Hi everyone... I hope someone can help me and let me know if I'm being taken advantage of! So I get home from work Tuesday night and parked my car in the driveway, later that evening I went out to pull it in the garage and when I moved it I noticed a LARGE pool of orange liquid where my car was sitting. I initially panicked because I thought it was transmission fluid (it shifts hard from 2 to 3rd sometimes and I thought there was an issue with the transmission) so I check the tranny fluid level and it's fine so I go in search of another source. My next thought was that is was coolant because it's got the orange coolant in it. The puddle under the car was thin and a tad greasy feeling. I checked the overflow reservoir and it was to the full line. I took the radiator cap off and did not see any liquid in there but I wasn't sure if I would see any since the car wasn't running and it would've been settled at the bottom. Then I do some more research online and found that the power steering fluid is sometimes orange. When I pulled it into the garage it whined pretty good when I turned the wheel, and when I finally located the power steering pump that was tucked away behind and under the alternator the dip stick came out bone dry. I decided the best thing to do was have it towed to a garage just in case it was something serious. My boyfriend recommended his mechanic Mike with Morgan Automotive in Chesterfield Indiana. When he finally gets to look at my car the next day he calls and says it's my water pump, he said the coolant is just pouring out of it. I was skeptical because I never once had any issues with coolant leaking or my car overheating or even getting hot in the slightest and my heater worked just fine blowing hot air. He is insistent that it's the water pump but did say I had a small leak in the power steering pump and he would tighten up some bolt that would hopefully fix it... the cost for the water pump change was $344 and that included the $110 tow charge and $75 an hour for labor. I said fine, fix it! Then he calls me back a couple hours later and says that the top motor mount is broken and that's something that cannot be let go, it needs fixed ASAP, he said while he was leaning on the engine to get to the water pump the mount broke. He said it had to have been loose before that and suggested that "I'm sure you've noticed it jerking when you give it gas or turn a corner"... uh no, I've never felt that.... ever! He said something about the dog bone needing replaced and the top mount... this was going to be an additional $250 to fix. I felt like I had no choice because if it truly is broken, I could lose the engine while driving down the road... or at least that's what he implied... He said my car would be ready today after 1pm. Today I get a call from my boyfriend, he said Mike called him and said that it's now going to be an additional $100 because the oil pan is leaking and needs resealed. He said this is a 4hr job but will only charge me an extra $100. He said that because it's an SS it's different and will take extra time to work on. When he first quoted me the $344, that included replacing the seal on the oil pan.... now he's tacking on an additional $100 to do this!!! I am angry to say the least! Can anyone on here tell me if what he's saying sounds right or is he ripping me off???


Any help and suggestions is greatly appreciated!!

 

Sounds good to me. Always trust your boyfriend's mechanic

 

The beginning sounds ok, dexcool is orange and when water pumps go they leak coolant. And power steering hoses can get small leaks. The dogbone mount breaking sounds rather suspicious and in order to replace the oil pan gasket if i recall you have to take the engine cradle out. Never worth it unless it's losing alot of oil. Lots of cars tend to leak a bit around the pan gasket. So In my opinion the latter of your story sounds rather suspicious but the beginning sounds ok.

 

Thanks guys... I'm going to pick it up now after paying $700 for all this. I was suspicious from the get go but when he said he leaned on the mount to get to the water pump and it broke then suggested it had to have already been loose it just solidified my suspicions because I KNOW the engine wasn't loose... I check my fluids regularly because it did have a small oil leak and when I was searching for the power steering pump I leaned on the engine and didn't feel it move at all. I guess I'll just chalk it up to lesson learned... but I'll be getting a complete print out of everything he did to my car and comparing prices...

 

Look over the top engine mount and see if anything even looks new.

 

It looks like one side is new... he only charged $98 to replace the mounts but charged $229 to replace the oil pan seal. In the description of everything he did to my car it said he had to raise the engine 3" to replace it and I did read on another thread on here that raising the engine is sometimes necessary to get the oil pan out to change the seal. He charged 4.5 hours to do that. When I picked it up last night I got on the interstate and got on it a little getting it up to 90 because before it would vibrate a little when I would get up to 80+ so I wanted to see if it still did that.... it didn't. I feel a little better about everything now... but he also put in there that he found a small leak in the power steering pump but would have to get into the rack and pinion system and said there was too much liability for him to do whatever he had to do to look at it without replacing the entire rack and pinion system and that I declined the service... He didn't mention that to me on the phone, he just said he found a small leak in the power steering pump and was going to tighten a bolt hoping that would fix the leak. Overall I think he did a good job but I still don't understand how my water pump could have been bad when there were absolutely no signs prior to me finding a puddle under my car that there was anything wrong with the coolant system....

 

I suggest letting the car sit for a bit and then ck for leakage..
Did he top off your power steering?..
Also when you found the initial leak. What area under the car was the puddle?
Was it under the right front? Left front? Driver side or passenger side?

 

It would be a good idea to make your bf learn some mechanic skills lol,you save tons of money doing small things like that,while it is a good idea to let a mechanic do the more complicated things,a shop called NTB charged me $350 to change plugs and wires and it took right at 4 hours to get it done because 4 mechanics could not figure out the firing order on my eclipse

 

Here is a pic of the driveway after I pulled my car into the garage and the under carriage of my car. The smaller spot at the top of the driveway would be right about where the oil filter is. When I looked under the car after I moved it and noticed the leak the entire undercarriage had tons of drip spots, like drips that were about to drip. It was the surface more towards the back, behind the tires.

 

Seems like the guy was honest, i think you we're very cautious which isn't a bad thing.Water pumps usually don't give notice when going bad (most give a little rattle noise,or leaks) most people never hear it. Your bf wouldn't recommend someone that would rip you off would he?the jobs you had done are pretty much alot of labor but parts are inexpensive.