I need an oil pump reseal, crank position sensor, radius arm bushings, transmission fluid flush, front eng seals & timing belt covers…quite expensive. I’m not able to do the repairs until maybe a month from now due to expense, will that affect my car if it sits for a month. I was told if I let it sit for a month my car will be at risk and cannot be repaired, is this true?
Need is very much a relative term. Why don’t you give folks some sense of the bigger picture here. What kind of a shop gave you this list? Why did you take the car to the shop? What kinds of issues are you having?
Who told you that the car will be unrepairable if it sits for a month? That is purely insane. If it is the same shop that gave you this laundry list of “needs” then I’d just turn around and walk away now. Give a full report and people can help you sort out what to do.
For everyone’s benefit, this is apparently a continuation of an earlier thread:
http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/2138582.page
Yesterday, I told the OP that allowing the car to “sit” for a month was not endangering it in any way.
However, when I answered this question yesterday, the OP did not make it clear that someone was predicting doom for his car if he just allowed it to sit for a month. If the prospective mechanic is the one who is telling the OP that the car would be harmed by just sitting for a month, then I would suggest that he find a new mechanic for this work.
And, to repeat what I had stated earlier, it is fine to allow the car to sit idle for a month. Just be sure to check the level of the motor oil and adjust if necessary prior to driving it.
I agree that you need to find a new mechanic. The “fairytale” that the mechanic told you was just a ploy to get you to spend money now. He probably is in dire need of the business because he does not have many customers if any.
To add to what I stated previously, if this bogus advice came from the prospective mechanic, then he is the mechanic equivalent of the car salesman who says, “this deal is only good if you buy now, and once you walk out of the showroom I can’t give you this price”. Just as a high-pressure car salesman is to be avoided, a high-pressure mechanic is also to be avoided, particularly when he is giving truly bogus advice.
I am wondering if perhaps the OP took the car to a chain operation such as Midas, Meineke, Monro, Sears, or AAMCO. Those places are notorious for giving incorrect information, attempting to “bump up” the cost of repairs, and other high-pressure tactics.