ThosL

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.

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!