Go Check out my redemption video of self promotion on the second channel! Trying NOT to believe it! 2007 Silverado 3500 Duramax 6.6 Diesel system additive ua-cam.com/video/X4AbALaWR7o/v-deo.html
I was just wondering you said the crv has 191955 miles, when in the clip it look like its actually 091955 mile on the dash, is it just look like that in the video or does it actually have 191955 miles on it? Just out of curiosity thanks!
That is the best thing, go to a mechanic you know. Even if their prices are no better, they are less likely to try to sell you a couple bottles of blinker fluid for $20 each LOL
Anyone else heard the irritation level of Ray go up exponentially during the inspection? I feel the same, stop messing with people and sell them shit they dont need. Especially old people, they should be treated with respect thru and thru. Pleasure as always, stay safe Sir
I own a HVAC company and I get the same thing. Other companies give us a bad name too by doing dishonest work. It causes people to distrust me which kinda insults me because I can't sleep at night if I think I've been the tiniest dishonest..
Years ago a lady brought her Sentra to us saying she had an estimate ( that we saw ) of over 1000 dollars. It needed nothing. We called her out to the lift and went over Point by point. She informed the person who recommended us and we got a customer for life plus all her friends. I worked for Jimmie Croy for almost 30 yrs and shop policy was never sell what is not needed.
I really appreciate your honesty in calling out the other shop for recommending unnecessary repairs. You'd be the mechanic I'd want to go to if I was in your area.
This sort of thing is exactly why myself, family and friends WILL NOT take any vehicle to Firestone for any reason. Too many horror stories and they will straight up lie to your face, even when you call them out on it.
@@gotdangedcommiesitellyahwa6298 i got an alignment done at a firestone and they gave me the before and after printouts and lied to my face when i asked him why the timestamp on the before and after papers were only 4 minutes apart. Something about an issue with the computer they use and its totally not that they just bumped the sensor until it read right and printed it again. I also watched them working on my car and knew they were full of it bc they never put the sensors back on the wheels
@@ShellSide Doesn't surprise me. Heard dozens of similar stories, such as slashing people's brand new tires or telling them they need other parts that had just been replaced by someone else. I couldn't even get a straight answer about tire ratings OR prices!
I have an older relative near Sarasota. I know the name of this guy's shop, and I am going to call her and tell her to BRING HER CAR TO HIS SHOP! She'll tell her friends. Before long corporate is going to start wondering why the revenue from this one particular location is booming....
I spent 22 years in the shop and 2 years behind the counter, I never once recommended something that I didn't think was needed, being human I wasn't always right but I never once tried to pad the estimate, I've listened to so many stories about dishonest shops over the years and it always made me so mad, dishonesty makes us all look bad and makes our job so much more difficult, you're doing us a great service showing the world what a tech with honesty and integrity looks, thank you from all of us present and former techs.
My dad and I have had similar issues with shops around were we live. When he had his 99 suburban it had an air conditioning leak and the shop he would take it didn't diagnose the problem and just refilled. It wasn't till we went down to Florida with it in the middle of the summer for vacation when he found out how lazy of a job they did. Thankfully this last year we've found a shop that actually does their job and doesn't rip you off.
I worked at a pep boys back in the 80's that had squirt cans full of various fluids. ATF,shock oil,coolant etc depending on what they were pushing that week. You squirted the oil on the part in hopes of selling it. Same guy would take a nail from a flat tire and throw it back into the street while telling it to bring him another one
@@GrumpyIan I had something customer once like the one in the video, she had a estimate from another shop for over $2200 worth of brake work, pads rotors calipers shoes drums wheel cylinders hoses and a master cylinder, her original complaint was spongy brakes after checking it out it just the rear breaks out of adjustment, I adjusted them and sent her on her way with no charge, she never took her car anywhere else, a happy customer is a repeat customer.
@@chrisleggett685 I had a buddy that worked at a Firestone he told me how they would take junkyard parts clean and paint them and sell them as new, poke pin holes in power steering and radiator hoses and take lead pencils and make a circle around exhaust pipes (apparently lead would cause galvanized metal to corrode)
I commend you Ray for being a man of character and conviction. I quit a shop many years ago because of similar circumstances where the mgr. wanted parts replaced on a customers car that was pretty much new I told the mgr and the gm. that a good reputation is hard to keep as a mechanic doing un needed repairs as I loaded my tools up!!
Mechanics have a hard enough job as it is, One of my friends was actually on the other side of service dept issues within dealerships. He had to rebuild a transmission and He found something else wrong ( steering or something under warranty ) and they said the customer didn't ask for that to be fixed. That along with some vacation issues and He loaded his tools up and left.
@@anwalt693 for me I ended up going from shop to shop which most either sold out or went out of business hence I did a career change as repair shops and dealers became harder to work for
Being a mechanic for 35 years, I know what it is like to be honest with a customer especially someone on a fixed income. Now that I am retired and on a fixed income, I have a few friends that own their own mechanics shop and when I feel I can't handle a the job, I let them do the work. But for oil changes, I do it myself. The point is, when you are on a fixed income, you have bills to pay to live. I feel sorry for the woman who has to make the decision on whether to fix the car or not. Shame on the other shop for doing this to her. Honesty is the only way to go. Great job, Ray.
I once took my car in that had a remanufactured engine about 3,000 MI on the engine and the shop told me I needed new brake fluid new radiator fluid new other things like serpentine belt all based off of the mileage of the car and I called them out on that that they did not actually check my car and I did this in front of a room full of people...
That is kinda how most dealers work... you bring your vehicle in with X amount miles on it, they've got a sheet saying this and that has to be done no matter what... every customers has to bring in at least a certain amount of money every time they visit for service. AND you can't even blame the people working there, they have to do it, corporate makes them do it. That's why my friend quit his job being the chief mechanic at a Honda dealership (Honda didn't do this for years, but started these practices some years ago) and opened his own place specializing in Honda.
Yep. Similar thing. Even had their fancy report tell me I needed a new cabin air filter. My car didn't even have the housing for the optional cabin air filter. Another was the "dangerously worn" rear brakes that I "shouldn't even leave the shop with". They were at about 40%, and still are. I did pick up a filter housing assembly later, like I had been planning.
I am kinda lucky, My usual service engineers are pretty honest and have even talked me out of putting parts in my vehicle as they were not yet necessary. Well done sir for pulling them up.
The only outrage you should have caused with this video is our outrage against whoever tried to fleece that lady. You're doing yourself and your entire profession a good service calling out the ones who do this to make a fast buck. Thanks for being one of the good ones Ray. We need more like you on our side.
Back in the 90s, a major chain of repair shops tried to scam my mother. She noticed after driving out of town for 45 miles her inspection was due. She pulled into the garage to get it inspected. They came back and said she needed struts, ball joints, wheel bearings and exhaust system. Well over $1000 in cost. She got the estimate and brought it to her mechanic. The car was inspected without a problem. Since then she never took her car to another garage for anything.
Just over a year and a half ago, I brought my car into the dealer to get two recalls addressed. Upon doing the multipoint, they recommended replacement of the lower control arms (car didn't have a handling or suspension issue). Note that I had my local mechanic do the state inspection on the car about a month prior to taking it in for the recall work (MA procedures now require the inspection by fully documented on video and the video be sent to RMV as part of the inspection record, so shops can't skip out on parts of the inspection), and he found no issues. I told the service writer I'd check with my mechanic about it, and that was the end of that. Had one state inspection since then, and my mechanic told me that everything is still fine suspension wise.
Mini- state inspections are total ripoffs !!! Back years ago our state had mandatory yearly inspection done through state appointed “ service stations”. I had just did a complete brake job on the car I had at the time and went to get my car inspected, “well you need new brakes”!!!! I thanked him, went to another station , passed with flying colors. A few years later, the state dropped that inspection nonsense.
Between '86 and '94 I worked at a dealer. The employee morale was horrible mostly because the service writers and salesmen were constantly upselling customers and then bragging about it during lunch. this happened in every department. the service techs who complained about scamming the customers were given crap jobs and the feeling that managers and the owners just didn't care was common.
Ray, your level of integrity is a reflection of your upbringing, your faith or a combination of the two. Either way, it is so wonderful to know you think of others first besides yourself. God bless you in all your endeavors! This video brings me joy!
No outrage whatsoever! Quite the contrary... mad respect and endless amounts of respect for saving this woman over a thousand dollars in unnecessary repairs, instead a 20-30 dollar set of new wipers. Shops or dealerships that do try and prey on their customers is absolutely disgusting and the lowest if the low. I am so incredibly grateful to see shops like yours and and a few others. Keep up the incredible... and honest work that you do sir.🙏💜
I had a dealer recommend upper control arms because grease was leaking. The stock arms have no grease fittings. I had replaced them myself with Moog units, which DO have grease fittings. And when you squeeze grease in, sometimes a bit will ooze out from the boot. No big deal. But mechanic dude jumps to the conclusion that oh, I see grease, he needs new control arms. With that logic, a bit of leaking oil from a valve cover will dictate a new engine. Seriously, a LOT of these "mechanics" are nothing more than oil change techs. Gonna be great when electric vehicles start rolling in regularly for electrical issues. It will be, how many modules can we sell this person.
I always get a kick out of the local Subaru dealers' service writers bringing "your" cabin air filter into the waiting area to show the customer how dirty it is, just so they can charge them parts and labor to replace it. I've taken to marking the cabin filters I install (at home) so that if it comes up during some other service I can prove whether they've actually pulled *my* cabin filter, or if it's just some dirty one they keep behind the counter.
If we reset the fuel economy tracking on Mom's Lincoln Continental at the right time, we could get it to read 99 mpg for 5 miles.... There was a long hill on the freeway, where the engine was holding the car back. Average econ without "cheating" was 14 mpg.
Average being the key word. Besides displaying average my olds can also display 'instant' fuel economy but thats' a rather useless feature as far as I'm concerned.
Integrity is a rare thing to find in service industries anymore. My hat is off to you and your shop. I'm not a mechanic by profession, but I've done almost everything you can do to a car at some point in my life and took auto mechanic shop for four years in high school. That being said, I picked up a project car for my son and I to build into a 1/4 mile car. Basically a FBO build with cams to start. We had a bad clutch slave cylinder which was replaced along with the clutch and new lightened flywheel. When the slave cyl went failed, I took it to a non dealer shop to get it changed out. We did all the previous work ourselves, but my bum shoulder couldn't handle another transmission pull. So here come the estimate of all thats "wrong" after I drop it off. 8k worth of work.... "You need a new flywheel and clutch" they had maybe 500 miles on them... "It runs really rough and the CEL is on, needs fuel system fixed" no dude, I explained thats FRP cams and a race tune... They obviously didnt listen to what I told them about the car, or were blatantly trying to rip me off. I wish they had a Ray there.... 😀
This is so typical of Honda dealerships. A while ago I was dealing with a DTC 1457 Evaporative Emission (EVAP) Control System Leakage (EVAP Cantister System). I took it to the Honda dealer to run a smoke test (to the tune of $100). I was told post-test that I needed a new gas tank and associated fittings - estimated cost $1,730 -. This didn't sound logical to me so I did some further investigation and found that the EVAP canister purge valve had a leak. I replaced it myself for ~$53 and the DTC cleared. If I did spend the $1,730 as Honda suggested, the DTC would have also cleared because the purge valve was included in the gas tank replacement. Why should I pay for a whole fuel system replacement when only one part is faulty? I suspect that's what might be in play here. Why should this woman pay for essentially a full front suspension update when only one or two parts are faulty? Getting a second opinion was the smart thing to do.
Ray, you are too nice trying to give the other shop an out. They obviously were using the parts cannon on someone who they thought didn't know better. I appreciate your honesty, skill and quality workmanship. I've been watching your channel for several months now and you've taught me so much about vehicles, how they work, what needs maintenance, and what doesn't. My 11yo Corolla and I thank you.
I respect your honest, professional and educated teachings on car maintenance, Sir. You take time to share your findings with other employees, so they understand what to look for. I always appreciate your videos.
I'm glad the old lady didn't fall for a scam! On the other hand though Ray, I came here because of the thumbnail and spent my last 15 minutes of lunch in anticipation. Not cool but I ain't mad at ya for it. 😅
91,000 sounds about average for me as I don’t even put 5,000 on per year. It always surprised me to see used cars barely 5 years old with nearly 100k on them already.
Thank you! My dad who is in his mid 60’s got ripped off by a shop for over $800! They didn’t even replace the parts they said they did! Old folks don’t have a lot of money and it’s just unethical to scam them like this! I hope the shop go out of business.
@@SeanONeill13 you realize some of the older folks don't have the same capability as us young folks? Those old folks usually put too much trust in shops because they can't do their own repairs or know how to.
