Mechanics : need advice on a "mistake"

[mavinwy]

If you went in and requested that the mechanic change the CV boots/joints....and the parts that are on the car now are new, then they did exactly what you requested.

The tie rod linkage/steering boots that are torn in your pics are a completely different part. When I used to turn wrenches for a living, we learned quickly to NEVER do any work that was not requested. If we found an additional repair that was necessary (or easy while we were there) we would always call the car owner with a quote before starting the work. If it was simple, we would (for good customers) let them know how to do it themselves if they wished.

The boots are a relatively simple change on these cars, and he may have thought that you just wanted to do it yourself, otherwise you would have requested the work be done.

Someone commeneted on cost. Remember that a shop has much more overhead than your home garage. Salaries, Insurance, tools, inventory, heat etc must all be paid for by the customer. What they are paying for many times is the convenience of not doing it themselves. I was pretty impressed at $350 for 2 halfshafts installed....there are a lot of shops that would charge considerably more.

As long as the work you requested was done correctly, then it appears that you just have another repair pending.

Jim

[Cd]

So would it be a bad idea taking the car to the guy to get the boots replaced when he says it will only cost me $ 25 dollars ? ( for parts with labor free )
I know it is better to do the job right, but at this time I cannot afford to have it done right.
If he slips on new boots, it might be just covering the damage that needs to be replaced underneath, but at least it will be a fix untill it can be done right.
I'm a little confused as to how to tell whether or not any damage has been done already.

I'll repeat why I just don't learn to do the work myself : I live in an apartment that does not allow even simple oil changes. Also, I do not trust my work well enough when it come to a part on the car that could be potentially life threatening to myself and others.

So the car will need to be realigned ? I'll bet that this his 'bait' to get me to pay for an allignment.
What do you guys think ?

So did any Civics come without power steering in '93 ?
I'm still shocked that he would say that. I asked him twice more just to make sure I didn't misunderstand what he said.
He actually thought my car didn't have power steering ( and my car is even an automatic ! )

Weird .

[mavinwy]

If it is what you can afford to do right now, replacing the booys is still better than leaving the system open to the environment and getting more dirt in there. If he is willing to write off the labor....sure go for it.

Remember though that YOU are choosing to not spend the $$$ to have the system cleaned out or replaced. One day, it will fail (probably not catastrophically....likely it will start leaking fluid...so you will have some warning) and when it does, you will be spending the $$$ anyway, but you might be in a better financial situation to do so then.

As far as the alignment, getting one should straighten out the pull you describe as well as improve tire life and fuel economy if done correctly.

Jim

[Whoops]

If he is willing to do the job and replace the boots for $25, then I'd say he is trying to be pretty fair. I would go ahead and let him do just that. The tie rod isn't going to be any worse than it is now, but it will keep dirt out, grease in and extend it's useful service, significantly.

[Ryland]

The manual steering box on the civics shouldn't wear out, it can be adjusted to be smoother and take slop out of it, and the boots can be replaced for about $15 each in parts from the Honda dealer, the dx hatcha back didn't come with power steering either.

Honda Automotive Parts

[Ford Man]

The car shouldn't have to be realigned just to put the boots on as long as he doesn't change any of the tie rod adjustments. As I said before if he did the work you requested before and is willing to do this labor free because of the misunderstanding I'd let him do it. By doing this it sounds like he is being as fair as possible. You could also tell him that you can't afford to have any other work done at the present time, but ask him to take a look at the inner tie rods and let you know their condition while he has the boots off. You could ask if he still has the old parts or not, but it is not likely they probably had to be turned in as cores when he purchased the new ones. The only thing that I don't understand is why he didn't know the car had PS. Have you looked and verified the new parts? If he was just trying to make money off of you he would have definitely told you about the torn tie rod boots when you picked up the car to try to get you to come back. I agree that some mechanics are just out to get you, but this doesn't seem to be the case with this one in my opinion. I use to have a '76 Chrysler Cordoba and I took it in once to have the tires rotated and they tried to tell me it needed tie rods, but what the mechanic didn't know is that I had just checked the front end shortly before and that I had just driven the car on a 500 mile trip the night before and it was driving and handling fine. I probably drove the car another 100,000 miles and never did have to replace the tie rod ends.