TORTOISE

Haha not tryin to start anything. But this guy just came outta nowhere and has something to say to everyone.

cnstarz

k so i take my lexus to the lexus dealer like a month ago because the car would pull to the left if you didn't hold on the steering wheel. also because i could feel vibrations in my gas pedal whenever driving over anything. all i wanted was a diagnostic which cost $50. k cool whatever, $50 is nothing. they take like 3 hours to look at it, and they said the struts and strut mounts are broke. i will also need a new valve cover gasket(leaking oil out the top of the engine), oil pan will need resealed, and my radiator will need replaced. i also wanted to get a quote for having the tires replaced and the rotors and break pads. they quoted me like $4500 for parts and labor to fix everything. ouch, i might as well buy another used Lexus.

so i buy all the struts online from someone on a Lexus forum for like $200 shipped. great deal. i buy the strut mounts online too, and pick up new rotors and break pads at autozone, valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket at advance auto parts, and new tires at walmart. all in all, spent maybe $800 on parts total (i never bought a new radiator because my friend[mentioned in the next paragraph] said the radiator is perfectly fine except for one hose that is a bit soft).

i find someone on base who's really good with cars, and he replaced my struts, tires(includes balancing), rotors, pads, and strut mounts for only $220, and another $135 to do the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket, and change the oil while he's at it. so i paid about $1155 for everything instead of $4500 at the dealer. saved almost $3400.

that's not all. while he was doing the valve cover gasket, he found out that the oil filter was really loose, and that's why oil was burning underneath the engine. he said this isn't just something that you accidentally do - it was most likely intentional (thanks dealership).

then, while he was working on the front driver side strut, he sees that the swaybar link was broken, which is why the car was pulling to the left to begin with (nothing to do with the struts or the mounts). the dealer never told me about this. so, i had to go the Pick n Pull place and find a lexus to take it out of. Sweet, only $7 bucks, and he installs it for me for free. On top of that, 3 of the original struts in my car were fine. only one was broke. all the original strut mounts were in good condition too. so i really didn't need them replaced. but i told him to do it anyways because i would feel better knowing there's newer parts anyways. besides, i can sell them on ebay or something.

car is driving great. the new tires really helped with the gas pedal vibrations, and the struts help reduce roll. and the new rotors and pads are AMAZING! what a difference! i love it.

cliffs:
dont take your car to the dealer, you could save $3500, and they will lie to you. LIES!!!

kphu

iTrader: (8)

glad you saved a ton of $$$. I'm always leary about bringing my car into the dealer. Luckily for me I have a brother who's a former toyota mech so they don't touch my car unless its something that requires a special too.

cha41ppy

That's awesome that everything worked out for you. I wish I could find someone to do all that work for that price.

It is true about the mechanics lying, it is a giant game of lies. The auto mechanic's profession depends primarily on sales, secondarily on knowledge, just like many other professions. Honesty does not run a truly effective business at times, and it's unfortunate. Most of the times I've dealt with mechanics, they tell me things are wrong that I know are fine, and sometimes I find things that they miss, or supposedly missed. I just say go pound sand, and ponder how they could miss something that I could easily identify and fix for cheap. Their favorite game is to throw parts at something when they know that a thorough diagnosis would reveal the true problem and a definitive answer and fix.

Sorry if I offended mechanics here - I'm sure most if not all the mechanics on this forum are nothing like the above and are truly honest, OR they can actually attest to the above occuring. It gives a bad name for a lot of hard workers out there in a tough profession.

kphu

iTrader: (8)

Funny that you mention this because I took my camry (prior to the ES) to a place recommended by a friend. I asked to replace the front rotors and brakes. The mech put the car on the lift to look at it and then pointed out that one of the CV joints is bad so he asked if he should fixed that too. So i look at it and its clear that the boot is torn so I said ok. He said it should take about 1 1/2 hrs so I go shopping for 2hrs in a near by plaza that's within walking distance. I come back to pay the $300+ bill and b4 I leave I take a peek underneath the car. To my surprise the CV joint wasn't repaired. I go to the mechanic and he said the guy who wrote up the slip said I said to not do the CV joint and then the guy who wrote up the slip said the mechanic must of misunderstood him because he thought he did the CV joint. I just asked for my refund on the CV joint and left.