@@SeanONeill13 You are missing the point. Elderly people can more easily be physically intimidated by a mechanic or business owner and so are less likely to try to defend themselves . All it takes is some coward service tech to take a couple of steps closer to the senior citizen , raise his voice and put a hostile look on his face to frighten an elderly person into capitulating . This is why " some" people are outraged when this happens . YOU , being young can defend yourselves
Thanks yet again as others have stated for your honesty and integrity as a mechanic, you shine a light where others drag people into the darkness mate. I do hope that lady decides to go back to you for any work she needs on that mint condition Honda. She obviously looks after it and that is how it should remain with your TLC. Keep Safe Keep Strong My Friend 🦘🦘🦘💖💖💖🚗🚗🚗
Good morning Ray and everyone on UA-cam. Two words"SHOW ME" ask the shop to bring you out under your car and show you the problems that they're suggesting be repaired and take pictures. I'm sure will make some of them quite nervous, or maybe not... You can then take the pictures and your visual inspection of your vehicle to another shop for a second opinion, hopefully a shop you can trust. Just my thoughts, everyone don't forget to have a great day. Greetings from Lake City 🇺🇸🌴😎
As a mechanic myself I must comment and hope that Ray see's this. A visual inspection of ball joints is not sufficient nor just shaking the wheel back and forth. The ball joints are perpandicular to the motion of travel, so the wear will most likely occur by compressing the ball joint. Hence you need to unload the balljoint and then get a large pair of vicegrips and squeeze the balljoint to look for movement and also rock the tyre from the outside top and bottom to see if there is lateral movement. Also to check the sway bar links a pair of vicegrips is needed again to compress the joint to check for movement. Looking at the vehicle from this screen tells me that this car isn't flogged by an old lady, but given the age and the torn boot, that is just wear and tear. The D/S ball joint was replaced before and penetrant was used to soak the balljoint before removal, hence why it was covered in greasy dust. The tie rod end was also the same, which indicates that axle has had work done to it. I wouldn't be too quick to condemn the previous workshops assessment until these checks are done. As a side note, I watch Ray almost daily and his work is of the highest standard for sure. So this is not an attack, just an observation from a fellow mechanic. Love ya work brother 👌
@@captinbeyond It depends on how worn the joint is. The swaybar links are not usually felt in the cabin as there is alot of rubber parts between the control arm and the chassis to dampen small knocks. A ball joint won't necessarily give a knock either, it can start out as a squeak as you travel over speed humps etc. I have seen 2-4mm of movement in a ball joint with no knocking noise to indicate that it is failing. It was only by physical inspection that I found it was flogged out. Also yes for the most part there will be an audible sign that a ball joint or front end bush is on its way out.
Did she only pay for a visual inspection? Because at 90,000 miles she very well could have rattling end links that don't have torn boots. And that new ball joint looks like a Chinese mevotech which are sometimes bad right out of the box. Why didn't you pry and wiggle and test drive?
You didn't ruin this video. You proved once again just how honest of a mechanic you are. Great job helping the older lady out and stopping her from spending ooldles and gobbs of money that she didn't need to spend.
I bought a Honda Pilot from a family member a few years back. They owned it since new and had it serviced at Firestone since the warranty ran out. Observations: The car had barely any plastic clips left holding on any of the plastic parts. The oil drain bolt was 2x OS and leaking. Just about every estimate was $1K+ and they always suggested things like a fuel system cleaning. Some stuff was oversold and not nessary IMO. I saw that they recommended spark plugs 20K miles after they had changed them. They did tie rod end links and they were banging after 20K miles. I figured it was because they were after market. I ordered Honda end links because the originals lasted over 100K miles. I hadn't looked closely enough at them when diagnosing. It turns out one was fine and the other one that was banging was loose. How did it come lose with the hex nut keyway? I think they binded it and thought it was tight. When it unbinded itself it started clunking. The other thing was thar other services were ignored. The power steering fluid was low and black. The trans fluid had never been touched in 140K Mike's. The rear diff had only been serviced once. The timing belt hadn't been changed or even suggested by 140K miles. Of course struts were suggested every visit and never changed and it still doesn't need them. The problem was the fairly new junk Firestone tires that have too much runout and need to much weight. They are currently on the back.
Those quickie shops always suggest a bunch of easy and useless work. They'll sell a zillion spark plugs and tie rods (and the accompanying alignment) before they do real work.
Watched the whole video now -- for the new home mechanics (1 )When checking ball joints -- you take a prybar/large screwdriver stick it between the control arm and bottom of knuckle and see if the ball joint pushes apart (don't damage the rubber) -- with all the suspension still attached, you would not be able to see if a ball joint was bad by just pulling on the tire unless it was so far gone that its was already to fall apart. (2) Its clear that one ball joint was replaced and not the other -- while there are arguments on both sides of this -- with suspension one school of through is you change both sides at the same time as both saw the same life exposure. I buy my ball joints at Rockauto and generally they are pretty cheap -- in this more modern design the ball joint bolts onto the control arm (vs pressed into the knuckle) its not hard to replace both.. (3) One ball joint does has a torn boot but if it passed the prybar test, you could let it go a few years. (4) The other ball joint is not wet because the other shop sprayed it -- if you look higher you can clearly see some of the grease has washed out of the axle and the dark coloration is down the back of the knuckle and onto the ball joint. (5) If I am working on my stuff - and I am replacing ball joints, control arm/bushing etc -- I do a new link -- again you can buy less than $20 on Rockauto and the parts are not the cost driver - its time here - if a part is cheap and in the middle of another repair, save the future labor, replace the part. Unless the link is really warn, you would not be able to see if its bad by just twisting it while still installed.. it has to be unloaded so when you took one end off to loosen the control arm to get to the ball joint, you would see if its worn out. (6) I own and have owned multiple Honda, every single one has lasted >300k miles and suspensions do wear out and you start hearing noises -- often you need to replace multiple parts at once to get the noises to go because everything is worn -- that's why you will see this kits with struts, arms, ball joints, links, bar busings -- myself, I just accept the noises but on my wife's car, little car noises result in big wife noises and as such, I replace more. In a shop - no good deed goes unpunished -- if you didn't replace the link yet you had it off in your hand, and later it fails, the customer may not sing your praise.
Yeah, Ray's position that nothing needs to be done is questionable as well. IDK if the other mechanic was trying to scam the owner or not (these are pure speculations), but Ray's documenting the boot issue to cover himself and yet reassuring the customer verbally that yeah, it's OK is hardly appropriate. The right ball joint definitely should've been changed. And those links could've been recommended because they were approaching the state of rustiness when they could only be removed with a saw. So better change now while it's easy than wait and then have to cut them off.
Always look forward to watching your vids now I have come across your videos it’s good to see videos from other mechanics around the world and not ripping people off
I've had this at a dealer before, I put a timing belt on my sisters 01 Honda accord, and it went back to Honda for a safety recall months later. when we went to get it at the dealer they told me that the timing belt was going to snap and destroy the engine, it needed a trans flush and that it needed ball joints and tiered ends. the reason they had was that the non genuine Honda parts were going to fail and cause issues, to the point that the service writer was basically irate that someone would have the "audacity" to install non genuine parts. were talking about moog joint ends and a gates timing belt(kit) if I hadn't been there my sister probably would have been sucked into doing all the repairs..... also that car ran for 4 more years before my cousin fell asleep behind the wheel on the highway and totaled it.....
The oil/dirt around the recently replaced ball joint looks like they forgot to make it NICE AND SHINEY. The split boot is 100% a monitor and check it next time; I don't know if you can repair that boot to prevent premature failure. Hopefully the recommended repairs were as you say part of a fault finding exercise, but unfortunately main dealers have become known as stealerships for a reason.
Sorry Ray, a visual of the ball joints was not enough. Unload them and see if there is any play in them. In addition the sway bar links need to be grabbed and shaken to see if there is any play at the joints. Also, you don't even know what the original customer complaint was, if any. 🤔
About 5 years ago, I took my 2005 Toyota Sienna Minivan to the Toyota dealer to have the timing belt replaced. Given that the recommended replacement interval is 100K miles and I had 200K miles on the van, I thought it was time. This is labor intensive because they have to remove everything on the front of the engine. So, since they are right next to where the water pump is, and it's not an expensive item and almost no additional labor, they recommended replacing that also. That made sense to me given the mileage. So, I get the van back with the work done and they recommend replacing the rack and pinion because they said it was leaking and also the battery because it tests weak. I pointed out that I check the fluids regularly and the power steering fluid level hasn't moved and the engine cranks like the battery is fine. When I go home, I crawled under and found the boot on the end rack had oil of some sort on it. Bottom line: 5 years and 50K miles later the power steering fluid hasn't gone down. Where did the oil on the boot come from? And, no, the engine doesn't leak. The battery did eventually fail, three years later. I think that they figured that since I was willing to spend some money on the timing belt and water pump, they could squeeze more money out of me for the rack and a battery. It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. Oh, one other thing I almost forgot: For several weeks after the dealer did the work on the van, I noticed a thumping sound coming from the front of the car when accelerating and turning. Over time it got worse. I finally figured out that they had barely inserted the bolt that connects the upper engine mount to the body. Once I tightened it properly the noise went away. So, I ended up thinking they were dishonest and incompetent.
My mother in law went to a local pep boys for inspection. She's 65 years old. Car is only 2 years old with 10k miles it was a brand new lease. The mechanic came back to her and said it didn't pass inspection it needed all new brakes and rotors for $800. She called me and I said get your keys back and never go there again. As soon as she told the guy forget it, he immediately says "don't worry we passed it anyways". Absolute crook.
There used to be a chain called Brake Check down in the south---think they're out of business now. But I took an almost brand new Tundra in for brake flush only, and they found almost $1k of things needed. I told them no thanks. Later I tell the story to some co-workers and 2 of them fall out laughing because they did the same thing with them, using the same line of BS like it was a rehearsed act
I worked pep boys lasted say three weeks , it’s the place it ruff make a buck in that hole so run into a lot that those places. A lot kids there are good but place turns them to shady side
Concerning the oil level. Before testing was your engine off long enough for the oil up in the motor to drain into the pan. A half quart low is normal for a "just turned off" engine.
Also, prior to checking the oil level he pointed out a leak around the oil filter. That might explain a half quart low after 800 miles. Maybe the oil change guys didn't tighten the filter enough.
Some people just really DO lend themselves to being manipulated into spending money for nothing though. My adult daughter is like that. She doesn't speak engineering and only runs her life based on her "feelings". My son and I are both mechanics and will look at her vehicle and discuss recommendations with her. As well as why we recommend something. Then she'll take it to a shop that senses her ignorance and anxiety issues and plays on that. She'll wind up spending a bunch of money on BS and ignore key stuff that actually would benefit herself and her car. My son recently gave up on her stating that if she's just going to ignore everything I say and do the opposite, I'm done wasting my time with her. Frustrating, but what can you do? I'm too old to do it for her. She's in her late 30's now. Her husband has no skills on cars either. This is what happens when two artrsy fartsy's marry. ;-) I still take care of mine and my wife's car, but that is all I have energy for. Thanks for the great work you do Ray! Really admire you for it! You're a force for good in the world.
My very old mother living many states away is the same way. She won't do anything I recommend but some blame goes to her age and lack of mechanical understanding.
Glad to see that there's still honest mechanics out there. I try to teach my daughters things about the cars so that when they have to take them in and I'm not around they don't get ripped off. Put a lot of stuff I'm able to fix except for internal engine repairs.
I've had this situation happen to me once. And I think I saw it happening to another person at another shop. Happened to me when I took my car in for it's annual state inspection. Shop told me it failed and gave me an estimate for $135 to do the repairs. When asked what repairs it needed, they told me 2 light bulbs. I asked him to show me what bulbs needed to be replaced, he pointed out that one of the license plate bulbs didn't work (true), and claimed a tail light was out. But, the tail light worked fine when we were looking at the car. License plate bulb I pointed out that the state inspection only requires one to be working, which he admitted. So he gave me my passing inspection without doing anything. The possible one I witnessed was a young lady brought her car in for an oil change and the service guy told her that she should get a $300 fuel system cleaning because her car had 20,000 miles on it and it was starting to lose fuel mileage and performance. I think 20k miles is a little soon, but I'm not a mechanic, and I don't know the whole situation. Car was only 2 years old.
My wife took her car in for a state inspection at a local dealership. They said it needed a "headlight bulb". When pressed, they said it was actually a "turn signal bulb". She didn't want to take the time to go to another shop, so she told them to put it in. I told her to get the burnt out bulb when she picked it up because we had checked everything before taking it in and had dashcam video from my car showing that all the lights worked. When she asked for it, they told her it was actually the side marker lamp, and that it was burn out and she wouldn't be able to tell because it was shiny. She pressed for the bulb, and showed me a chrome bulb when she got home. I plugged it into a socket and took a video of it lighting up. When I called the shop to call them out on their bullshit, they offered me a gift certificate for the cost of the bulb but not the labor to install it. I told them I wouldn't be back even if it meant I had to drive an extra 3 hours, and to put their "gift certificate" someplace appropriately warm. When we went back to the previously good Mazda dealer across the street, they told me that my car didn't pass inspection because "the brakes were worn out" and then "because the brakes were glazed". I read them the sections of the state motor vehicle code regarding brakes and general vehicle safety, and asked then how my car failed to meet any of those requirements, and furthermore that the ceramic brakes installed on the car from the factory work by depositing a bedding layer of material onto the rotor, just as these brakes had done. Around that time, all of the techs were peeking around the wall and a couple of customers were looking in from the showroom, and quickly went from "we can't let you leave with an unsafe vehicle" to "give them their keys and get them out of here". Needless to say, we took the car to another shop, passed with a "do you want to sell it?" and haven't had any problems since.
