Car Repair Estimates

Meineke finally finished inspecting my car and gave me the run-down on the initial repairs needed to get it up to a “reliable” position:

BRAKES: $557
($69*4) Rotors
$62 Front pads
$59 Rear pads
$160 Stuff I didn’t write down

ENGINE: $459
$74 Valve Cover Gasket
$20 Oil Change
$150 Plugs & Wires
$55 Coolant Flush w/new radiator cap
$160 External Drive Belts

There was more, which I forgot, but it came to around $1060. The mechanics gave me an interesting explanation as to my issues:

It seems the valve cover gasket is cracked, which of course led to oil leaking out of the engine and oozing down the sides of the engine. The oil oozes over the spark plugs, which thus caused the stalling and loss in performance and occasional power drops. The oil would then burn off due to the high temperatures of the exterior of the engine (and the high-voltage sparks), causing the smell and smoke.

There’s a coolant hose dangling from the front bumper area. After a ride in a particularly rough off-road patch, I noticed this hose’s existence, as it was spurting large amounts of coolant on the ground about two feet in front of the car. The hose actually belongs there, serving as a route for coolant to exit the relief valve safely without getting all over my engine. I was very relieved to hear I hadn’t cracked something on a tree stump or shallow cliff.

The coolant was spurting out because the radiator was getting overpressurized due to a faulty radiator cap. This, of course, caused the coolant to move around faster, heating up in the process. Thus was the boiling coolant I detected. Somehow it still prevented the engine from overheating.

The #3 spark plug distributor wire has a hole in it. I don’t know what problems that causes, but the plugs and wires are old anyway so they needed to go.

The brake pads are worn, but not as much as the rotors. The mechanic said he was suprised I wasn’t hearing a loud grinding sound (Which I have heard in previous cars, so that concerned me); I guess I should be happy this one didn’t degenerate into a leaky master cylinder like two other cars of mine have.

What must have really kicked his ass was this: When he presented me with the $1060 estimate, my response was “Go ahead and fix all of it. I just purchased, insured, and registered a car; so I’ll have to wait until Thursday to pick it up”. After all that, I was only $200 short.

A week later, I’ll probably end up replacing all six shocks (Four chassis, two hatch), as they’re pretty much all out of pressure.