Re: ok more car stuff
 

my first car was a '68 VW squareback. After owning it for a year it threw a rod bearing

I was really upset at the time, but looking back now its one of the best things that ever happened to me. I had no choice but to rebuild the engine myself with nothing but the 'How to keep your VW alive' book.

ever since then I have no fear of working on my own cars. I have 4 cars in my name, my Vue, my wifes saturn L200, my sons SL and my daughters '94 SL2. There is no way I could pay someone else to do all the repair work on all 4 cars, not even the normal oil changes and simple maintance.

Over the years it really adds up, and I have a really nice set of Craftsman tools. :^)

Re: ok more car stuff
 

Great book. I have one. Everyone with an old VW should either get that book or get rid of the car. You've got to have both or none.

Anyway, quick service oil change places are notorious for coming up with a whole huge list of things wrong, even when you don't ask them to, and even when there's nothing wrong! I definitely wouldn't let this place touch my truck and if you do, watch them like a hawk and request all the old parts that they take off of your vehicle (not a bad idea anywhere you go actually) so you can inspect them yourself.

I'm not saying your truck is in tip top shape and these people are trying to rip you off, I'm just saying it seems a bit odd to go in for an oil change and come out with a $2k repair estimate. Now, I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with your vehicle. It may very well need all these things with the kind of mileage it has, BUT, I'm willing to bet that if you had an identical truck (with the same wear on all the parts) and the odometer was rolled back to say, 60k mi, they wouldn't "find" nearly as many things wrong. With your amount of mileage, it is more "believable" to the unsuspecting customer that all these things might actually be wrong. Anyway, you need to look for yourself to see if this stuff needs replacing. Jack up a corner, yank on the tire and see if it wobbles excessively. Look at the shock and see if it leaked. Pull it off and see if it really is shot. Shocks are pretty easy to do btw on a truck.

Doing work on your truck yourself is something to be very proud of. On mine, I have done the exhaust, fixed the broken driver's seat mechanism, replaced a taillight, gotten a stuck leaf out of the AC blower, and maybe something else I can't remember right now. I understand your concern for not wanting to mess up though. For example, brakes are something I'd rather pay someone to do, however easy they may or may not be. Here's why: on the rainy day when I've got to slam on my brakes and they don't work and I hiy the wall and break my neck and the accident investigator says the brakes weren't installed/adjusted correctly, I want some individual or business that is backed with MONEY to go to to get my due compensation. If I did my brakes and they fail, then I'm at fault and I can't make a claim against myself. See, it is all about picking the best people/places for blame to be assigned to if something goes wrong. :D Basically, I'll fix stuff that isn't too critical to safety or has very little chance of getting screwed up or going wrong.

Wherever you take your truck (if you do) be sure to look up the place on ripoffreport.com to make sure there is nothing bad about them.

Good Luck! :)



Doing work on your

Re: ok more car stuff
 

If you don't want to pay a mechanic to do it all, my next best idea is to find a friend who is willing to help you, or maybe even one of your friends has a father who wouldn't mind helping you out. Otherwise...you're have to learn it your self (buy a model specific repair manual) or pay mechanic to do it all.

Edit:
I just priced Rotors and Pads for my Jeep Grand Cherokee (96). I found $20 for each pad, and $30 for rotors (rougly). I recommend checking prices on autozone.com. You can find your car, then everything you click on comes up with parts specific to your make/model.

Re: ok more car stuff
 

lots of people think this way - its something you need to get over:

1. if you fix your own brakes, they will work, or they wont. You can take your car out for a test drive, slam the brakes on all you want, and see if they are right. The day after you fix them you can look behind the wheels to check for a leaking hose, and keep an eye on your fluid level for a couple days to see if its leaking.

2. your brakes dont know if its raining, or snowing, or how fast you are driving or where. They are not going to wait for the worst moment and then fail on you.

3. If you take your car to someone else, they may have less skills than you do! The person working on your car may be drunk or stoned or just plain stupid. I could tell you horror stories about work I have paid others to do on my cars, thinking "these people are professionals". Thats what they want you to think, but that kid with the air wrench could be the owners nephew.

At least when you work on your own car, you know what has been done to it, and you have a sense of how it went. If something doesnt go back together right you will know something isnt right. If you take a bolt off and it looks pretty rusty, you get to decide to re-use it or replace it.

Re: ok more car stuff
 

yea. they had the truck on the lift when i talked to them. i looked up, shook the wheel around, saw oil on the shocks. and was i guess satisfied. saw the front brake pads, saw they were worn. and the rear drums were falling apart. i had noticed they did almost nothing when i was stopping from before i took it here so i had expected the shoes were old or sumthing.... but well i guess that wasnt it.

yup. which is why i havent really done anything bigger than intalling a tach. ive fixed the spare tire winch, installed mp3 player, (seatcovers and floormats), have a cold air being shipped to me right now, and have mudflaps not installed yet. well.... so much for planning to get upgrades....