@@truckingwithj7202 They can't here either, but they sure tried! I never trusted dealerships anyway, and moving into a state that required inspections meant that I had to find someone. All of my coworkers just have their inspections done at the dealer they bought it from, and they're the kind of people to say "yes" to any "scheduled maintenance". It's definitely worth the extra $50 a year to go to an independent shop, and I'm just glad I found one that I can trust. They did get me to buy wiper blades one year, but I knew they were pretty much worn out. They didn't charge me to install them and only tacked on a few dollars mark-up, and they called me first and told me I could put some on myself and they'd give me the sticker. They get a dozen donuts every time we drop the car off or pick it up.
Maybe that garage was trying to get one over on her but it doesn't have 191000 miles on it it has 91000 miles on it, there's a 0 in front of the 9. Very clean SUV for 07. My brother-in-law always worked on our cars but hes getting up there and age hes got his garage up for sale so we gotta look around for another mechanic, I know it's going to be hard to find an honest one but they are out there you are a prime example. Have a good Wednesday and and always be safe.
my former boss tried doing the same when selling an old lady tires. ended up with me selling her a complete set to 1/4 of the price when he werent there. she hardly used it. her tires went bad due to age not wear. i loved doing buisness with the older people. great stories and theyre amazing at baking XD yes i accepted bribes 🍰
You didn't ruin the video, you produced another excellent video Ray. Here's a horror story for ya: I once bought a used Hyundai Accent from a Garage I used to use regularly for oil changes and some repair work. I trusted them. The owner of the shop had the Accent that belonged to his buddy sitting in his overly crowded lot, and it LOOKED REALLY clean. Anyway I bought the car for $2K cash. The shop owner assured me HE had gone over the car with a fine toothed comb and the vehicle was in cherry shape mechanically. The ONLY thing wrong with the car was that temperature gauge on the instrument cluster was inoperable, and the horn didn't work for some unknown reason. He told me that it needed a new cluster and he'd source a used cluster and install it for around $300. I accepted this and proceeded take my pretty, shiny, new-to-me car home. I didn't test drive it or anything because I trusted this guy, and I was in DESPERATE need of a car. I didn't even get it halfway home before I started smelling coolant. It had a blown radiator hose. It was a Thursday so I took it back on Friday and they repaired the hose for free... Just before releasing the car the mechanic noticed something terribly wrong with my font passenger wheel. There was a lot of hand to face rubbing going on between the technician and the shop owner, but they weren't telling ME what was wrong... So I walk over and take a look. The wheel was missing 2 of the four studs, and the two that WERE there were on the same side... It was Friday afternoon so I was SOL on getting that problem fixed. The shop owner told me to "just drive it easy until Monday ". I went by the auto parts store to get the studs so I would at least have the parts in hand on Monday. I went home and did some UA-cam research on replacing the studs and decided to do it myself. Anyway long story short I did my own inspection and found more than 10 major problems. After having found all these problems I decided to take a look at the instrument cluster. This was the The CHERRY ON THE SUNDAE. I pulled the cluster out and I noticed there was a long fine threaded brass screw just laying on the tray/shelf the cluster sat on. I thought that extremely odd. Taking a look at the back of the cluster it had one of those flexible printed circuit boards. The reason the temperature gauge wasn't working was because somehow a 2 inch long FINELY THREADED screw had worked its way out of the positive terminal of the temperature gauge. This was an engineered problem and the shop owner was going to charge me $300 to put a screw HE had taken out back into its proper home. When I confronted the owner of the shop on this he went absolutely white. He said "I thought you didn't know anything about cars!" I corrected his missundersranding "Oh, no...I know how to fix'm just fine, I just didn't want to do the work rolling around in the sand." I had caught the shop before doing unnecessary work during an oil change, where they had put in new sparkplugs when I had put new plugs in literally the week before. A quick glance at the plugs they had thrown away made it clear that I hadn't needed new plugs at all. I just chalked that incident up to someone being lazy and just firing the parts canon for shits and giggles. The Hyundai ended up being an absolute lemon. I still have a complete manual transmission swap sitting in the original shipping box. The transmission locked up on the interstate and broke the timing belt THE NIGHT I was taking it to my dad's barn to swap out the transmission. So, yeah that's my horror story.
I disagree with your sway bar diagnoses; you cannot rely visual inspection, you need to test drive it over speed bumps. The Service writer should have gotten the Master key when the wrote up to inspect the cabin filter. The original diag. was not done by a Honda dealer. They would not install an aftermarket oil filter.
Years ago my friend's brother-in-law took his car in for a MOT which in the UK has to be done every year. Well he took it to a well known service garage which failed on 11 things. So my friend told him to bring it to us and it only needed 1 thing to do, we did it while he waited and gave him his MOT certificate. Needless to say he always comes to our garage now.
No, I'm glad you put that out as a mobile mechanic I deal with these issues all the time. I spend more time talking and showing my customer what I have seen and how we do this in stages.
I worked as a service manager at an independant garage here in the UK. One of our technicians used to work for a chain of service centres called 'Kwik Fit'. He told me of the questionable tactics they used to drum up business. We have many here in the UK. They employ many 'tactics' such as offereing cheap MOT tests, then condemn the vehicle with a massive repair list. The other tactic was to show the customer their worn ball joints, brake discs/pads and many other horror stories as to why their vehicle was in need of immediate repair. The truth was that they has the cupboard of shame stuffed with worn out parts that they produced in order to shock the customer into unnecessary repairs because they were paid on commission. The technician in question looked for another position as he too wasn't pleased with the practices he was asked to undertake. When he came to us, he turned out to be the most efficient and profitable person we employed.
Ray: I enjoy watching your channel and this is the first time I noticed a few things. Do you know what the unattached hose is for? I spotted it during the inspection of the endlinks and ball joints. Lastly, was that I missed engine air filter clip? :) I appreciate your work and can only wish for all mechanics to operate like you.
Air conditioning drain. Basically thats where condensation comes from when using your A/C and you can see a water spot on the floor where the car was parked.
Your integrity never ceases to amaze me. Are you sure that you don't want to move your family to South Carolina? I would love to have an honest to a fault mechanic somewhere close to me.
As for that ball joint with the oil on it. Why would a component that uses grease not oil have oil on it anyway and only oil on the bottom not on the top where maybe it ran down from something else. It is because they squirted some oil on it in case she asked to actually see it. I am too old now but used to do work for older people that got huge estimates like this and could not afford it. If the work was warranted I would do it for the cost of the parts if not I would show them what was done to make them think they needed work they did not. Ripping off old people on a fixed income that can't afford it by scaring them makes you into a POS of the lowest order. Thank you for helping her with an honest appraisal of what she really needed. I still am happy to look at cars for older folks and if they are getting ripped off I send them to my local mechanic that I have known for 20 plus years he charges a reasonable price and uses quality parts. I am more than happy to expose these types of butt holes.
Thank you for mentioning that ATF is recommended by mileage not condition. One of my assistant managers kept trying to recommended by condition and I kept telling him that we can't do that and it's a slimy thing to do. The last time he did that we exchanged words, then hands because he was REALLY trying to sell a service to a teenage girl and I had already spoken to her about it (recommended by mileage) and she wanted to go to the dealer for a second opinion. I told her she was more than welcome to get a second opinion and we'd be there if she wanted to come back. He didn't like that I kept trying to tell him she wanted to get another opinion.
I hate to say , but while it is primarily based on mileage , this only applies if there are no existing issues with the transmission . If the fluid is dirty , mucky , contains metal flecks , burnt smelling and dark the fluid needs to be changed regardless of the mileage. That of coarse dose not address the problem that cause the fluid to become that way in the first place. Your assistant manager " MAY" have been correct if the fluid was as described above. I know this is not want you wanted to hear. Sorry
You are a good guy Ray. Finding a talented and honest mechanic is golden….In my town we all go to Louie’s automotive. He’s a small private shop just him his one apprentice and his daughter behind the counter. He’s usually got a three or four day wait to get in. When I take my car to him I know he will fix only what’s necessary and he will fix it properly. It’s comforting to know that he’s not going to screw you or upsell unnecessarily Not only that but he does bonus work.. for instance , when he fixed my radiator fan which died he also welded my muffler which had broken off its hangar because I tend to take my Corolla fishing to places cars really shouldn’t go lol. I take my car to Louis for everything including oil changes.. I just like having a real mechanics eyes watching my car for me because it’s my business and I put a lot of miles on it and I know he will tell me if you see something wrong with it while he’s doing that oil change where the flunkeys in the drive through shops wouldn’t
After seeing the oil on the brand new lower ball-joint, I'm not as ready as you to dismiss it as not knowing all the circumstances that led to the recommendations. That was a straight up scam, I hope she posts the name of the place at least on whatever social media she has.
@@ethics3 but he did, when he's talking about "shaking the wheel" at about the 4 minute mark, that's the first stage of testing for play. If there is play in the ball joint, you can move the suspension by hand by moving the wheel. If there is play when you move the wheel then you proceed to checking ball joints and bearings. If no play, they aren't bad enough to replace.
@@donakahorse You could have saved a lot of time as you didn't need to attempt to tell me how to check a ball joint. I used to perform safety checks in my pops business 30 years ago. And besides , the way you described and the way this chap did it in the video was wrong. Sorry . I am not saying hes a bad guy and he knows a LOT more than i do , but in this instance he is incorrect. You cannot check for play with the vehicle up on the hoist with the suspension fully extended . The geometry is such on most vehicle's that with the suspension fully extended it effectively locks the ball joint and the extent of its movement . You need to place a stand or floor jack under the lower table and allow the weight of said vehicle to compress the suspension to normal operating height. This is when you can grasp the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position to check the ball joints and then at the 9 and 3 o'clock position to check the tie rod ends . Anyways , I am glad to be retired from the auto racket . Lots of stress Cheers
at my dealer someone will come in for an oil change usually a high mileage car, and we do our mpi(multi point inspection) and sometimes ill see all the years of neglect things broken or leaking. sometimes people will come in for an oil change and get a big bill. its normal! its not always bad.
Upselling in the repair business is almost guaranteed. I had a cousin who worked for dealerships an for private shops. He said, at one establishment they would discuss revenue per customer on a monthly basis. A major goal was to increase revenue per visit. For example, you may need an oil change, but your brake pads and steering joints will be recommended even though you have 1/3 pads left. Also, why settle for pads, why not the calipers and rotor. So, instead of a $400. bill, you now have a $1,000. plus bill. Now, that is revenue per customer. At the various shops they played the good cop bad cop routine. The tech was the bad cop looking to change everything. The service manager was the good cop who was on the customer's side and only recommended the parts that "needed" to be changed for "safety" reasons. Comments like, you don't want to be applying the brakes and the brakes fail or the steering fail at the moment you need it to avoid an accident. One time her referred to himself as a tech goon. He caused people financial harm.
I have been screwed at 3 of 4 mechanics I gave my car to fix, as you can say, fool me once... finally found overall experienced, not extremly cheap, but very skilled mechanic who is giving a guarantee on his work. I have experienced getting used parts, instead of new, not puting washers on brake calippers, costing me almost 500€ in long run. Charging for things that were not changed etc.... Not good,But you are awesome man. We need more people like you.
I have just had a recent roadworthy inspection here in Australia. Without authorization they changed the cam cover gasket and rear wiper blade which they charged $800 AUD for. Made me mad as hell, I know how to change a cam cover gasket too. You're right about stacking the cash. I need it for my kids. Just pisses me off getting stooged like that by the weedy little troll at the service station.
Hi from the UK Ray! Unfortunately this kind of behaviour is all too common here too. Examples I’ve dealt with…. 1) Alarm sporadically sounding for no reason. Owner told vehicle “needs new brain” as it controls the alarm. What it actually needed was a new bonnet sensor switch at a US equivalent cost of around $3. 2) Vehicle needs new power rack. Nope. It needed two outer rack ball joints. 3) Land Rover. Parts list and estimate running into the thousands. It needed an auxiliary battery. I could go on…….
Actually, I rather liked the reflective ending, the rain falling, while you contemplate alternative scenarios, acknowleging that you/we don't have complete information. A rational mind and a goodwill bent. Respect.
I do all the work on my vehicles, everything, I only go to a pro station for state, and emissions inspection, since I myself can't do that, I just did brakes all the way around replaced everything, well took my big 2500 ram van in for inspection, get a phone call for said pro shop, to be able to pass state inspection I would need new brakes all the way around, I chuckled, I said impossible, I just did them, to which the so call mechanic, well I really haven't checked them yet, to which I said then how do you know it needs brakes all the way around, they hung up on me, so had the wife drop me off, I went in, and had a nice talk with the service manager, needless to say I got my stickers, and only spent 50, and got my van back, the pro shop has since gone out of business. Thank you for being honest, not everyone is a millionaire, we live the way we live, and appreciate mechanics like you, keep up the good work.
