B01
C0314
C0900

I found half of them online and they line up with what issues I know I have (the clutch issue was a one time thing that reset itself after I stopped and restarted the car). I can't find any information on the C-codes. Any suggestions?

It's a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid.

[Isgrimnur]

C0848
C2B01
C0314
C0900

[stessier]

Thank you! I don't know why that site didn't come up in my searches.

[Isgrimnur]

Your Google-fu is weak.

[Octavious]

Wow talk about a thread revive lol. I'm two cars past the one in the original post. That car was a deathtrap and I'm pretty sure it was in a flood previous to me buying it. All the random things that started breaking pointed to severe water damage. I don't think I every could buy used again. I just don't know what the hell happened to the car before I had it.