ThosL

OK, I stopped at Advance today and have an appointment this afternoon for the job. Follow-up; a less expensive garage, Morales Auto in New Milford did the rear brakes for around $111. Since Ebrakes are not required by law, I will not pay to fix mine. That's all I had to pay and it probably wasn't even necessary to do that as they were 60% or so worn. But the fear I went through a few days ago made me think this was going to be an expensive problem which it wasn't.

They did not give me a written estimate. They said the verbal prices they gave me were based on repairing the E brake and the rear brake parts. They just showed me a bunch of loose parts that came out when they removed the rear hub, so I was thinking this was going to be a minimum of several hundred dollars. But it could have been a lot worse I guess. I was passing through New Haven on the way to Guilford, when I hear all this racket and grinding sounds and difficulty in driving. So I call J and J. They said they would charge around $300 to tow it to their garage in New Milford. Then I call AAA and they actually have pretty low rates for towing. Then I called F and S and he told me to get the car jacked up and check out the wheel for play. There wasn't any play in the wheel. So I look for a mechanic at a factory and of course they were afraid of helping a stranger in distress and said they didn't have any one who could help diagnosis. So then I drove it several miles with the terrible grinding sound. As far as I know it is just the broken E-brake that caused all the trouble. Monro gave me the parts they did not put back in a little bag. What a relief.

It turns out that the parts needed to be taken apart. Today I had a terrible grinding noise develop in the rear hub, I thought it was the bearing. I stopped at a Monro dealer and once they got it apart it turned out to be the emergency brake parts that messed up the rear driver's side brake hub. They estimated the job at around $1000 but said they could not get to it for a few days so I asked them to put it back together and they were able to do it safely and charged me under $70 for the labor. Too bad the two basic maintenance jobs I had in the last couple months, one at another Monro, they did not check the rear brake hubs. I will try to get this fixed next week. There was no play in the rear wheel so unlikely the bearing is going. It was the e-brake problem making noises like a bad bearing.

Connecticut may have been a wealthy state at one point, but it is a lot spottier now with many low income people. As a result people look around for better deals but even the discount or budget mechanics still angle for the bigger bucks they raked in during fat times. The bearing makes noise once in a while, too bad there is no way to inject teflon or wheel grease into the affected parts to prolong life.

Thanks, I'll check with F and S in Roxbury, I can't afford over $500 on my income for one of many problems that come along every couple months. Front knuckles in excellent shape may be hard to find but rear ones have got to be more available .

OK, thanks. I will probably seek out a second opinion after this one.

One of my wheel bearings is going on my '99 Outback. It just started making the grinding noises a few days ago so I am limiting my use of the car until it becomes clear what the risks are. I went down to a local shop today and their estimate was $550 as he said both sides should be done at the same time with bearings and seals needing replacement. Labor he figured at $345 for the job. Is this fair? How would other handle the problem?? Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback on this, I replaced the two rears tires, so now they are pretty close in matching. Rotation is next as the tire place did not think that was necessary.

I bought my Subaru after the original owner got the head gasket, etc. diagnosis from his mechanic, so a couple of Joses from Bport picked it up and my guess used the Blue Devil treatment and flipped the car for a huge profit, $1200 to $3000! So the car with the 2.5 ran well for a while until it was overstressed, then started overheating. I tried Blue Devil, which by the way is not the thick "Block Seal" stuff made from ground up sea shells. There are a bunch of leak seal products out there Blue Devil is the only one with a real guarantee. Only when I tried it Advance Auto said they would not refund my money and Blue Devil said they needed more information to give me my money back. So I reported them to the CT attorney general with documentation. They cried "uncle" and called me up saying they were sending the refund. I ended up having the head gasket job done by J and J; only problem was with the increased compression the crankshaft problem emerged with a knocking noise. So I ended up having a 2.2 engine put in to the tune of another $1500. Always make sure the engine you are going to fix is worth fixing.

Maybe that is what J and J picked up a couple of months ago. But I took the car for a second opinion at F and S in Roxbury. They got it up on the lift thankfully and found no rack issue. How often do people give the go ahead on unnecessary mechanical work "just to be safe"?

My Outback is a station wagon. I would be embarrassed if it had a leather bra on the front!

OK, thanks for the feedback. As far as I can see the less than great handling issue is due to a relatively new tire in front with a 3/4 worn tire also in the front. I need to address the worn tire issue first probably.

Those would be head-turners, for good or not! Some art work on the truck would also be impressive!

Thanks for the advice. I haven't done anything yet, and only have the problem when the wrong type of gas hose goes in.

I brought my '99 Subaru Outback to get an oil change and tire rotation at Monroe the other day. They did a great job and no charge on the tire rotation and other diagnosis. On the front end, they said driver's side tie rod end needed replacement with a follow up alignment for around $280. I then took the car for an estimate on the front end to a local repair place that has done a lot of work on it. They drove it for a good half hour, unreal, I have never had a repair place need that long for diagnosis. They said it needed a rack and pinion which could be done used for around $600. I'm thinking this could be a mis-diagnosis because Monroe did not report it. The weird thing is that after the tire rotation of unevenly worn tires it runs weird down the road, tough to make the usual turns. Could this be a result of unevenly worn tires, now with the best ones in front?

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/the-12-most-embarrassing-cars-from-the-last-decade.html/12/?ref=top-dt I can certainly see the "Smart" car in there, where is the Mini-Cooper? Actually the Brat was a classic, and the Baja seemed to get good reviews. Anyone here have favorite or unfavorite vehicles?

Congratulations on your first Subaru and good luck! I hope you find a trustworthy mechanic nearby who is not too expensive.

Thanks for the suggestion, "Bargain News" is where people usually go in this state for used parts as you are talking about, but I have been stung doing that once, that's enough. A little story about that: I ran a free ad in Bargain News some years ago looking for a transmission on a Chevy one ton van, mine had gotten damaged delivering firewood long distance. So this guy from Beacon Falls calls me up saying how he wanted to help me and would pick the tranny up and repair it and re-install the unit a while later. So I trust him; he comes down, asks for a deposit for his "work" removes the tranny, and he then is impossible to communicate with. I contacted the police in his town to let them know that he had ripped me off and they did speak with him, but I did not have the paperwork to prosecute.

Who do most people use for ordering used parts like this, in the past I ordered from an online used auto parts finder? Next step is checking around for a mechanic, I know a couple of them.

I need to get the driver's side front end work done relatively soon. It is hard to find mechanics who will install a used steering knuckle, that would be the most economical solution. The passenger side has been taken care of. How do others deal with situations like that? I am probably looking at $400 or so, compared to ordering a used front knuckle and looking for someone to install.

The generosity/stinginess of the insurance companies varies quite a bit, also who is at fault in a given situation. You gotta love the insurance claims when there is no real damage, and people like me who are only looking to functionality not to unscratched vehicles, it is ridiculous to see large variability in the claim process. I merely scratched the rear bumper of another car during a freak snow storm a couple of years ago and presto, a $700 claim, not challenged by my insurance company. I have a friend who was a recent victim of a contrived "accident" where a similar shakedown happened. Problems that do it yourselfers can quickly remedy with under $50 in materials. So the $$$ gets pocketed and maybe or not the scratch gets fixed. I would be too ashamed to make such a claim. I had an accident a couple of years ago, early morning I was backing out of a parking space, a young fellow comes zooming in with his toddler in the front seat and it was too dark or the view was too obscured to see him though I eased my car out. That claim with a dent in his VW car door led to a nearly $3K claim. The result in terms of insurance is they get their pound of flesh, no amounting to around $150 a month and other insurance companies will not offer reduced premiums because of the salvage title.

I had a similar thing happen a couple of years ago. The other party's insurance company offered me just over $3000 for it, same make, same year, more miles but in tip top mechanical condition. I could not find a suitable replacement at that price. J and J did the body repair for around the $3000, but the state has all kinds of regulations and I was left with a salvage title. CT, the insurance state is always trying to generate $$$ for businesses. So I was out over $500 and took up the issue with the state insurance regulator without success except that they ordered the insurance company to pay the mediation costs. I would move on with a new used vehicle and sell the totaled one for what you can get if they let you do that.

South St. Auto in Lyndonville, VT did one for me, around $1500 for the engine and installation and a motor with under 70K on it. F and S in Roxbury CT does installations. I don't know anyone who is cheap anymore, I once spent $250 for an engine installation motor included around 1990 in VT in winter, the mechanic Ray Greene did it outside! Legendary.

Do you have a link? Also another possibly economical option on my driver's side steering knuckle, the ball joint and tie rod are going bad, and possibly the cv joint. Would it be economical to get that used knuckle on order with the cv joint inside?

OK, thanks, that may be one reason my check engine light is always on. I will try to get a second and third estimate.