I am a qualified, but now retired mechanic in Land Down Under. Like many other mechanics I know, there are plenty of workshops, dealerships as well as independents, who write up a vehicle as needing lots of work done. Then an examination under the vehicle with the owner present, me explaining how to check if a component is right, or how to tell if it is wrong. Many times the person was told that the vehicle was unsafe to drive, it was that bad. In a few cases one of the staff at the shop, also a mechanic, comes over when the owner returns and has been told the "bad" news, and then that staff member offers to take the vehicle off the owner hands at a rock bottom price - out of the "kindness of their heart". In one case, where everything was documented and passed to the owner (I have a scanned copy of that report on my computer), we went through the Toyota Prado and found that all the front ball joints had no play in them - they had been listed in red as URGENT - failed. So had the inner control arm bushes - same wording in bold red font. Same for inner and outer tie rod ends on both sides. The steering rack, the power steering pump, the colour of the PS oil, the wiper blades, the front wheel hubs and finally the fact that the bonnet (hood) would not open all were listed as defects that failed the car. The towbar was also listed as being rusty and there was rust in one of the rear chassis side rails. The rear caliper, caliper slides and brake shoes were all listed as being low in pressure on the RH side. Same side also failed for the parking brake. The final comment was quote" DO NOT RECOMMEND VEHICLE BE DRIVEN - UN-SAFE TO DRIVE" unquote. That was all in red font. Car belonged to a friend of my son. Went through it and found the RH rear axle seal was leaking and oil went over all the brake components. We put in a new seal as well as rear handbrake shoes and new disc pads - same for the other side as it showed early signs of leaking. We convinced the bonnet to open, lubricated the cable and all was fine after that. All the rest was fabrication. Showed Lance (the owner) how to use pry bars to put substantial leverage on all the supposed defective suspension components and we found nothing worn. We topped up the power steering fluid with some additive and all the noises went away. The car was then taken to another workshop where it was independently inspected for registration renewal - it passed in all aspects. So what did we learn. Don't trust documentation from even a country wide suspension specialist. Also another learnt over the years, if there is documentation that says the oil (any of them), oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, cabin filter have been changed, check it. Does not matter who did the previous work. If they did it then we can verify that it has been done. Too many times I have seen, and can prove, that it was not done. The owner has paid for the parts and labour and the work was not done. Even had one person I was told about that parked his car alongside a fence when he took it to the dealership in the morning. Later that day he returned and found his car parked in the same spot. He went in and the service staff at the front counter showed him the account for many hundreds of dollars for the work that was done. Then he asked to see the workshop manager and showed him the nut that he placed on top of the LHF tyre that morning when he parked the car. In the afternoon he took the same nut off the tyre - the car had not been moved. In the ensuing "discussion" the owner convinced the manager that the workshop would do the service the following day at nil cost. Initially saying no to the free service manager changed his mind when told he would be receiving a call from the New South Wales government Dept of Fair Trading the following day. What I am saying, as others have said, Caveat Emptor - buyer beware. On the other side, Ray, Ford Boss Me, Watch Wes Work and South Main Auto (there no doubt are many others) are all very credible people who have shown by their actions in many videos that if they say it is wrong, it is indeed wrong. The same if it is right. As Ray has said in this video, these people who take "people for a ride" are doing a lot of damage to the industry I have been part of for more than 50 years. Shame on you. They have two rules - I can do it to you, but don't dare do it to me.
Ray, Did I miss you recommending a ball joint replacement on the passenger (?) side? You mentioned the torn boot but that the grease was still there. The grease will eventually get washed/thrown out. I'd have put that on the future list of repairs. Great video!
20 years ago I had a new steering rack put on my car,new tires and had the front end aligned.3 months later the front tires were showing wear ,so I took it back and after an “inspection “ I was told that they wouldn’t replace the tires because I needed a new steering rack and an alignment. I was waiting for this and had the paperwork in my back pocket. After a few angry words they replaced the tires and I suspect that they actually did the wheel alignment then, because the tires never went bad after this
I manage a shop and yea tht is bs u dnt gain customer trust doin tht......honesty is the key and ppl wanna come back to ur shop......had a lady damn near cryin caus she was happy tht another shop was bs when they gave her a 1500 ticket tht wasnt needed.......U SIR R ONE OF THE FEW GOOD ONES LEFT!!!!
I've been lied to by a repair shop before, so I'm happy that this woman got a second opinion in this horrible Bideneconomy. That said, I have also found honest, competent, capable repair shops. They are there if you look around.
Years ago I took my Camaro in to get the A/C belt replaced. They later called me and said my oil needs changing and so does the transmission fluid because it is dark. A week previous I had changed the oil myself and had the transmission fluid replaced a month ago. I declined the added work and never returned to that garage.
When the ball joint is fine but the boot has split I would often just renew the boot. It’s a bit of labour and a smidgeon of expense but as they say a ‘stitch in time saves nine’.
It’s amazing when I talk with mechanics at shops where my mother takes her vehicle, and they try to upsell things her vehicle Does Not need. I told her to first call me any time she has her vehicle at any repair shop so I can question the diagnosis. I’ve left a few dealers because they would upsell repairs that customers didn’t need.
I can understand that the ball joint may be still full of grease but with the torn boot that will allow water and dirt to enter the joint and cause premature wear. Preventative maintenance would suggest change the boot but apparently that's not an option. As for the locked glove box its unknown if the other garage had the non-valet key.
11:07 doubidou bidouuuuu ! You probably never received that kind of "compliment", but i must say, you're easy to understand. Little backstory : I'm a french Canadian and i understand you pretty well, you speak at a good pace and clearly. I appreciate that and of course, i love your content :) Way to go Sunshine Ray. click
I am in Skowhegan Maine .I have done all my own mechanic work for over 30 years.I got tired of getting ripped for shoddy workmanship and decided to learn.That was before UA-cam .I had Chilton repair manuals for each vehicle . I'm amazed how clean the vehicles are underneath with no rust in Florida.
Good call, Ray. Torn rubber on the joints is an annual inspection fail in Europe because dirt gets in there and wears the joint fast. This is not worn, so who knows. I always change both in these cases, same age, same dry rubber. But the stabilizer bar sway links are good, very strange. Noise from there would be a racket if there is play. Also wishbone rubbers can make a racket if gone, but you’re wayyy to experienced to miss those. Suspicious case. But seeing some of your vids, some people come in with loose wheels and only want an oil change, if you quote them, they’d call you a liar if you don’t watch out. Machines are machines, you have to know what you’re looking at. Then it’s it’s a question of trust. You’re one of the good ones, keep it up! Regards from Holland
There are always two ways of arguing what it needs, Balljoints and Swaybar Links are meant to be done axlewise aswell and a Wheelalignment from time to time doesn’t hurt either. What I haven’t seen here is testing the Balljoints for play with a plier or prybar along with the swaybar links and a little testdrive over some bumps to hear the classic swaybar link rattle or Balljoint thumb/ knock. A torn boot can be argued replacement worthy as the water and dust will get into it and destroy it from the inside over a longer period of time. Not that Honda parts are very expensive to start with. As you said rather a little emergency stash of cash at home for safety 🤣👍. She can fix the car step by step over a couple weeks one thing at a time. Cheers
Small point/issue but I get pis*ed during servicing of my vehicle to see a charge for window washer fluid fill up $1.97 etc ... last time in I refilled the container before driving to the service center and took a photo of the full container. When the charge showed up on my bill - I discussed it with the service manager and he related they usually just note fluid check on the billing - but since they noted a window washer fill that obviously was not required he deleted the charge - this took about 10 minutes of his time - but well worth it from my point of view.
I love that you stick to being a good person and telling people the truth from your findings. I feel bad for older folks being taken advantage of like this. Of course, it is not always what it seems as you said, maybe they were going through a list of fixes for a potential on a problem that was brought up. People tend to stick with the negatives (as you see from the start of this section). It is amazing you stay unbiased, I try to do the same in daily life. But I am in a very negative mood right now from work. CRV keys are horrible when it comes to the glove box. My wife had hers locked at some point, and neither of her keys worked to unlock it. I did some wiggling of my key (spare) while she was driving with the main key and it unlocked, then tested hers after we parked and it worked. Then I tried both again and they both failed to work until I did a ton of wiggling.
Before I started learning and working on cars imwas at the mercy of your firestone goodyear Sears etc repair joints. Everytime I went to any of them I always needed, ball joints, tie rod ends center link basically all front end parts, I didn't drive much but I trusted them afterall I didn't know anything about cars, oh I also always needed brakes, this was back in the seventies, you see my father had a stroke in 1976 and was never able to drive again and my mother didn't and wouldn't learn to drive. I was 16 so I became chauffeur and took cars of the family car, and was literally taken for a ride when it came to repairs I was, a young kid was at the mercy of these sheisters, I've learned a lot since and almost became z professional mechanic as a result, I was fortunate to get a job in auto parts which taught me a lot as well, I became good friends with one customer who helped me out when I had trouble and consequently they taught me a lot, just like doctors if you're not sure get a second opinion, I also would get references from family and friends as to who is reliable and honest, the corner garages still exist but are harder to find good ones, years ago you'd build a repore with a garage, you'd buy gas at the same place they would get to know you and take care of your repairs as a result, those days are unfortunately over.
About 7 years ago, I bought a new Prius C to use as a short haul delivery vehicle. When It had about 15k miles on it, I took it in for service and the service writer came back and told me several things that were pure BS. He told me the rear brakes had excess dust accumulation and needed to be cleaned for $150. I just looked at him and said "$150? For a $3 can of brake parts cleaner and 5 minutes of work?" He also quoted me $200 for a cabin air filter and vent sanitizing. I replied: " $200 for a $10 filter and a few minutes of work?" Needless to say, he didn't get the work and I just took my complimentary checkup. Just because it's a dealer, doesn't mean they can be trusted. BTW, at 133k miles the rear brakes are still original and I changed the fronts at 130k miles because they were getting low. As for whether I was told the truth, I pulled the drums a year later, at 45k miles, and they were like new inside. No dust, no wear. After all, it's a hybrid and most of the braking is regenerative. The hydraulic brakes do very little braking and can last over 200k miles. Needless to say, I haven't been back to the Toyota dealer in Holiday, FL. I still have the car though since it's reliable and paid for.
Go Check out my redemption video of self promotion on the second channel!
Trying NOT to believe it! 2007 Silverado 3500 Duramax 6.6 Diesel system additive ua-cam.com/video/X4AbALaWR7o/v-deo.html
Redemption, good word that.
that ending rocked, hahaha
I was just wondering you said the crv has 191955 miles, when in the clip it look like its actually 091955 mile on the dash, is it just look like that in the video or does it actually have 191955 miles on it? Just out of curiosity thanks!
@@deanjrla552 I think I totally misspoke and missed it. It was 91k non 191k
Man, coming to Ray for a second opinion, is the best thing that happened to her!
Sometimes it's better to get a second opinion and when Ray didn't find any failures, there are no failures
Had one of these crv but cabin filter change through the fort above the glove box.
That is the best thing, go to a mechanic you know. Even if their prices are no better, they are less likely to try to sell you a couple bottles of blinker fluid for $20 each LOL
Anyone else heard the irritation level of Ray go up exponentially during the inspection?
I feel the same, stop messing with people and sell them shit they dont need. Especially old people, they should be treated with respect thru and thru.
Pleasure as always, stay safe Sir
What is worse is the people who do that reflect their dishonesty onto others who, might be reputable but the bad actors damage them as well.
I own a HVAC company and I get the same thing. Other companies give us a bad name too by doing dishonest work. It causes people to distrust me which kinda insults me because I can't sleep at night if I think I've been the tiniest dishonest..
Respect is something that is earned beyond base level. The same goes for trust.
Not the american way Tommy.
@@lechatbotte. 1 bad apple spoiled the apples around it. Ben Franklin.
Years ago a lady brought her Sentra to us saying she had an estimate ( that we saw ) of over 1000 dollars. It needed nothing. We called her out to the lift and went over
Point by point. She informed the person who recommended us and we got a customer for life plus all her friends. I worked for Jimmie Croy for almost 30 yrs and shop policy was never sell what is not needed.
If it doesn't affect safety or the customer doesn't request it don't try to sell it.
I really appreciate your honesty in calling out the other shop for recommending unnecessary repairs.
You'd be the mechanic I'd want to go to if I was in your area.
"I really appreciate your honesty" - !!! 1000% AGREE.
This sort of thing is exactly why myself, family and friends WILL NOT take any vehicle to Firestone for any reason. Too many horror stories and they will straight up lie to your face, even when you call them out on it.
