I had to take my wife’s 2000 Subaru Outback into the shop today because of a check engine light, and they just called with an estimate of $760 worth of repairs.
They said that the rear wheels were squeaking because the brakes were wearing out and that the front brakes were down to about 2mm.
They also mentioned that a CV seal was busted and leaking grease and that it needed to be replaced. Finally, the carbon intake needs to be flushed either now or at some point in the near future.
This is the family car, and my wife needs it for her and the kids, so I don’t really have a lot of time to shop around on this estimate. If it seems really high, though, I’d like to know.
Thanks for any info anyone can share!
Which shop…dealer? Or one ran by a trustworthy (presumably) mechanic?
300 bucks is not unreasonalbe for the brake job, and if you have never had the brakes done up till now, it is no doubt overdue. The CV joints are expensive parts, and the labor must be intelligent, and they need to make a living a pay the overhead and so on. This sounds low for say a dealer, but not too high for an independent shop. I would avoid a chain. I dont know what a carbon intake is though. Cant advise you on that.
Ok, so did they tell you why the check engine light was on which is the reason you brought it to them in the first place. It seems like they found everything else in the world wrong with it, what about the light??
transman
Sorry. The light was on b/c of a knock sensor. They couldn’t recreate the knock, though. They’ll just clear it out and see if it comes back on later. As far as which shop/dealer it was the local Subaru dealership.
Sounds like, though, this is reasonable. Thanks so much for the quick replies!
If they use good parts and do front and back brakes and fix CV boot I do not think price is to bad, I do not think they are ripping you off.
Intake is the cleaning of the idle control valve and is a 10-15 min job,you know a friend or family member that can do it,save you some money.
Well everything looks possible, but I wonder about that Flush for the carbon in the intake.
I have a diesel so this is different, and we can get carbon build on, on my VW. I wonder about your car and if a flush is really the thing to do. It sure would not help mine any.
The price could be fair depending on what is being done as far as the brakes. New rotors, etc. then yes the price can get up there.
If the car has high mileage and they’re wanting to replace the boot only I think this would be a mistake. The halfshaft should be replaced because odds are if the boot only is changed the current halfshaft will soon fail and you’re back to square one.
Maybe the knock sensor is not the problem. Knock sensors seldom fail. I suggest you have the car scanned for codes at some parts house such as AutoZone and post the exact code(s) for discussion. AZ will do this for you free.
Maybe instead of a faulty knock sensor what you have is a chronic engine pre-ignition which the knock sensor and the ECM can’t control. This could be caused by a clogged up EGR system and this could also be the reason for cleaning the carbon out of the intake.
This is not rare at all.
Sounds within reason. Don’t forget, these are safety issues and your family’s well being is at stake.