ThosL

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.

On the leaking gas fill issue, a couple of points: The problem seems to be the same, not getting worse; Some gas pumps cause a bad leak, others a minor one, others yet not at all. I recently had to replace one tire, you guessed it, it was the one just under the gas fill spout. Gas leaking on to a tire will damage the tire in time. That tire had developed a nasty bubble and was giving me a really bad ride. I do not want to spend $300-$500 on this issue as one mechanic estimated.

$13 was for the installation including the tire disposal fee.

I ended up going to a junkyard today, hadn't been there in years, LaJoie's and LeBlanc's in South Norwalk. They had enough used tires that I was able to find a match for $35 plus installation, $13 includes the tire disposal fee. The state has implemented a used tire tax, another revenue generator. I found a Mastercraft tire with excellent tread at roughly half the price of new ones. When you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you do not have to buy four new ones when one goes bad.

Actually the $200 included everything for a set that had a lot of life in them. I probably should keep looking for a good tire replacement as $90 is a lot for just one tire in the current economy.

OK, thanks for the clarification. Town Fair quoted me under $400 for a set of basic tires if I don't get the alignment they did not have a problem with just putting one on though I have maybe 12K miles left on the current set of tires, I am running on my spare at this particular point in time. A junkyard had a set of four that they would do for $200, I think they were Kellys with excellent tread. When you get over 250K in miles on a car it does not make too much sense to buy new everything.

I had a tire blowout last summer a junkyard put on a replacement that was good for six months. It became a hopeless flat yesterday, so I stopped by a tire place, it also developed that it was the cause of a lousy ride as it had a bubble, rather than front end issues. They quoted me $90 for a replacement, Town Fair quoted about the same. What do others do with their 205/R15s when they just need one? Is the scare about a messed up transmission unreasonable if you do not match the tires right? Thanks!

The job of replacing the bearing ended up costing $430; a tie rod end with frozen bolt/nut had to be replaced as well as the hub. They did not charge me full actual time because of the trouble of getting the old bearing out, etc.. As usual the wholesale parts cost was tripled. I'm still going to have to do the other side and an alignment at some point.

Anyone who works on the front end of a car with as many miles as my car has on it with original front end as far as I know is going to have some challenges. I asked for a referral for a local mechanic by a parts shop and found one that got into the wheel bearing issue yesterday. The spindle/hub/bearing issue became a challenge and the shop manager ordered a hub in case they could not use the old one and they were having trouble pressing out the whole bearing assembly from the old hub yesterday, hopefully they will be able to get it out and get the new bearing in and will probably have to use the new hub from the looks of things. In retrospect the $750 estimate was very reasonable and if you go with a mechanic with a hundred junker Subarus to get parts from there is an advantage for customers.

I found a local shop that has given me a price of under $300 for the wheel bearing job; assuming the hub is still good. If it turns out it isn't, I'm not sure what I do next as used hubs would be hard to locate on short notice.

Wheel bearing on one side, tie rod and ball joint on the other apparently.

I went there mainly for the front end noise, I have had grinding noises in previous Subarus along the similar lines, cv joints make all kinds of noise when they go bad but the ones I have in there now are relatively recent, so I figured bearings, etc.. It will run at 65 mph without a lot of noise or vibration, frankly performance issues are not a big deal.

When do these front end problems become a driving hazard? The shop that did the diagnosis made it sound like I should not be driving the car. The grinding sound is pretty mild at this point, only made worse when making sharp turns or turning around in a particular way.

I see you are from Canada, so is that in Canadian dollars?

My sister goes to a guy locally referred by my brother, I figured he would charge more than the junk yard shop out in the sticks. Connecticut is expensive compared to other parts of the country. Give my regards to my cousin in Stevens Point.

Thanks for the quick responses. They said it could take 5 hours and they usually run into extra problems and were allowing with that in the estimate, business is probably slow for F and S now, hence the $$$, they said their hourly rate is $85.

Hi, I went up to a Subaru shop today, they put my 99 Outback up on the lift. Wheels wiggle, the bearing is that bad. They said I needed one new wheel bearing and an inner tie rod and a ball joint, though both wheels have a lot of play in them. They said it would run $750 including alignment afterwards, $600 without. I'm on a budget, low income. Is this reasonable? I think I did a front knuckle assembly once, ordered the part online used, my current living situation that is not going to work. Would appreciate thoughts on this job. The shop said that the car should not be driven that much, "how far do you have to go?" etc, which can be sales gimmick, in this case I doubt it. They said most Subies of that vintage have already worn bearings so putting in a knuckle with the used bearing is not recommended, and though they have many junkers around to get parts from, they said it might be hard to find a knuckle with a ready to go good bearing.

OK, I will check her receipts. She regularly goes to "Oil Star" and shells out $50 for the oil change, much more often than she needs to as much as I advise her to look around for the $25 specials; on the tune up, it may be overdue, but frankly for someone who rarely puts more than 30 miles on the vehicle on a given day, it is hard to see why she would need much in the way of replacements.

It is running fine now, but the flashing check engine remains a mystery. She has had tune ups done regularly and puts about as many miles on it as your grandmother.

I drove my sister's Legacy to church yesterday with her; the CEL started flashing and power got weaker though not basket case situation; the problem went away later, I refilled the anti-freeze this morning. Personally I would not be concerned but she is disabled and worried as she has a lot of "professionals" who help her. My thinking is running it by Auto Zone they would do a free code check and cel reset. Any clues, could the low reservoir antifreeze fluid have triggered this?