@@gotdangedcommiesitellyahwa6298 i got an alignment done at a firestone and they gave me the before and after printouts and lied to my face when i asked him why the timestamp on the before and after papers were only 4 minutes apart. Something about an issue with the computer they use and its totally not that they just bumped the sensor until it read right and printed it again. I also watched them working on my car and knew they were full of it bc they never put the sensors back on the wheels
@@ShellSide Doesn't surprise me. Heard dozens of similar stories, such as slashing people's brand new tires or telling them they need other parts that had just been replaced by someone else. I couldn't even get a straight answer about tire ratings OR prices!
I have an older relative near Sarasota. I know the name of this guy's shop, and I am going to call her and tell her to BRING HER CAR TO HIS SHOP! She'll tell her friends.
Before long corporate is going to start wondering why the revenue from this one particular location is booming....
I spent 22 years in the shop and 2 years behind the counter, I never once recommended something that I didn't think was needed, being human I wasn't always right but I never once tried to pad the estimate, I've listened to so many stories about dishonest shops over the years and it always made me so mad, dishonesty makes us all look bad and makes our job so much more difficult, you're doing us a great service showing the world what a tech with honesty and integrity looks, thank you from all of us present and former techs.
My dad and I have had similar issues with shops around were we live. When he had his 99 suburban it had an air conditioning leak and the shop he would take it didn't diagnose the problem and just refilled. It wasn't till we went down to Florida with it in the middle of the summer for vacation when he found out how lazy of a job they did.
Thankfully this last year we've found a shop that actually does their job and doesn't rip you off.
I worked at a pep boys back in the 80's that had squirt cans full of various fluids. ATF,shock oil,coolant etc depending on what they were pushing that week. You squirted the oil on the part in hopes of selling it. Same guy would take a nail from a flat tire and throw it back into the street while telling it to bring him another one
@@GrumpyIan I had something customer once like the one in the video, she had a estimate from another shop for over $2200 worth of brake work, pads rotors calipers shoes drums wheel cylinders hoses and a master cylinder, her original complaint was spongy brakes after checking it out it just the rear breaks out of adjustment, I adjusted them and sent her on her way with no charge, she never took her car anywhere else, a happy customer is a repeat customer.
@@chrisleggett685 I had a buddy that worked at a Firestone he told me how they would take junkyard parts clean and paint them and sell them as new, poke pin holes in power steering and radiator hoses and take lead pencils and make a circle around exhaust pipes (apparently lead would cause galvanized metal to corrode)
yeah right
A mechanic who cares about the little old ladies warms my heart on a Friday evening. You’re the man, Ray!
I commend you Ray for being a man of character and conviction. I quit a shop many years ago because of similar circumstances where the mgr. wanted parts replaced on a customers car that was pretty much new I told the mgr and the gm. that a good reputation is hard to keep as a mechanic doing un needed repairs as I loaded my tools up!!
Mechanics have a hard enough job as it is, One of my friends was actually on the other side of service dept issues within dealerships. He had to rebuild a transmission and He found something else wrong ( steering or something under warranty ) and they said the customer didn't ask for that to be fixed. That along with some vacation issues and He loaded his tools up and left.
I strongly suspect that worked out well for you. How did it go afterwards?
@@anwalt693 for me I ended up going from shop to shop which most either sold out or went out of business hence I did a career change as repair shops and dealers became harder to work for
Being a mechanic for 35 years, I know what it is like to be honest with a customer especially someone on a fixed income. Now that I am retired and on a fixed income, I have a few friends that own their own mechanics shop and when I feel I can't handle a the job, I let them do the work. But for oil changes, I do it myself. The point is, when you are on a fixed income, you have bills to pay to live. I feel sorry for the woman who has to make the decision on whether to fix the car or not. Shame on the other shop for doing this to her. Honesty is the only way to go. Great job, Ray.
I once took my car in that had a remanufactured engine about 3,000 MI on the engine and the shop told me I needed new brake fluid new radiator fluid new other things like serpentine belt all based off of the mileage of the car and I called them out on that that they did not actually check my car and I did this in front of a room full of people...
Nice!
It's like when my wife takes one of our cars in for an oil change, they'll try to sell her on some bogus maintenance schedule items.
That is kinda how most dealers work... you bring your vehicle in with X amount miles on it, they've got a sheet saying this and that has to be done no matter what... every customers has to bring in at least a certain amount of money every time they visit for service. AND you can't even blame the people working there, they have to do it, corporate makes them do it. That's why my friend quit his job being the chief mechanic at a Honda dealership (Honda didn't do this for years, but started these practices some years ago) and opened his own place specializing in Honda.
Yep. Similar thing. Even had their fancy report tell me I needed a new cabin air filter. My car didn't even have the housing for the optional cabin air filter.
Another was the "dangerously worn" rear brakes that I "shouldn't even leave the shop with". They were at about 40%, and still are.
I did pick up a filter housing assembly later, like I had been planning.
I am kinda lucky, My usual service engineers are pretty honest and have even talked me out of putting parts in my vehicle as they were not yet necessary. Well done sir for pulling them up.
The only outrage you should have caused with this video is our outrage against whoever tried to fleece that lady. You're doing yourself and your entire profession a good service calling out the ones who do this to make a fast buck. Thanks for being one of the good ones Ray. We need more like you on our side.
It looks like the recently replaced ball joint was baptized with some oil to make it look like it had a leak, IMO!
These shops need to be publicly outed.
“It’s a freakin’ mint car, Dude!” - 1000% spot on Ray - 1000% applause on your integrity !
Much love😘
JCHK
You are a cool dude Ray! Your honesty is an attribute that is very much appreciated by your customers and viewers. Excellent work mate 👍👍.
Back in the 90s, a major chain of repair shops tried to scam my mother. She noticed after driving out of town for 45 miles her inspection was due. She pulled into the garage to get it inspected. They came back and said she needed struts, ball joints, wheel bearings and exhaust system. Well over $1000 in cost. She got the estimate and brought it to her mechanic. The car was inspected without a problem. Since then she never took her car to another garage for anything.
Just over a year and a half ago, I brought my car into the dealer to get two recalls addressed. Upon doing the multipoint, they recommended replacement of the lower control arms (car didn't have a handling or suspension issue). Note that I had my local mechanic do the state inspection on the car about a month prior to taking it in for the recall work (MA procedures now require the inspection by fully documented on video and the video be sent to RMV as part of the inspection record, so shops can't skip out on parts of the inspection), and he found no issues. I told the service writer I'd check with my mechanic about it, and that was the end of that. Had one state inspection since then, and my mechanic told me that everything is still fine suspension wise.
Mini- state inspections are total ripoffs !!! Back years ago our state had mandatory yearly inspection done through state appointed “ service stations”. I had just did a complete brake job on the car I had at the time and went to get my car inspected, “well you need new brakes”!!!! I thanked him, went to another station , passed with flying colors. A few years later, the state dropped that inspection nonsense.
Between '86 and '94 I worked at a dealer. The employee morale was horrible mostly because the service writers and salesmen were constantly upselling customers and then bragging about it during lunch. this happened in every department. the service techs who complained about scamming the customers were given crap jobs and the feeling that managers and the owners just didn't care was common.
Ray, your level of integrity is a reflection of your upbringing, your faith or a combination of the two. Either way, it is so wonderful to know you think of others first besides yourself. God bless you in all your endeavors! This video brings me joy!
No outrage whatsoever! Quite the contrary... mad respect and endless amounts of respect for saving this woman over a thousand dollars in unnecessary repairs, instead a 20-30 dollar set of new wipers. Shops or dealerships that do try and prey on their customers is absolutely disgusting and the lowest if the low. I am so incredibly grateful to see shops like yours and and a few others. Keep up the incredible... and honest work that you do sir.🙏💜
I had a dealer recommend upper control arms because grease was leaking. The stock arms have no grease fittings. I had replaced them myself with Moog units, which DO have grease fittings. And when you squeeze grease in, sometimes a bit will ooze out from the boot. No big deal. But mechanic dude jumps to the conclusion that oh, I see grease, he needs new control arms. With that logic, a bit of leaking oil from a valve cover will dictate a new engine. Seriously, a LOT of these "mechanics" are nothing more than oil change techs. Gonna be great when electric vehicles start rolling in regularly for electrical issues. It will be, how many modules can we sell this person.
I always get a kick out of the local Subaru dealers' service writers bringing "your" cabin air filter into the waiting area to show the customer how dirty it is, just so they can charge them parts and labor to replace it. I've taken to marking the cabin filters I install (at home) so that if it comes up during some other service I can prove whether they've actually pulled *my* cabin filter, or if it's just some dirty one they keep behind the counter.
If we reset the fuel economy tracking on Mom's Lincoln Continental at the right time, we could get it to read 99 mpg for 5 miles.... There was a long hill on the freeway, where the engine was holding the car back. Average econ without "cheating" was 14 mpg.
Average being the key word. Besides displaying average my olds can also display 'instant' fuel economy but thats' a rather useless feature as far as I'm concerned.
Integrity is a rare thing to find in service industries anymore. My hat is off to you and your shop. I'm not a mechanic by profession, but I've done almost everything you can do to a car at some point in my life and took auto mechanic shop for four years in high school. That being said, I picked up a project car for my son and I to build into a 1/4 mile car. Basically a FBO build with cams to start. We had a bad clutch slave cylinder which was replaced along with the clutch and new lightened flywheel. When the slave cyl went failed, I took it to a non dealer shop to get it changed out. We did all the previous work ourselves, but my bum shoulder couldn't handle another transmission pull. So here come the estimate of all thats "wrong" after I drop it off. 8k worth of work.... "You need a new flywheel and clutch" they had maybe 500 miles on them... "It runs really rough and the CEL is on, needs fuel system fixed" no dude, I explained thats FRP cams and a race tune... They obviously didnt listen to what I told them about the car, or were blatantly trying to rip me off. I wish they had a Ray there.... 😀
This is so typical of Honda dealerships. A while ago I was dealing with a DTC 1457 Evaporative Emission (EVAP) Control System Leakage (EVAP Cantister System). I took it to the Honda dealer to run a smoke test (to the tune of $100). I was told post-test that I needed a new gas tank and associated fittings - estimated cost $1,730 -. This didn't sound logical to me so I did some further investigation and found that the EVAP canister purge valve had a leak. I replaced it myself for ~$53 and the DTC cleared. If I did spend the $1,730 as Honda suggested, the DTC would have also cleared because the purge valve was included in the gas tank replacement. Why should I pay for a whole fuel system replacement when only one part is faulty? I suspect that's what might be in play here. Why should this woman pay for essentially a full front suspension update when only one or two parts are faulty? Getting a second opinion was the smart thing to do.
Ray, you are too nice trying to give the other shop an out. They obviously were using the parts cannon on someone who they thought didn't know better. I appreciate your honesty, skill and quality workmanship. I've been watching your channel for several months now and you've taught me so much about vehicles, how they work, what needs maintenance, and what doesn't. My 11yo Corolla and I thank you.
I respect your honest, professional and educated teachings on car maintenance, Sir. You take time to share your findings with other employees, so they understand what to look for. I always appreciate your videos.
I'm glad the old lady didn't fall for a scam! On the other hand though Ray, I came here because of the thumbnail and spent my last 15 minutes of lunch in anticipation. Not cool but I ain't mad at ya for it. 😅
The odometer is actually reading 91,000 miles, very low for a 2007/8.
Definitely an old lady car low mileage very clean not a big boat of a car old lady car
And obviously correct. That car was a cream puff!
with the k24 engine you can t go
wrong
well if its miles is ok my 2011 has 125k miles
91,000 sounds about average for me as I don’t even put 5,000 on per year. It always surprised me to see used cars barely 5 years old with nearly 100k on them already.
Thank you! My dad who is in his mid 60’s got ripped off by a shop for over $800! They didn’t even replace the parts they said they did! Old folks don’t have a lot of money and it’s just unethical to scam them like this! I hope the shop go out of business.
Age should have nothing to do with that
@@SeanONeill13 you realize some of the older folks don't have the same capability as us young folks? Those old folks usually put too much trust in shops because they can't do their own repairs or know how to.
@@tacomas9602 so it’s okay for a youngin be ripped off because they have more mobility? Really?
@@tacomas9602
In my state the elderly can recoup 3 times the damages for fraud repairs. Go Blue....
@@SeanONeill13 You are missing the point.
Elderly people can more easily be physically intimidated by a mechanic or business owner and so are less likely to try to defend themselves .
All it takes is some coward service tech to take a couple of steps closer to the senior citizen , raise his voice and put a hostile look on his face to frighten an elderly person into capitulating . This is why " some" people are outraged when this happens .
YOU , being young can defend yourselves
Very honest mechanic is hard to find. I wish I was closer to your shop, that way I know I’m getting quality work. Never change Ray! God bless you
Thanks yet again as others have stated for your honesty and integrity as a mechanic, you shine a light where others drag people into the darkness mate. I do hope that lady decides to go back to you for any work she needs on that mint condition Honda. She obviously looks after it and that is how it should remain with your TLC.
Keep Safe Keep Strong My Friend 🦘🦘🦘💖💖💖🚗🚗🚗
Well said!
It's 3:15 am in California right now and I'm still awake for some reason. Thanks for the entertaining and educational content Ray. Cheers 🍻
Good morning Ray and everyone on UA-cam. Two words"SHOW ME" ask the shop to bring you out under your car and show you the problems that they're suggesting be repaired and take pictures. I'm sure will make some of them quite nervous, or maybe not... You can then take the pictures and your visual inspection of your vehicle to another shop for a second opinion, hopefully a shop you can trust. Just my thoughts, everyone don't forget to have a great day. Greetings from Lake City 🇺🇸🌴😎
So many shops won't allow the customer in the service area because of "insurance regulations." Bull!
As a mechanic myself I must comment and hope that Ray see's this.
A visual inspection of ball joints is not sufficient nor just shaking the wheel back and forth. The ball joints are perpandicular to the motion of travel, so the wear will most likely occur by compressing the ball joint.
Hence you need to unload the balljoint and then get a large pair of vicegrips and squeeze the balljoint to look for movement and also rock the tyre from the outside top and bottom to see if there is lateral movement.
Also to check the sway bar links a pair of vicegrips is needed again to compress the joint to check for movement.
Looking at the vehicle from this screen tells me that this car isn't flogged by an old lady, but given the age and the torn boot, that is just wear and tear.
The D/S ball joint was replaced before and penetrant was used to soak the balljoint before removal, hence why it was covered in greasy dust. The tie rod end was also the same, which indicates that axle has had work done to it.
I wouldn't be too quick to condemn the previous workshops assessment until these checks are done.
As a side note, I watch Ray almost daily and his work is of the highest standard for sure. So this is not an attack, just an observation from a fellow mechanic.
Love ya work brother 👌
If there is wear and tear of the ball joints or the sway bar, could you feel it when driving? Or wouldn't it make a clunk noise at times?
@@captinbeyond It depends on how worn the joint is. The swaybar links are not usually felt in the cabin as there is alot of rubber parts between the control arm and the chassis to dampen small knocks.
A ball joint won't necessarily give a knock either, it can start out as a squeak as you travel over speed humps etc.
I have seen 2-4mm of movement in a ball joint with no knocking noise to indicate that it is failing. It was only by physical inspection that I found it was flogged out.
Also yes for the most part there will be an audible sign that a ball joint or front end bush is on its way out.
Did she only pay for a visual inspection? Because at 90,000 miles she very well could have rattling end links that don't have torn boots. And that new ball joint looks like a Chinese mevotech which are sometimes bad right out of the box. Why didn't you pry and wiggle and test drive?
You didn't ruin this video. You proved once again just how honest of a mechanic you are. Great job helping the older lady out and stopping her from spending ooldles and gobbs of money that she didn't need to spend.
I bought a Honda Pilot from a family member a few years back. They owned it since new and had it serviced at Firestone since the warranty ran out.
Observations:
The car had barely any plastic clips left holding on any of the plastic parts. The oil drain bolt was 2x OS and leaking.
Just about every estimate was $1K+ and they always suggested things like a fuel system cleaning.
Some stuff was oversold and not nessary IMO. I saw that they recommended spark plugs 20K miles after they had changed them.
They did tie rod end links and they were banging after 20K miles. I figured it was because they were after market. I ordered Honda end links because the originals lasted over 100K miles. I hadn't looked closely enough at them when diagnosing. It turns out one was fine and the other one that was banging was loose. How did it come lose with the hex nut keyway? I think they binded it and thought it was tight. When it unbinded itself it started clunking.
The other thing was thar other services were ignored. The power steering fluid was low and black. The trans fluid had never been touched in 140K Mike's. The rear diff had only been serviced once. The timing belt hadn't been changed or even suggested by 140K miles. Of course struts were suggested every visit and never changed and it still doesn't need them. The problem was the fairly new junk Firestone tires that have too much runout and need to much weight. They are currently on the back.
Those quickie shops always suggest a bunch of easy and useless work. They'll sell a zillion spark plugs and tie rods (and the accompanying alignment) before they do real work.
Watched the whole video now -- for the new home mechanics
(1 )When checking ball joints -- you take a prybar/large screwdriver stick it between the control arm and bottom of knuckle and see if the ball joint pushes apart (don't damage the rubber) -- with all the suspension still attached, you would not be able to see if a ball joint was bad by just pulling on the tire unless it was so far gone that its was already to fall apart.
(2) Its clear that one ball joint was replaced and not the other -- while there are arguments on both sides of this -- with suspension one school of through is you change both sides at the same time as both saw the same life exposure. I buy my ball joints at Rockauto and generally they are pretty cheap -- in this more modern design the ball joint bolts onto the control arm (vs pressed into the knuckle) its not hard to replace both..
(3) One ball joint does has a torn boot but if it passed the prybar test, you could let it go a few years.
(4) The other ball joint is not wet because the other shop sprayed it -- if you look higher you can clearly see some of the grease has washed out of the axle and the dark coloration is down the back of the knuckle and onto the ball joint.
(5) If I am working on my stuff - and I am replacing ball joints, control arm/bushing etc -- I do a new link -- again you can buy less than $20 on Rockauto and the parts are not the cost driver - its time here - if a part is cheap and in the middle of another repair, save the future labor, replace the part. Unless the link is really warn, you would not be able to see if its bad by just twisting it while still installed.. it has to be unloaded so when you took one end off to loosen the control arm to get to the ball joint, you would see if its worn out.
(6) I own and have owned multiple Honda, every single one has lasted >300k miles and suspensions do wear out and you start hearing noises -- often you need to replace multiple parts at once to get the noises to go because everything is worn -- that's why you will see this kits with struts, arms, ball joints, links, bar busings -- myself, I just accept the noises but on my wife's car, little car noises result in big wife noises and as such, I replace more. In a shop - no good deed goes unpunished -- if you didn't replace the link yet you had it off in your hand, and later it fails, the customer may not sing your praise.
Harold, this is so well written and really solid advice. I hope others take the time to read your post my man! Awesome work!!
Yeah, Ray's position that nothing needs to be done is questionable as well. IDK if the other mechanic was trying to scam the owner or not (these are pure speculations), but Ray's documenting the boot issue to cover himself and yet reassuring the customer verbally that yeah, it's OK is hardly appropriate. The right ball joint definitely should've been changed. And those links could've been recommended because they were approaching the state of rustiness when they could only be removed with a saw. So better change now while it's easy than wait and then have to cut them off.
@@eaf2k Well I'd say you are someone who de knows there stuff. Short of taking the easy road of saying I agree with you, I agree with you lol.
Always look forward to watching your vids now I have come across your videos it’s good to see videos from other mechanics around the world and not ripping people off
I've had this at a dealer before, I put a timing belt on my sisters 01 Honda accord, and it went back to Honda for a safety recall months later. when we went to get it at the dealer they told me that the timing belt was going to snap and destroy the engine, it needed a trans flush and that it needed ball joints and tiered ends. the reason they had was that the non genuine Honda parts were going to fail and cause issues, to the point that the service writer was basically irate that someone would have the "audacity" to install non genuine parts. were talking about moog joint ends and a gates timing belt(kit) if I hadn't been there my sister probably would have been sucked into doing all the repairs..... also that car ran for 4 more years before my cousin fell asleep behind the wheel on the highway and totaled it.....
fyi this was probably in 2010 or so, so well out of warranty
wow
The oil/dirt around the recently replaced ball joint looks like they forgot to make it NICE AND SHINEY.
The split boot is 100% a monitor and check it next time; I don't know if you can repair that boot to prevent premature failure.
Hopefully the recommended repairs were as you say part of a fault finding exercise, but unfortunately main dealers have become known as stealerships for a reason.
This video is the reason I recommend you to everyone. You were super honest with me and I appreciated that as well.
Sorry Ray, a visual of the ball joints was not enough. Unload them and see if there is any play in them. In addition the sway bar links need to be grabbed and shaken to see if there is any play at the joints. Also, you don't even know what the original customer complaint was, if any. 🤔
About 5 years ago, I took my 2005 Toyota Sienna Minivan to the Toyota dealer to have the timing belt replaced. Given that the recommended replacement interval is 100K miles and I had 200K miles on the van, I thought it was time. This is labor intensive because they have to remove everything on the front of the engine. So, since they are right next to where the water pump is, and it's not an expensive item and almost no additional labor, they recommended replacing that also. That made sense to me given the mileage.
So, I get the van back with the work done and they recommend replacing the rack and pinion because they said it was leaking and also the battery because it tests weak. I pointed out that I check the fluids regularly and the power steering fluid level hasn't moved and the engine cranks like the battery is fine. When I go home, I crawled under and found the boot on the end rack had oil of some sort on it.
Bottom line: 5 years and 50K miles later the power steering fluid hasn't gone down. Where did the oil on the boot come from? And, no, the engine doesn't leak. The battery did eventually fail, three years later. I think that they figured that since I was willing to spend some money on the timing belt and water pump, they could squeeze more money out of me for the rack and a battery. It definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
Oh, one other thing I almost forgot: For several weeks after the dealer did the work on the van, I noticed a thumping sound coming from the front of the car when accelerating and turning. Over time it got worse. I finally figured out that they had barely inserted the bolt that connects the upper engine mount to the body. Once I tightened it properly the noise went away. So, I ended up thinking they were dishonest and incompetent.
My mother in law went to a local pep boys for inspection. She's 65 years old. Car is only 2 years old with 10k miles it was a brand new lease. The mechanic came back to her and said it didn't pass inspection it needed all new brakes and rotors for $800. She called me and I said get your keys back and never go there again. As soon as she told the guy forget it, he immediately says "don't worry we passed it anyways". Absolute crook.
There used to be a chain called Brake Check down in the south---think they're out of business now. But I took an almost brand new Tundra in for brake flush only, and they found almost $1k of things needed. I told them no thanks. Later I tell the story to some co-workers and 2 of them fall out laughing because they did the same thing with them, using the same line of BS like it was a rehearsed act
I worked pep boys lasted say three weeks , it’s the place it ruff make a buck in that hole so run into a lot that those places. A lot kids there are good but place turns them to shady side
It is so refreshing to find a competent and an honest to goodness mechanic like yourself these days.
Concerning the oil level. Before testing was your engine off long enough for the oil up in the motor to drain into the pan. A half quart low is normal for a "just turned off" engine.
Also, prior to checking the oil level he pointed out a leak around the oil filter. That might explain a half quart low after 800 miles. Maybe the oil change guys didn't tighten the filter enough.
F them scam shops. It hard to find an honest mechanic now days. Ray you are great and honest.
Some people just really DO lend themselves to being manipulated into spending money for nothing though. My adult daughter is like that. She doesn't speak engineering and only runs her life based on her "feelings". My son and I are both mechanics and will look at her vehicle and discuss recommendations with her. As well as why we recommend something. Then she'll take it to a shop that senses her ignorance and anxiety issues and plays on that. She'll wind up spending a bunch of money on BS and ignore key stuff that actually would benefit herself and her car. My son recently gave up on her stating that if she's just going to ignore everything I say and do the opposite, I'm done wasting my time with her. Frustrating, but what can you do? I'm too old to do it for her. She's in her late 30's now. Her husband has no skills on cars either. This is what happens when two artrsy fartsy's marry. ;-) I still take care of mine and my wife's car, but that is all I have energy for. Thanks for the great work you do Ray! Really admire you for it! You're a force for good in the world.
My very old mother living many states away is the same way. She won't do anything I recommend but some blame goes to her age and lack of mechanical understanding.
Love the artsy-fartsy remark. So many folks who have never had dirt under their fingernails know everything about mechanical stuff.
Glad to see that there's still honest mechanics out there. I try to teach my daughters things about the cars so that when they have to take them in and I'm not around they don't get ripped off. Put a lot of stuff I'm able to fix except for internal engine repairs.
I've had this situation happen to me once. And I think I saw it happening to another person at another shop.
Happened to me when I took my car in for it's annual state inspection. Shop told me it failed and gave me an estimate for $135 to do the repairs. When asked what repairs it needed, they told me 2 light bulbs. I asked him to show me what bulbs needed to be replaced, he pointed out that one of the license plate bulbs didn't work (true), and claimed a tail light was out. But, the tail light worked fine when we were looking at the car. License plate bulb I pointed out that the state inspection only requires one to be working, which he admitted. So he gave me my passing inspection without doing anything.
The possible one I witnessed was a young lady brought her car in for an oil change and the service guy told her that she should get a $300 fuel system cleaning because her car had 20,000 miles on it and it was starting to lose fuel mileage and performance. I think 20k miles is a little soon, but I'm not a mechanic, and I don't know the whole situation. Car was only 2 years old.
My wife took her car in for a state inspection at a local dealership. They said it needed a "headlight bulb". When pressed, they said it was actually a "turn signal bulb". She didn't want to take the time to go to another shop, so she told them to put it in. I told her to get the burnt out bulb when she picked it up because we had checked everything before taking it in and had dashcam video from my car showing that all the lights worked. When she asked for it, they told her it was actually the side marker lamp, and that it was burn out and she wouldn't be able to tell because it was shiny. She pressed for the bulb, and showed me a chrome bulb when she got home. I plugged it into a socket and took a video of it lighting up. When I called the shop to call them out on their bullshit, they offered me a gift certificate for the cost of the bulb but not the labor to install it. I told them I wouldn't be back even if it meant I had to drive an extra 3 hours, and to put their "gift certificate" someplace appropriately warm.
When we went back to the previously good Mazda dealer across the street, they told me that my car didn't pass inspection because "the brakes were worn out" and then "because the brakes were glazed". I read them the sections of the state motor vehicle code regarding brakes and general vehicle safety, and asked then how my car failed to meet any of those requirements, and furthermore that the ceramic brakes installed on the car from the factory work by depositing a bedding layer of material onto the rotor, just as these brakes had done. Around that time, all of the techs were peeking around the wall and a couple of customers were looking in from the showroom, and quickly went from "we can't let you leave with an unsafe vehicle" to "give them their keys and get them out of here".
Needless to say, we took the car to another shop, passed with a "do you want to sell it?" and haven't had any problems since.
@@bigj231 yes, luckily where I live they can't hold the car hostage.
@@truckingwithj7202 They can't here either, but they sure tried! I never trusted dealerships anyway, and moving into a state that required inspections meant that I had to find someone. All of my coworkers just have their inspections done at the dealer they bought it from, and they're the kind of people to say "yes" to any "scheduled maintenance".
It's definitely worth the extra $50 a year to go to an independent shop, and I'm just glad I found one that I can trust. They did get me to buy wiper blades one year, but I knew they were pretty much worn out. They didn't charge me to install them and only tacked on a few dollars mark-up, and they called me first and told me I could put some on myself and they'd give me the sticker. They get a dozen donuts every time we drop the car off or pick it up.
Maybe that garage was trying to get one over on her but it doesn't have 191000 miles on it it has 91000 miles on it, there's a 0 in front of the 9. Very clean SUV for 07. My brother-in-law always worked on our cars but hes getting up there and age hes got his garage up for sale so we gotta look around for another mechanic, I know it's going to be hard to find an honest one but they are out there you are a prime example. Have a good Wednesday and and always be safe.
my former boss tried doing the same when selling an old lady tires. ended up with me selling her a complete set to 1/4 of the price when he werent there. she hardly used it. her tires went bad due to age not wear. i loved doing buisness with the older people. great stories and theyre amazing at baking XD yes i accepted bribes 🍰
Lol!! You can get all kinds of work out of me for the right baked inducement. :)
You didn't ruin the video, you produced another excellent video Ray. Here's a horror story for ya:
I once bought a used Hyundai Accent from a Garage I used to use regularly for oil changes and some repair work. I trusted them. The owner of the shop had the Accent that belonged to his buddy sitting in his overly crowded lot, and it LOOKED REALLY clean. Anyway I bought the car for $2K cash. The shop owner assured me HE had gone over the car with a fine toothed comb and the vehicle was in cherry shape mechanically. The ONLY thing wrong with the car was that temperature gauge on the instrument cluster was inoperable, and the horn didn't work for some unknown reason. He told me that it needed a new cluster and he'd source a used cluster and install it for around $300. I accepted this and proceeded take my pretty, shiny, new-to-me car home. I didn't test drive it or anything because I trusted this guy, and I was in DESPERATE need of a car. I didn't even get it halfway home before I started smelling coolant. It had a blown radiator hose. It was a Thursday so I took it back on Friday and they repaired the hose for free... Just before releasing the car the mechanic noticed something terribly wrong with my font passenger wheel. There was a lot of hand to face rubbing going on between the technician and the shop owner, but they weren't telling ME what was wrong... So I walk over and take a look. The wheel was missing 2 of the four studs, and the two that WERE there were on the same side... It was Friday afternoon so I was SOL on getting that problem fixed. The shop owner told me to "just drive it easy until Monday ". I went by the auto parts store to get the studs so I would at least have the parts in hand on Monday. I went home and did some UA-cam research on replacing the studs and decided to do it myself. Anyway long story short I did my own inspection and found more than 10 major problems. After having found all these problems I decided to take a look at the instrument cluster. This was the The CHERRY ON THE SUNDAE. I pulled the cluster out and I noticed there was a long fine threaded brass screw just laying on the tray/shelf the cluster sat on. I thought that extremely odd. Taking a look at the back of the cluster it had one of those flexible printed circuit boards. The reason the temperature gauge wasn't working was because somehow a 2 inch long FINELY THREADED screw had worked its way out of the positive terminal of the temperature gauge. This was an engineered problem and the shop owner was going to charge me $300 to put a screw HE had taken out back into its proper home. When I confronted the owner of the shop on this he went absolutely white. He said "I thought you didn't know anything about cars!" I corrected his missundersranding "Oh, no...I know how to fix'm just fine, I just didn't want to do the work rolling around in the sand." I had caught the shop before doing unnecessary work during an oil change, where they had put in new sparkplugs when I had put new plugs in literally the week before. A quick glance at the plugs they had thrown away made it clear that I hadn't needed new plugs at all. I just chalked that incident up to someone being lazy and just firing the parts canon for shits and giggles. The Hyundai ended up being an absolute lemon. I still have a complete manual transmission swap sitting in the original shipping box. The transmission locked up on the interstate and broke the timing belt THE NIGHT I was taking it to my dad's barn to swap out the transmission. So, yeah that's my horror story.
I disagree with your sway bar diagnoses; you cannot rely visual inspection, you need to test drive it over speed bumps. The Service writer should have gotten the Master key when the wrote up to inspect the cabin filter. The original diag. was not done by a Honda dealer. They would not install an aftermarket oil filter.
Years ago my friend's brother-in-law took his car in for a MOT which in the UK has to be done every year. Well he took it to a well known service garage which failed on 11 things. So my friend told him to bring it to us and it only needed 1 thing to do, we did it while he waited and gave him his MOT certificate. Needless to say he always comes to our garage now.
Yeah I was curious what this shop was charging for a brake job, they quoted me $450 per axle 2003 f250. So basically $900 for a break job.
No, I'm glad you put that out as a mobile mechanic I deal with these issues all the time. I spend more time talking and showing my customer what I have seen and how we do this in stages.
I despise service writers who try to take advantage of elderly and women.
They do their scare tactics
I didn’t even know until the end I was outraged! 😂
ive seen alot of the big box stores do that stuff
i never fell for it and just wonder how many did
it does piss honest mechanics off
I worked as a service manager at an independant garage here in the UK. One of our technicians used to work for a chain of service centres called 'Kwik Fit'. He told me of the questionable tactics they used to drum up business. We have many here in the UK. They employ many 'tactics' such as offereing cheap MOT tests, then condemn the vehicle with a massive repair list. The other tactic was to show the customer their worn ball joints, brake discs/pads and many other horror stories as to why their vehicle was in need of immediate repair. The truth was that they has the cupboard of shame stuffed with worn out parts that they produced in order to shock the customer into unnecessary repairs because they were paid on commission. The technician in question looked for another position as he too wasn't pleased with the practices he was asked to undertake. When he came to us, he turned out to be the most efficient and profitable person we employed.
Ray: I enjoy watching your channel and this is the first time I noticed a few things. Do you know what the unattached hose is for? I spotted it during the inspection of the endlinks and ball joints. Lastly, was that I missed engine air filter clip? :) I appreciate your work and can only wish for all mechanics to operate like you.
hose likely a/c drain
Air conditioning drain.
Basically thats where condensation comes from when using your A/C and you can see a water spot on the floor where the car was parked.
ahhh. ac drain. Thanks!
Your integrity never ceases to amaze me. Are you sure that you don't want to move your family to South Carolina? I would love to have an honest to a fault mechanic somewhere close to me.
If there's one thing a mechanic loves, it's to criticize another repair facility
As for that ball joint with the oil on it. Why would a component that uses grease not oil have oil on it anyway and only oil on the bottom not on the top where maybe it ran down from something else. It is because they squirted some oil on it in case she asked to actually see it. I am too old now but used to do work for older people that got huge estimates like this and could not afford it. If the work was warranted I would do it for the cost of the parts if not I would show them what was done to make them think they needed work they did not. Ripping off old people on a fixed income that can't afford it by scaring them makes you into a POS of the lowest order. Thank you for helping her with an honest appraisal of what she really needed. I still am happy to look at cars for older folks and if they are getting ripped off I send them to my local mechanic that I have known for 20 plus years he charges a reasonable price and uses quality parts. I am more than happy to expose these types of butt holes.
thank you ray for all of your diligent work on vehicles and your insane upload quality.
Thank you for mentioning that ATF is recommended by mileage not condition. One of my assistant managers kept trying to recommended by condition and I kept telling him that we can't do that and it's a slimy thing to do.
The last time he did that we exchanged words, then hands because he was REALLY trying to sell a service to a teenage girl and I had already spoken to her about it (recommended by mileage) and she wanted to go to the dealer for a second opinion. I told her she was more than welcome to get a second opinion and we'd be there if she wanted to come back. He didn't like that I kept trying to tell him she wanted to get another opinion.
I hate to say , but while it is primarily based on mileage , this only applies if there are no existing issues with the transmission .
If the fluid is dirty , mucky , contains metal flecks , burnt smelling and dark the fluid needs to be changed regardless of the mileage.
That of coarse dose not address the problem that cause the fluid to become that way in the first place.
Your assistant manager " MAY" have been correct if the fluid was as described above.
I know this is not want you wanted to hear.
Sorry
Hard to tell if a sway bar link is bad without touching it
One way to know is if it's still connected. They rust off at the top bolt and bang around.
@@ninjamaster3453 they most often wear out like a tie rod get sloppy, and rattle/bang when driving
If it sways it’s bad
You are a good guy Ray. Finding a talented and honest mechanic is golden….In my town we all go to Louie’s automotive. He’s a small private shop just him his one apprentice and his daughter behind the counter. He’s usually got a three or four day wait to get in. When I take my car to him I know he will fix only what’s necessary and he will fix it properly. It’s comforting to know that he’s not going to screw you or upsell unnecessarily Not only that but he does bonus work.. for instance , when he fixed my radiator fan which died he also welded my muffler which had broken off its hangar because I tend to take my Corolla fishing to places cars really shouldn’t go lol. I take my car to Louis for everything including oil changes.. I just like having a real mechanics eyes watching my car for me because it’s my business and I put a lot of miles on it and I know he will tell me if you see something wrong with it while he’s doing that oil change where the flunkeys in the drive through shops wouldn’t
After seeing the oil on the brand new lower ball-joint, I'm not as ready as you to dismiss it as not knowing all the circumstances that led to the recommendations. That was a straight up scam, I hope she posts the name of the place at least on whatever social media she has.
But I don't know why he did not check for " play" in the ball joints . Thats the only indicator that they may be worn
@@ethics3 but he did, when he's talking about "shaking the wheel" at about the 4 minute mark, that's the first stage of testing for play. If there is play in the ball joint, you can move the suspension by hand by moving the wheel. If there is play when you move the wheel then you proceed to checking ball joints and bearings. If no play, they aren't bad enough to replace.
@@donakahorse You could have saved a lot of time as you didn't need to attempt to tell me how to check a ball joint. I used to perform safety checks in my pops business 30 years ago.
And besides , the way you described and the way this chap did it in the video was wrong. Sorry . I am not saying hes a bad guy and he knows a LOT more than i do , but in this instance he is incorrect.
You cannot check for play with the vehicle up on the hoist with the suspension fully extended . The geometry is such on most vehicle's that with the suspension fully extended it effectively locks the ball joint and the extent of its movement .
You need to place a stand or floor jack under the lower table and allow the weight of said vehicle to compress the suspension to normal operating height. This is when you can grasp the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position to check the ball joints and then at the 9 and 3 o'clock position to check the tie rod ends .
Anyways , I am glad to be retired from the auto racket . Lots of stress
Cheers
at my dealer someone will come in for an oil change usually a high mileage car, and we do our mpi(multi point inspection) and sometimes ill see all the years of neglect things broken or leaking. sometimes people will come in for an oil change and get a big bill. its normal! its not always bad.
Upselling in the repair business is almost guaranteed. I had a cousin who worked for dealerships an for private shops. He said, at one establishment they would discuss revenue per customer on a monthly basis. A major goal was to increase revenue per visit.
For example, you may need an oil change, but your brake pads and steering joints will be recommended even though you have 1/3 pads left. Also, why settle for pads, why not the calipers and rotor. So, instead of a $400. bill, you now have a $1,000. plus bill. Now, that is revenue per customer.
At the various shops they played the good cop bad cop routine. The tech was the bad cop looking to change everything. The service manager was the good cop who was on the customer's side and only recommended the parts that "needed" to be changed for "safety" reasons. Comments like, you don't want to be applying the brakes and the brakes fail or the steering fail at the moment you need it to avoid an accident.
