I crawl under a car and see these things
The engine is oily and greasy
The oil pan is covered in oil, and it’s obvious that the oil pan gasket should be replaced
The water pump is crusty with dried coolant and I can see that it came from the weep hole
Yet there are no spots on the ground
Does that mean that my eyes are deceiving me?
How did that oil get on the pan
Why is the water pump crusty with dried coolant
Is everything fine?
It means that my eyes are NOT deceiving me, but those components should be replaced and/or resealed
If I make a recommendation to my customer to replace the oil pan gasket and the water pump, and they ignore my recommendations, then I am off the hook when that car gets towed in
Here’s another one:
My neighbor’s car has a torn cv boot. My neighbor doesn’t see the grease on the driveway, because it’s getting splattered onto the inner fender liner.
So, as far as he’s concerned, everything’s fine
Is it?
Is he getting robbed if I charge him to replace that boot?
You know the expression “The customer is always right”
It’s quite possible to have a water pump leak without leaving spots. Sometimes leaking coolant from the weephole is blown off by airflow and if the leak is small enough, engine heat may evaporate what little oozes out due to residual cooling system pressure after engine shutdown.
In some cases the pump can leak from a gasket and mix with engine oil; leaving no spots at all.
Along the lines of small things becoming big problems, I replaced the head gaskets on a Subaru once and made the recommendation that the heater hoses be replaced at that time. The father paying for the repairs on the car which belonged to his daughter, firmly declined. He felt “they were not needed” and this was notated on the repair order.
A month or so later the car comes in on the hook; fried. A heater hose had given up on I-35 and since it “was only about another 25 miles to college” the daughter kept driving after the initial cloud of steam and with the temp gauge pegged.
So who was the father upset with? Yes, us; even after pulling our copy from the file and showing him the bit about heater hoses.
Like some seem to do, this guy had also “lost” his copy of the repair order; a common trait when the paperwork trail works against the customer’s financial interests…
You guys are misunderstanding me. If I bring my car to you and you tell me that the oil pan is leaking, If it is, I know something is wrong because I have had to keep adding oil to the engine. If you think my water pump is leaking, I know that if I have to keep adding coolant. If you show mw a heater hose that is swelled up around the clamps, I know that is not right and it needs to be replaced.
But I give you another example, my mother often uses coupons for getting he oil changed at a local garages where she lives. One garage in particular is bad about finding about a $1000 worth of suddenly needed repairs. Its always $1000 +/-. Often it includes new gaskets for oil, and the car has yet to use a drop of oil, new cooling system parts, even though it has never overheated and has never lost a drop of coolant. I have to talk her down and get her to another mechanic that I trust for a second opinion, which never uncovers all these needed repairs.
Occasionally she will call me about a problem and I tell her to take it to a mechanic and what to expect the problem to be. If the mechanic comes to the same conclusion, then she has the work done. The last time, it was a knock sensor, but I did not expect that it cost $1000 to replace one of these, but she got three estimates.
I am not saying that the OP doesn’t need a water pump, I am saying that if he has not been loosing coolant, then he needs to keep an eye on the coolant level for a couple of weeks before deciding to get any repairs. If he doesn’t loose any coolant over a course of three to four weeks, I think he can safely ignore the dealership recommendations. And I still think he should find a good independent mechanic instead of using the dealership for simple maintenance items.
I am not totally against dealerships, I use our local Honda dealer for timing belt changes. I can do a timing belt on any other car, but can’t seem to get the pulley bolt off a Honda. But my daughters best friend’s husband is a service writer, he know nothing about mechanics except to change a tire and he is paid a commission for all “upsales” like fuel system flushes etc and a big commission if he steers a customer into the showroom who buys a new car.
"keith You hit the nail on the head. I had my oil changed on my Toyota at the dealership down the road, convenient and safe. The service writer recommended the usual fuel system flush (car has only 40,000 miles on it) and he said the oil pan was leaking. I told him the car does no leak any oil on the garage floor, nor does it use any over 5000 miles. He said that the leaking oil would be blown away by the wind when the car was in motion, and strongly recommended that I spend $438 to reseal the oil pan. I told him I would be back if and when it started leaking badly.
To put this in perspective, last year we sold our old 1994 Nissan Sentra which had never had a fuel system flush, oil pan gasket replaced, or any of those other wallet flushes they push.
While I agree that not all leaking oil pan gaskets and water pumps are niagara falls size leaks . . .
You must also understand that a mechanic would be considered negligent to not alert you to leaky components, and at the same time recommend replacement/resealing
Suppose the mechanic thought “it doesn’t look that bad. I won’t say anything” and lets it go.
When the car comes back two days later dripping oil, the customer will ask “Why didn’t you see that, and why didn’t you say something”