Toyota starters of that vintage fail all the time, due to worn contacts in the solenoid. The symptoms are exactly as you describe. Intermittent starting can go on for months or even years before complete failure. Your mechanic might have fed you a line.
The contacts are less than $20. A new starter, of course is much more…and the only thing most mechanics will replace. The labor for a complete replacement is actually less money, since they take old one out, put new one in…no actual repair done.
Exactly. The issue was not that timing belts need to be changed periodically. It’s that they insisted one was required NOW, without any research beyond their own files.
That said, on many cars, a broken timing belt is only a major inconvenience. No damage to the engine will result, no matter how fast you’re going when it cuts loose. Engines fall into two broad categories: Interference and Non-interference. The term denotes whether the valves will contact the piston heads once the camshaft stops turning.
Interference engines will almost certainly suffer catastrophic damage. Non-interference engines will just stop running…which can be dangerous in itself, but the engine will survive.
Nahh…sorry. ANY mechanic with his own shop knows to check the thermostat first. It’s so easy to do. Wait until gauge shows the car is warm. Look into the radiator cap to see if coolant is circulating. Feel the upper & lower radiator hoses to see if both are hot.
If not, it’s either the thermo or the pump…I forgot to mention, he replaced the pump, too.
Although this thread is about Scams (crooked mechanics), my experience has been that the INCOMPETENT ones far outnumber the crooked ones.
We have observed a trend used by various chains. One month may be “shock absorber” month while the next one may be “ball joints”. Various people who visit these chains get the same story, whether their cars remotely need these things or not.
One local chain here relentlessly pushes new batteries and cooling system service in the fall, even when you just go in to have your winter tires installed.
I was told by the goodyear tire dealer that my tire could not be plugged and they quoted me $175 for a new tire. Left, the mechanic successfully plugged the tire for less than 20 bucks.
Newish car with 20k miles and warped front rotors. Took it to the dealer hoping for a warranty job. No such luck. They quoted me $500 bucks for new front and rear pads and rotors. I told them forget it and they explained that everything was already torn apart and I had to pay 50 dollars to have them put it back together so I could drive away. Took it down to the mechanic (same as above). $120 for new front brakes. Rear brakes were “like new” and no problems after that.
A few years back, I took my 95 Chev Lumina van in for an oil change at a chain “quick lube” place. The guy came out no less than 3 times trying to upsell additional services, which I declined. I told him to just change the oil. He came out one more time and leads me back to the shop and my van, and shows me that there is a “fluid leak” from a small hose under the hood, and says they don’t know where it came from. What I saw was the hose for the rear window washer that had been very recently disconnected from the tank - the end was still all black and shiny, when the rest of the hose was fairly dirty. I snarled at him to leave it alone, and after I paid for the oil change, drove across the street and reconnected it myself. I was angry that he thought I was stupid enough to fall for a trick like that (I guess he figured since I was of the female persuasion, my pretty little head was too wrapped up in shoe shopping to know anything about those ever-so-complicated mechanical car thingies) But I also felt very uneasy, thinking about what else he may have sabotaged in an attempt to increase his sales stats.
I had a CV join go bad (cracked boot), it almost seized on me. I got it to the mechanic, very slowly. He replaced it and I was on my way. The next week I hit a pothole and BAM no forward or reverse, dead. I got it towed back to the same mechanic. He then proclaimed I needed a new transmission $600. It was a 93 stick shift civic. I said go ahead, but save the old one I wanted to look at it.
I go to pick it up, he shows me the “old” transmission (I stupidly didn’t ask him to show me what exactly was wrong) and I pay and I’m on my way. That night same thing happens, only no pot hole this time. I happen to be in front of an independent shop by my dads house, so I push it up into the parking lot and leave the keys and a note.
Next day I get a call from them saying nothing is wrong with the trans, but some yokel put in a shaft that was too short and it fell out of the trans. $300 later I’m on my way and had to threaten to sue mechanic 1 in order for him to refund the cost of the new right sized shaft. I took the money and bought a bunch of tools. I’ve been doing my own repairs ever since except if it’s the middle of January or something of the sort.
I also went into a Firestone once for an alignment and they said I had 2 bent struts (a 93 civic has a double wishbone front suspension) and that I needed 4 new control arms. What they didn’t know was I had bought the car 2 weeks earlier and had spent a week underneath it putting $400 worth of parts on it. Took it to another tire shop (local and independent chain) and $60 later I was on my way. Drove the civic for 6.5 years without ever doing the shocks or control arms.