One time her referred to himself as a tech goon. He caused people financial harm.
I have been screwed at 3 of 4 mechanics I gave my car to fix, as you can say, fool me once... finally found overall experienced, not extremly cheap, but very skilled mechanic who is giving a guarantee on his work. I have experienced getting used parts, instead of new, not puting washers on brake calippers, costing me almost 500€ in long run. Charging for things that were not changed etc.... Not good,But you are awesome man. We need more people like you.
Howdy from Portland Oregon!
Alaska here
I have just had a recent roadworthy inspection here in Australia. Without authorization they changed the cam cover gasket and rear wiper blade which they charged $800 AUD for.
Made me mad as hell, I know how to change a cam cover gasket too. You're right about stacking the cash. I need it for my kids.
Just pisses me off getting stooged like that by the weedy little troll at the service station.
Hi from the UK Ray!
Unfortunately this kind of behaviour is all too common here too.
Examples I’ve dealt with….
1) Alarm sporadically sounding for no reason. Owner told vehicle “needs new brain” as it controls the alarm.
What it actually needed was a new bonnet sensor switch at a US equivalent cost of around $3.
2) Vehicle needs new power rack. Nope. It needed two outer rack ball joints.
3) Land Rover. Parts list and estimate running into the thousands.
It needed an auxiliary battery.
I could go on…….
Actually, I rather liked the reflective ending, the rain falling, while you contemplate alternative scenarios, acknowleging that you/we don't have complete information. A rational mind and a goodwill bent. Respect.
My grandmother was scammed by a dealership everytime she would take her car in for service
Why we call them stealerships
I do all the work on my vehicles, everything, I only go to a pro station for state, and emissions inspection, since I myself can't do that, I just did brakes all the way around replaced everything, well took my big 2500 ram van in for inspection, get a phone call for said pro shop, to be able to pass state inspection I would need new brakes all the way around, I chuckled, I said impossible, I just did them, to which the so call mechanic, well I really haven't checked them yet, to which I said then how do you know it needs brakes all the way around, they hung up on me, so had the wife drop me off, I went in, and had a nice talk with the service manager, needless to say I got my stickers, and only spent 50, and got my van back, the pro shop has since gone out of business. Thank you for being honest, not everyone is a millionaire, we live the way we live, and appreciate mechanics like you, keep up the good work.
How did you deduce the sway bar links were ok without wiggling them up and down checking for play?
I am a qualified, but now retired mechanic in Land Down Under. Like many other mechanics I know, there are plenty of workshops, dealerships as well as independents, who write up a vehicle as needing lots of work done. Then an examination under the vehicle with the owner present, me explaining how to check if a component is right, or how to tell if it is wrong. Many times the person was told that the vehicle was unsafe to drive, it was that bad. In a few cases one of the staff at the shop, also a mechanic, comes over when the owner returns and has been told the "bad" news, and then that staff member offers to take the vehicle off the owner hands at a rock bottom price - out of the "kindness of their heart". In one case, where everything was documented and passed to the owner (I have a scanned copy of that report on my computer), we went through the Toyota Prado and found that all the front ball joints had no play in them - they had been listed in red as URGENT - failed. So had the inner control arm bushes - same wording in bold red font. Same for inner and outer tie rod ends on both sides. The steering rack, the power steering pump, the colour of the PS oil, the wiper blades, the front wheel hubs and finally the fact that the bonnet (hood) would not open all were listed as defects that failed the car. The towbar was also listed as being rusty and there was rust in one of the rear chassis side rails. The rear caliper, caliper slides and brake shoes were all listed as being low in pressure on the RH side. Same side also failed for the parking brake. The final comment was quote" DO NOT RECOMMEND VEHICLE BE DRIVEN - UN-SAFE TO DRIVE" unquote. That was all in red font. Car belonged to a friend of my son. Went through it and found the RH rear axle seal was leaking and oil went over all the brake components. We put in a new seal as well as rear handbrake shoes and new disc pads - same for the other side as it showed early signs of leaking. We convinced the bonnet to open, lubricated the cable and all was fine after that. All the rest was fabrication. Showed Lance (the owner) how to use pry bars to put substantial leverage on all the supposed defective suspension components and we found nothing worn. We topped up the power steering fluid with some additive and all the noises went away. The car was then taken to another workshop where it was independently inspected for registration renewal - it passed in all aspects. So what did we learn. Don't trust documentation from even a country wide suspension specialist. Also another learnt over the years, if there is documentation that says the oil (any of them), oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, cabin filter have been changed, check it. Does not matter who did the previous work. If they did it then we can verify that it has been done. Too many times I have seen, and can prove, that it was not done. The owner has paid for the parts and labour and the work was not done. Even had one person I was told about that parked his car alongside a fence when he took it to the dealership in the morning. Later that day he returned and found his car parked in the same spot. He went in and the service staff at the front counter showed him the account for many hundreds of dollars for the work that was done. Then he asked to see the workshop manager and showed him the nut that he placed on top of the LHF tyre that morning when he parked the car. In the afternoon he took the same nut off the tyre - the car had not been moved. In the ensuing "discussion" the owner convinced the manager that the workshop would do the service the following day at nil cost. Initially saying no to the free service manager changed his mind when told he would be receiving a call from the New South Wales government Dept of Fair Trading the following day. What I am saying, as others have said, Caveat Emptor - buyer beware. On the other side, Ray, Ford Boss Me, Watch Wes Work and South Main Auto (there no doubt are many others) are all very credible people who have shown by their actions in many videos that if they say it is wrong, it is indeed wrong. The same if it is right. As Ray has said in this video, these people who take "people for a ride" are doing a lot of damage to the industry I have been part of for more than 50 years. Shame on you. They have two rules - I can do it to you, but don't dare do it to me.
Ray, Did I miss you recommending a ball joint replacement on the passenger (?) side? You mentioned the torn boot but that the grease was still there. The grease will eventually get washed/thrown out. I'd have put that on the future list of repairs. Great video!
At Least your customer was appreciative. In my area customers like to pay more and are unwilling to listen to honest and fair pricing! Crazy yet true!
20 years ago I had a new steering rack put on my car,new tires and had the front end aligned.3 months later the front tires were showing wear ,so I took it back and after an “inspection “ I was told that they wouldn’t replace the tires because I needed a new steering rack and an alignment. I was waiting for this and had the paperwork in my back pocket. After a few angry words they replaced the tires and I suspect that they actually did the wheel alignment then, because the tires never went bad after this
Did you say you were a Biologist?
I manage a shop and yea tht is bs u dnt gain customer trust doin tht......honesty is the key and ppl wanna come back to ur shop......had a lady damn near cryin caus she was happy tht another shop was bs when they gave her a 1500 ticket tht wasnt needed.......U SIR R ONE OF THE FEW GOOD ONES LEFT!!!!
I've been lied to by a repair shop before, so I'm happy that this woman got a second opinion in this horrible Bideneconomy. That said, I have also found honest, competent, capable repair shops. They are there if you look around.
Years ago I took my Camaro in to get the A/C belt replaced. They later called me and said my oil needs changing and so does the transmission fluid because it is dark. A week previous I had changed the oil myself and had the transmission fluid replaced a month ago. I declined the added work and never returned to that garage.
When the ball joint is fine but the boot has split I would often just renew the boot. It’s a bit of labour and a smidgeon of expense but as they say a ‘stitch in time saves nine’.
It’s amazing when I talk with mechanics at shops where my mother takes her vehicle, and they try to upsell things her vehicle Does Not need.
I told her to first call me any time she has her vehicle at any repair shop so I can question the diagnosis.
I’ve left a few dealers because they would upsell repairs that customers didn’t need.
I can understand that the ball joint may be still full of grease but with the torn boot that will allow water and dirt to enter the joint and cause premature wear. Preventative maintenance would suggest change the boot but apparently that's not an option. As for the locked glove box its unknown if the other garage had the non-valet key.
11:07 doubidou bidouuuuu !
You probably never received that kind of "compliment", but i must say, you're easy to understand.
Little backstory : I'm a french Canadian and i understand you pretty well, you speak at a good pace and clearly.
I appreciate that and of course, i love your content :)
Way to go Sunshine Ray.
click
That is what you call a honest mechanic! Like my last post on the expedition, you rate up with the best mechanics that ever lived!!
What a literate yet easily enjoyable auto UA-cam offering . Bet he makes a great dad!
I am in Skowhegan Maine .I have done all my own mechanic work for over 30 years.I got tired of getting ripped for shoddy workmanship and decided to learn.That was before UA-cam .I had Chilton repair manuals for each vehicle . I'm amazed how clean the vehicles are underneath with no rust in Florida.
You're such an honest mechanic, I love it. And such a nice guy for not bashing the other guys
Good call, Ray. Torn rubber on the joints is an annual inspection fail in Europe because dirt gets in there and wears the joint fast. This is not worn, so who knows. I always change both in these cases, same age, same dry rubber. But the stabilizer bar sway links are good, very strange. Noise from there would be a racket if there is play. Also wishbone rubbers can make a racket if gone, but you’re wayyy to experienced to miss those. Suspicious case. But seeing some of your vids, some people come in with loose wheels and only want an oil change, if you quote them, they’d call you a liar if you don’t watch out. Machines are machines, you have to know what you’re looking at. Then it’s it’s a question of trust. You’re one of the good ones, keep it up! Regards from Holland
There are always two ways of arguing what it needs, Balljoints and Swaybar Links are meant to be done axlewise aswell and a Wheelalignment from time to time doesn’t hurt either.
What I haven’t seen here is testing the Balljoints for play with a plier or prybar along with the swaybar links and a little testdrive over some bumps to hear the classic swaybar link rattle or Balljoint thumb/ knock. A torn boot can be argued replacement worthy as the water and dust will get into it and destroy it from the inside over a longer period of time.
Not that Honda parts are very expensive to start with.
As you said rather a little emergency stash of cash at home for safety 🤣👍. She can fix the car step by step over a couple weeks one thing at a time.
Cheers
Small point/issue but I get pis*ed during servicing of my vehicle to see a charge for window washer fluid fill up $1.97 etc ... last time in I refilled the container before driving to the service center and took a photo of the full container. When the charge showed up on my bill - I discussed it with the service manager and he related they usually just note fluid check on the billing - but since they noted a window washer fill that obviously was not required he deleted the charge - this took about 10 minutes of his time - but well worth it from my point of view.
I love that you stick to being a good person and telling people the truth from your findings.
I feel bad for older folks being taken advantage of like this. Of course, it is not always what it seems as you said, maybe they were going through a list of fixes for a potential on a problem that was brought up. People tend to stick with the negatives (as you see from the start of this section). It is amazing you stay unbiased, I try to do the same in daily life. But I am in a very negative mood right now from work.
CRV keys are horrible when it comes to the glove box. My wife had hers locked at some point, and neither of her keys worked to unlock it. I did some wiggling of my key (spare) while she was driving with the main key and it unlocked, then tested hers after we parked and it worked. Then I tried both again and they both failed to work until I did a ton of wiggling.
Before I started learning and working on cars imwas at the mercy of your firestone goodyear Sears etc repair joints. Everytime I went to any of them I always needed, ball joints, tie rod ends center link basically all front end parts, I didn't drive much but I trusted them afterall I didn't know anything about cars, oh I also always needed brakes, this was back in the seventies, you see my father had a stroke in 1976 and was never able to drive again and my mother didn't and wouldn't learn to drive. I was 16 so I became chauffeur and took cars of the family car, and was literally taken for a ride when it came to repairs I was, a young kid was at the mercy of these sheisters, I've learned a lot since and almost became z professional mechanic as a result, I was fortunate to get a job in auto parts which taught me a lot as well, I became good friends with one customer who helped me out when I had trouble and consequently they taught me a lot, just like doctors if you're not sure get a second opinion, I also would get references from family and friends as to who is reliable and honest, the corner garages still exist but are harder to find good ones, years ago you'd build a repore with a garage, you'd buy gas at the same place they would get to know you and take care of your repairs as a result, those days are unfortunately over.
About 7 years ago, I bought a new Prius C to use as a short haul delivery vehicle. When It had about 15k miles on it, I took it in for service and the service writer came back and told me several things that were pure BS. He told me the rear brakes had excess dust accumulation and needed to be cleaned for $150. I just looked at him and said "$150? For a $3 can of brake parts cleaner and 5 minutes of work?" He also quoted me $200 for a cabin air filter and vent sanitizing. I replied: " $200 for a $10 filter and a few minutes of work?" Needless to say, he didn't get the work and I just took my complimentary checkup. Just because it's a dealer, doesn't mean they can be trusted. BTW, at 133k miles the rear brakes are still original and I changed the fronts at 130k miles because they were getting low. As for whether I was told the truth, I pulled the drums a year later, at 45k miles, and they were like new inside. No dust, no wear. After all, it's a hybrid and most of the braking is regenerative. The hydraulic brakes do very little braking and can last over 200k miles. Needless to say, I haven't been back to the Toyota dealer in Holiday, FL. I still have the car though since it's reliable and paid for.