Another automotive repair thread...

[Cougar_ml]

So yesterday my sister stopped by and told me the truck she's borrowing from our parents acted like it locked up the front passenger side wheel while she was driving.  It then freed itself and worked again.  I also found out that 2 different shops had recommended replacing the brake pads and rotors as well, as the vehicle had vibrations while braking.

So I took a quick look at it for her.  Removed the wheel, shone a light at the brake pad, pads were over 1/4 inch thick, still had at least 1/16th before the wear indicator was gone.

Took the brake caliper off, and the rotor assembly (which is also the hub on a mid 90's ford ranger) moved around all over the place.  So I took off the center cap, removed the nut holding the bearings in place, and all the rollers promptly fell out of the hub...

Fortunately it was still early enough that Napa was open, they had all the parts.  Got back, cleaned it up, put the new bearings in and a new seal, lots of nice fresh grease, and put everything back together.  

Amazingly enough, that vibration she had while braking is gone.  I'm just annoyed that 2 different shops in the area, that both seem to have decent reviews, didn't bother to properly diagnose a problem as serious as the bearing is completely shot and falling apart, and who knows how long until something serious, like locking up the wheel while driving down the road happened.

 

Just felt like venting a little bit.  My parents bought that truck back before I was allowed to drive, my sisters both got to drive it as their first vehicles, but mostly my dad drove it to work.  In the past year that my sister has had it it went from being an older truck in decent condition, to a moderately abused and neglected truck.  Ford ranger with the extended cab and the 2 jump seats, manual transmission, and the smallest engine ford would put into it that year (my parents knew the kids would be driving it).  I remember one trip loading it with some gear in the back and having to keep it in 3rd gear to cross the mountains for a camping event.  It's part of the reason why my truck and my car both have engines with lots of power in them, just because I hate driving at high RPMs.

[crockett]

What I'm reading between the lines is that you REALLY want a newer Powerstroke diesel.

The seed is planted.

Thank me later.

[holyjohnson]

ask 10 different mechanics a question you`ll get 10 different answers.

 

i don`t know how they missed it unless it was just over the phone,a lot of places don`t want to test drive a car for free anymore and others don`t like to rack them to actually spin a wheel or check for play.

good catch though.

[Cougar_ml]

14 minutes ago, crockett said:

What I'm reading between the lines is that you REALLY want a newer Powerstroke diesel.

The seed is planted.

Thank me later.

No seed necessary.  I don't need a newer one, the one I have is more than new enough for the amount I use it.

My truck is a 2000 F450 with the 7.3L Powerstroke diesel in it, so I've already got that covered.  One of the last, and arguably one of the best years of engine, before the EPA screwed over the entire diesel automotive world, and before Ford decided they wanted to try building their own diesel engines. 

I bought it almost 10 years ago when the economy was in the tank and the company that owned it had laid off almost all of it's employees.  I watched the price drop by about $1k in 2 weeks time, nobody was buying trucks right then.  I picked it up for $4k, I put about $1500 worth of parts into fixing a fuel leak and a complete rebuild of the rear end (new ring, pinion, and all bearings).  All the tires were at 95% or better, receipts in the glove box showed they cost $2200 about 8 months earlier, and a few months before that it had $600 worth of new front end brake parts.  I got it for a good deal, and could turn around and sell it for double what I have into it at this point.  

I've only put about 25k miles on it in the past 10 years, but it does what I want, and I paid for it outright.  Last major thing I purchased before getting married, and it's lasted longer and caused me a whole lot less grief than my marriage did.

 

[crockett]

20 minutes ago, Cougar_ml said:

No seed necessary.  I don't need a newer one, the one I have is more than new enough for the amount I use it.

My truck is a 2000 F450 with the 7.3L Powerstroke diesel in it, so I've already got that covered.  One of the last, and arguably one of the best years of engine, before the EPA screwed over the entire diesel automotive world, and before Ford decided they wanted to try building their own diesel engines. 

I bought it almost 10 years ago when the economy was in the tank and the company that owned it had laid off almost all of it's employees.  I watched the price drop by about $1k in 2 weeks time, nobody was buying trucks right then.  I picked it up for $4k, I put about $1500 worth of parts into fixing a fuel leak and a complete rebuild of the rear end (new ring, pinion, and all bearings).  All the tires were at 95% or better, receipts in the glove box showed they cost $2200 about 8 months earlier, and a few months before that it had $600 worth of new front end brake parts.  I got it for a good deal, and could turn around and sell it for double what I have into it at this point.  

I've only put about 25k miles on it in the past 10 years, but it does what I want, and I paid for it outright.  Last major thing I purchased before getting married, and it's lasted longer and caused me a whole lot less grief than my marriage did.

 

 

I totally forgot that you own a F450 diesel.

$4k is a great deal! Heck I'd buy one today at that price, just because, as a project truck. Before I bought my Duramax replacement I considered an older Ford diesel but the prices are insane these days. Everybody wants the 7.3.

[Cougar_ml]

49 minutes ago, crockett said:

 

I totally forgot that you own a F450 diesel.

$4k is a great deal! Heck I'd buy one today at that price, just because, as a project truck. Before I bought my Duramax replacement I considered an older Ford diesel but the prices are insane these days. Everybody wants the 7.3.

My buddy bought a service truck, F450, and same year as mine, with a utility bucket on it, it has an Onan generator, and some other stuff built in.  It has the gasoline V10 engine in it, and it only cost him $1500 (motor has a bad bearing) where at the same time a flatbed was going for $10k or more with the diesel in it.  Only has about 160k mile if I remember right.  

With everything Ford has tried to build since they stopped using the International engine and made their own, it's no surprise as to why the 7.3s have gone up in value so much.  My parents have a 2004 6.0L diesel, and at under 60k miles there's something bad going on with either the HPOP or turbo, it occasionally loses boost when driving uphill or under a load, but only after the truck has been running for at least an hour.  Lariat, nice truck to drive around town and occasional towing or hauling, but nowhere near the feel good reliability of the 7.3.

[SC Tiger]

7 hours ago, Cougar_ml said:

So yesterday my sister stopped by and told me the truck she's borrowing from our parents acted like it locked up the front passenger side wheel while she was driving.  It then freed itself and worked again.  I also found out that 2 different shops had recommended replacing the brake pads and rotors as well, as the vehicle had vibrations while braking.

So I took a quick look at it for her.  Removed the wheel, shone a light at the brake pad, pads were over 1/4 inch thick, still had at least 1/16th before the wear indicator was gone.

Took the brake caliper off, and the rotor assembly (which is also the hub on a mid 90's ford ranger) moved around all over the place.  So I took off the center cap, removed the nut holding the bearings in place, and all the rollers promptly fell out of the hub...

Fortunately it was still early enough that Napa was open, they had all the parts.  Got back, cleaned it up, put the new bearings in and a new seal, lots of nice fresh grease, and put everything back together.  

Amazingly enough, that vibration she had while braking is gone.  I'm just annoyed that 2 different shops in the area, that both seem to have decent reviews, didn't bother to properly diagnose a problem as serious as the bearing is completely shot and falling apart, and who knows how long until something serious, like locking up the wheel while driving down the road happened.

 

Just felt like venting a little bit.  My parents bought that truck back before I was allowed to drive, my sisters both got to drive it as their first vehicles, but mostly my dad drove it to work.  In the past year that my sister has had it it went from being an older truck in decent condition, to a moderately abused and neglected truck.  Ford ranger with the extended cab and the 2 jump seats, manual transmission, and the smallest engine ford would put into it that year (my parents knew the kids would be driving it).  I remember one trip loading it with some gear in the back and having to keep it in 3rd gear to cross the mountains for a camping event.  It's part of the reason why my truck and my car both have engines with lots of power in them, just because I hate driving at high RPMs.

 

That sucks but I do wonder what your sister told the shop.  Sometimes telling them "there's a problem with braking" will plant a seed that will send them down the wrong path.  In a perfect world they should know better.

Did the shops make the recommendation over the phone, when she went in, or did they put the car on a lift?  I can see how that issue would seem to be a brake issue by description but once it goes on the lift they should have found what you found.

[Cougar_ml]

2 hours ago, SC Tiger said:

 

That sucks but I do wonder what your sister told the shop.  Sometimes telling them "there's a problem with braking" will plant a seed that will send them down the wrong path.  In a perfect world they should know better.

Did the shops make the recommendation over the phone, when she went in, or did they put the car on a lift?  I can see how that issue would seem to be a brake issue by description but once it goes on the lift they should have found what you found.

I don't know the specifics, as it's all second hand information to me, but I do know the vehicle was at the shop location, but like you said, they should have found what I did if they looked at it, so I don't think they did.

[ARP]

I'll toss my 2 cents in. I would be relatively certain that the shops diagnosis was done with a flashlight and no disassembly, if they even went that far. You did not discover the failed bearing until you disassembled, and had she agreed to either of the repair shop diagnosis, they would have gotten in there and began working and she would have gotten the phone call that they discovered a bigger problem.

I had a similar situation a few years ago, took my old Xterra into the local shop for a coolant leak. A few weeks before that, I had the shop flush the radiator and replace coolant, now it was leaking coolant. The conversation went like this, "we have good news and bad news." The leak was the result of a broken hose clamp that rusted and failed, we replaced that. The bad news is that your radiator core support is completely rusted and you risk having your radiator fall completely thru to the ground soon." I found someone to fix the rust work which involved replacing the core support and I found a new in box core support for $75.....shipping was $325! When this happened, I went all in and replaced the radiator, hoses, clamps, thermostat..... 

[Paul53]

Had my bad luck with auto repairs. between computer codes and service writers, It's hard to tell a good mechanic from a parts replacer.

Lucky find: 115,000 miles on my Saturn (Satan) always changed oil as recommended, usually much sooner. (5000 miles is easy to remember). Tried an online only product. "Car-Rx." Figured high mileage but regular oil changes, there's probably some crud. Instructions are to use 2 bottles, drive 1500 miles, change oil.

Couldn't go 1500 miles. Crud kept clogging oil filter. After 3 clogged oil filters and 1400 miles, did a complete oil change. Bottles warn of possible filter blockage, but 3 in 1400 miles?

 

When car hit 100,000 miles I sent an oil sample off to just see. Report said no signs of abnormal wear.

 

Anecdotal report, interpret as you choose. No skin in the game.

 

CORRECTION: PRODUCT IS "AUTO-RX PLUS"

https://www.auto-rx.com/

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Paul53
power trip power trip