My favorite Subaru dealership shop recently changed management or ownership and ever since then, almost every time I come in for routine servicing it seems they come up with other things “wrong.” The most egregious I thought was when I brought my 2006 Forester in for a New York State inspection (which includes a check of the brakes) and it passed; two weeks later I came in for an oil change and they told me my brakes were “shot.” They said my pads were almost completely gone, rotors were gone and the calipers too. “You must be getting alot of grinding noise,” they said (I wasn’t). I did let them replace everything but after I paid (ouch) I asked the manager how my brakes could have passed inspection two weeks earlier? “That’s a really good question” was her response. The frustrating thing is that I am so trusting, I wish I could have asked this before they did all that expensive work. But if my brakes were that bad, why they didn’t catch it two weeks earlier?
Wait a minute I think you guys are missing the question as you are all relating the same scam, selling work that is not needed,does anyone have an example of another TYPE of scam?
At an old Dealership we had a big problem when two customers with the same repair who were not charged the same, and they compared notes,so my new TYPE of scam is, charging whatever you think you can get.
I’ve had a timing belt break on the highway in my 73 Vega…Just coasted off the highway…(luckily i was near a exit ramp)…Found a parts store less then 1/2 mile away…Was up and running in an hour.
Asking for a routine tire rotation the worker finds valve stems leaking and breaks down the tires before informing me. Of course customers are not allowed in the shop due to insurance reasons, yeah right. The end result is the labor costs doubled and the time to “repair” the valve stems was excessive and this Ford dealership lost a customer.
Apparently a non-interference engine, as is my '90 Corolla. Belt didn’t break, it stripped a few teeth and threw off the valve timing. It ran that way long enough to get it off the road.
My '80 Fairmont failed as you describe, and the experience was much the same: coasted to an exit, parked it for the night, returned the next day with tools and a new belt. Took a couple of hours…
What is really sad is the result of all these stories. Where I work we only recommend things that people actually need or should do. There is such a mistrust of mechanics, people assume that we are trying to mislead them and they drive off with a dangerous or unreliable vehicles. Very sad, but true.
One trick common in quickie lube joints is to put a drop of each fluid on a pure white cloth next to a drop of new fluid. There will always be a difference, and this difference will always in their opinion be prelude to a catastrophic disaster of a major component if a flush is not done immediately. It is never true…except perhaps in a rare case of coincidence. Yup, I’ve had this done.
I’ve also left a car at a dealership (I recommend against this) for a scheduled alignment with a small stone in front of the LF tire and a small stone behind. When I went back to pick the car up late that day I was told the car was done and handed a signed-off receipt. I looked at the LF tire. The car had not been moved.
This stratagey on the part off the Dealership had the potential for them to at minimum get egg on their face. What if the steering wheel was off and they did not even test drive the car to see if there was a condition present that would immeditaly alert you to the fact that no work was done?
If you are going to scam people you had better drive the car and see if all is well before you charge for a “sunbath”.
Second,why would they pass up a chance to look your car over for upsells? Now if this was a “come-back” alignment re-check I could understand,but I have seen upsales attempeted on cars that were there due to a comeback. I felt this was pretty bold, car is at your shop due to a comeback and you try to sell work in another area of the car, it happens.
If you eliminate ethics from the scenerio anything is possible.
Many years ago I also had a vehicle involved in an Atty General’s office investigation. I had just had some work done, I don’t even remember what, and I recieved a phone call asking if I could stop back on a specific date and have the work rechecked. I did so. I was one of a series of cars that were put on the lift with a small group of guys with clipboards watching, some in suits, a few of whom I was told (after asking) were from the AG’s office. I received a full refund. No explanation, just a full refund.
When I was a kid & worked at a service station (In the mid 70’s) the owner used a couple cans of carburetor cleaner on a customer’s car & charged for a tune up. He laughed and said, “They can afford it”.
I’ve been thinking about starting my own automotive repair shop where I would specialize in the following:
Deflating and reinflating the tires so that the tires would have fresh air.
Discharging and recharging the battery so that the battery would have more energetic electrons.
If anyone can help me think of some other easily performed scams for the new business I have in mind, please help me out.
It wasn’t turbo or diesel, thus it didn’t require synthetic.
I remember seeing a new car dealer having the tires regrooved for a used car that was going to be resold. This was back in the late 1950’s. J. C. Whitney even sold tire regrooving tools back then with the idea that you could have your own business “renewing” tires for dealers. I hope this practice has stopped–I haven’t heard about it for years.