I have a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis that is currently in the shop and I am waiting to hear back from the mechanic. I took it in because it was making a ticking sound when I would accelerate. He found the problem and called to tell me that it was an exhaust leak under the manifold and that it would run me from $250-$300 and that if the manifold was warped and they couldn’t get the bolts off “we were screwed”? Does this sound right? He then called me and said that when they removed my front tire they could see that my brakes were gone? I just had the car in at the Mercury dealer 3 weeks ago and they did an oil change and checked everything out and the report they gave me said that the brakes were ok. They have not been grinding, shuttering, or anything bad like that. I am axiously waiting for them to call me and let me know if “I’m screwed”. Any ideas out there about what I should do, and should I just take my car elsewhere? I looked up the mechanic shop online and they had good ratings and are ASE certified, DEQ, AAA auto repair Recommended, etc.
I’m not sure what he meant by “screwed”?? That’s not much of an answer! Did he mean it couldn’t be fixed?? Or it would be very expensive?? I think it’s definitely time for another opinion before deciding to have it fixed.
Do get a third opinion now. You have the first opinion from the dealer, and generally speaking if anybody was out to soak you, it would be the dealer. Maybe there boat payments are all up to date. A clicking sound does not remind me of an exhaust leak, but if it was a sort of a hooshing sound repeated frequently, and increasing in frequency with the speed of the engine, I might buy that diagnosis. Screwed is a varialbe term, depending on how much the guy need to make his child support payments.
You need a better “shop.”