2002 Ford Focus Front Coil Spring

Hi there,
I recently had my car picked up for an oil change and a leaky head gasket replacement (it’s around 115K miles). I used the company my office has on retainer, I think Firestone?, because it wasn’t anything major and they’ll do everything for you if you leave the car at the office. When the guy called me for the estimate, he told me that my front left coil spring was broken and that he’d need to put in a new axis or strut or whatever and that it’d run me at least $600 to replace the front end. I haven’t heard any weird noises or cracks or thumps or anything (though the boyfriend was the dominate driver since its last repair trip, so who knows what happened there), so I’m kind of skeptical. Partially I think because he also had mentioned doing some sort of engine or oil flush after talking about replacing the head gasket so they could run a dye through it and see where any and all other leaks would be? Which seems fine in principle but also really excessive in addition to several other sells he was trying to make. I looked online and found some Quick Strut products and such and $600 seems a bit much at first glance. Should I be taking it elsewhere and are there other options to fix the potential issue?

Thanks so much!
stefani

You’re having the Firestone place do a head gasket? Do you mean valve cover gasket? I would not have that shop do anything else to your car. Find an independent shop (click on ‘mechanics files’ above, or ask around) and have them look over your car. Shops like Firestone are FAMOUS for doing unneeded work, often poorly.

We’re discussing this exact issue here: