VERY expensive life lesson learned...

[Andy in NY]

So usually I take my vehicles to a family friend for minor repairs. Last month I went to him because there was something leaking from the rear drivers side tire. He said it was a bad caliper, so it got replaced.

2 weeks ago I was headed to Connecticut to my buddies with the boat for him to work on my outboard, a 300 mile trip. about halfway, i noticed a slight whine, and was going to have him check on it while i was there. i parked in his driveway and all was good, the next day i went to make a parts run and the rear end was making sooo much noise. we pulled the tire off to discover a bad axle seal. pulled the cover off the rear end and there was maybe 6 ounces or less of fluid and the ring and pinion were toast. So the truck went home on a flatbed (thanks to my sister in laws boyfriend) which ended up costing 250 in gas.

Just picked it up from the shop today... $1900. granted, the rear end was only $1300 (the rest i had to do anyways for a sticker).

If my "mechanic" had caught it, this wouldnt have happened. I'll be going to a real shop for everything now.

 

[lowkee]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Try to keep it in perspective. True, the back yard mech should not be diagnosing something without bothering to check where to leak was coming from. How long have you gone to this guy? How much $$ have you saved by going to him (and others like him) over the years? Did him misdiagnosing the problem cost you more than you have saved by going to mechanic friends, if not, you can look at it as the first time it has bitten you and feel grateful you haven't spent possibly thousands more by going to a shop for every bump and whine.

Just a different perspective, from a guy who could replace every vehicle in my posession and still be under what I would have paid a 'real shop' over the years, had I not taken the initiative to learn it on my own.

 

[i386]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Was the caliper actually leaking? I could almost understand making a quick diagnosis of a bad caliper without pulling the wheel to take a look. But once it was off and no fluid leaking around the piston(s)... well yea that's a tough one to swallow.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Try to keep it in perspective. True, the back yard mech should not be diagnosing something without bothering to check where to leak was coming from. How long have you gone to this guy? How much $$ have you saved by going to him (and others like him) over the years? Did him misdiagnosing the problem cost you more than you have saved by going to mechanic friends, if not, you can look at it as the first time it has bitten you and feel grateful you haven't spent possibly thousands more by going to a shop for every bump and whine.

Just a different perspective, from a guy who could replace every vehicle in my posession and still be under what I would have paid a 'real shop' over the years, had I not taken the initiative to learn it on my own.

He has only been working on mine for about 2 years, and has probably not saved me 1300 bucks! he usually just does brakes, tune ups and stuff.

Was the caliper actually leaking? I could almost understand making a quick diagnosis of a bad caliper without pulling the wheel to take a look. But once it was off and no fluid leaking around the piston(s)... well yea that's a tough one to swallow.

I dont know if the caliper was actually leaking or not. im not very mechanically inclined, so i have to trust peoples word on stuff.

the crappy thing is that had he caught the problem then, i wouldnt have had this problem. i'm not mad at the guy, people make mistakes. but i can say i probably wont go to him again.

 

[Blaze5509]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

After the caliper was replaced was there still fluid leaking from the wheel area??

If the calipers were leaking, more brake fluid should have been put in and the brake system bled...did that happen?

 

[ehenry]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

The guy must not be much of a mechanic if he miss a leaking axle seal. Rear differential grease has a distinct odor and you can smell it without gettin it on you. Brake fluid doesnt have much of a smell at all. All the mechanics I know ......the first thing they do when the spot a leak is get some of it their fingers and smell it ! ! Unless he actually spotted the caliper leaking (which I doubt) I wouldnt take anything else back to him.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

$ 1900 Jeep ? Just Empty Every Pocket.

I'm a shadetree mechanic and gear head and have to agree that the guy must be a kinda of a bad mechanic if he mistook a leaking axle seal for a leaking caliper. Even if the initial diagnosis goes askew and something else is wrong you gotta consult with the customer to see where/why/what they would like to be done.

 

[Splat]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

And you could have easily blown and axle seal while underway.

I would take it easy on this guy until you get all the facts.

Bill

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

And you could have easily blown and axle seal while underway.

I would take it easy on this guy until you get all the facts.

Bill

I have to agree before I hand the local mechanic out to dry.

How many miles were on the truck? I have had the darnest things go w/o warning and even after doing proper dealer maintenance.

Many people like to use Jiffy Lube or Speedi Lubes because they think the stealership (oops! )are out to shaft them. I alway tell people that they should visit the dealers about every 4th or 5th oil change just to have a trained tech look things over.

I have to say since you had an additional $600 of work so you can get the sticker....... it makes you look like you have been avioding the dealer for some time.

Now if the dealership had been the primary source from the get go for services..... you would have blamed them for a seal going bad.

It was a no win situation.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

$ 1900 Jeep ? Just Empty Every Pocket.

I'm a shadetree mechanic and gear head and have to agree that the guy must be a kinda of a bad mechanic if he mistook a leaking axle seal for a leaking caliper. Even if the initial diagnosis goes askew and something else is wrong you gotta consult with the customer to see where/why/what they would like to be done.

Not a jeep. Its an oldsmobile Bravada (same as a blazer/jimmy).

I have to agree before I hand the local mechanic out to dry.

How many miles were on the truck? I have had the darnest things go w/o warning and even after doing proper dealer maintenance.

Many people like to use Jiffy Lube or Speedi Lubes because they think the stealership (oops! )are out to shaft them. I alway tell people that they should visit the dealers about every 4th or 5th oil change just to have a trained tech look things over.

I have to say since you had an additional $600 of work so you can get the sticker....... it makes you look like you have been avioding the dealer for some time.

Now if the dealership had been the primary source from the get go for services..... you would have blamed them for a seal going bad.

It was a no win situation.

Truck has 102,XXX on it. We have one GM dealer in town, and I refuse to go to them.

So the reason there was additional work was that the brakes all around wouldnt pass inspection. while they were working okay, they were on their last legs...


I havent even talked to the mechanic that missed the seal, and i dont think im going to. theres no point to it, nothing will come of it. but, while i am not mechanicly inclined when it comes to cars, i can say that based on the opinions of the people who have looked at it, they say that seal has been bad for some time. i am confident it did NOT happen on my trip. the seal was seperated into 2 and there was a mere few ounces in the diff. believe me, i stopped every 45 min, and i would have noticed if i leaked out 3 pints of fluid over a 5 hour span.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

I tried to save money once by paying some guy on Craigslist (who claimed to be a mechanic during the day who did side work in the evenings) to replace a wheel bearing on the front of my Regal. I have a GM dealer in my town that does great work and I trust them greatly however in this case I was broke and didn't want to pay for an OEM bearing assembly. I wasn't sure exactly which side was bad so I asked him to double check before proceeding. Well he pretty much completely destroyed the left side of my car and it turned out that the right bearing was the bad one!!!! I ended up paying the GM dealer to make everything right again on the left side. In the course of the conversation with the dealer they told me if I'd bought a bearing at Autozone they would have put it on for me. DULP!!!!! Talk about penny-wise pound foolish.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Now if the dealership had been the primary source from the get go for services..... you would have blamed them for a seal going bad.

But they will say not their fault and it happened during the trip. I once took my truck in for a Toyota recall on the ball joint. They did the work and soon after I noticed some grease around the cv boot area. Dealer wouldn't take responsibility and wanted to charge me for a whole new boot kit and labor. Took it to Midas and they replaced only the damaged clamp since not much grease had leaked out.

 

[briguy2817]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Why would the mechanic be looking at the differential fluid if he just changed the caliper? Unless you paid him specifically to go over the whole vehicle, check all the fluids, and operation of all parts, then it's your fault for not checking the fluid level yourself or telling the mechanic to do it.

Now, having said that, if the fluid that was leaking was gear lube and not brake fluid, and your mechanic tried to scam you by saying the caliper was leaking, cleaning it with some brake clean, and sending you on your way, it's his fault.

By the way, why did he only change one caliper? When you do one side, you always do the other at the same time to eliminate any pull issues.

I'm thinking the fluid wasn't brake fluid and were losing gear lube from the rear end.

Brian

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

Why would the mechanic be looking at the differential fluid if he just changed the caliper? Unless you paid him specifically to go over the whole vehicle, check all the fluids, and operation of all parts, then it's your fault for not checking the fluid level yourself or telling the mechanic to do it.

Now, having said that, if the fluid that was leaking was gear lube and not brake fluid, and your mechanic tried to scam you by saying the caliper was leaking, cleaning it with some brake clean, and sending you on your way, it's his fault.

By the way, why did he only change one caliper? When you do one side, you always do the other at the same time to eliminate any pull issues.

I'm thinking the fluid wasn't brake fluid and were losing gear lube from the rear end.

Brian

Im not mechanically inclined by any means, i wouldnt even know where to check the differential fluid. i know how to change my oil and stuff, but thats about it. that being said, i brought it to him and said "hey, something is leaking" and he looked it over and said it was the caliper, so i said replace it. he did replace it.

 

[briguy2817]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

I think the mechanic you took the truck to scammed you. My professional opinion, by what your telling me, is he replaced a part that may not have been the problem to begin with. Plus, he should have replaced the other side as well.

When an axle seal let's go, the oil usually slings all over the tire. If it's bad enough, it will be on the quarter panel as well. If you had a small leak before hand, the mechanic is an idiot for not selling you extra work. I figure the axle seal job would run a hundred or so. Easy money in his pocket.

Now, with his half azz work, he's out of more potential money from you. The thing that sucks is there isn't a lot that you can do. If you confront him, he'll say there wasn't a leak from the seal, just the caliper, and how do you prove him wrong.

Brian

Brian

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

I think the mechanic you took the truck to scammed you. My professional opinion, by what your telling me, is he replaced a part that may not have been the problem to begin with. Plus, he should have replaced the other side as well.

When an axle seal let's go, the oil usually slings all over the tire. If it's bad enough, it will be on the quarter panel as well. If you had a small leak before hand, the mechanic is an idiot for not selling you extra work. I figure the axle seal job would run a hundred or so. Easy money in his pocket.

Now, with his half azz work, he's out of more potential money from you. The thing that sucks is there isn't a lot that you can do. If you confront him, he'll say there wasn't a leak from the seal, just the caliper, and how do you prove him wrong.

Brian

Brian

That's just it, confronting him wont get me anywhere. And I just need to say, I really think he just made an honest mistake. But the whole point of this was really just to vent a bit.

 

[J. Mark]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

I tend to disagree with most of the posts. You are mostly assuming that the seal was leaking and the wheel cylinder was not. With a seal torn in two, the fluid loss would occur in a manner of minutes.

No offense intended Andy, but it sounds like you wait for problems rather than getting preventative maintenance. That is fine, but when you wait for problems they hit you in a hurry and tend to be expensive.

Maybe the mechanic is a hack, maybe not, but I don't know what he did and what was wrong at that point in time. Maybe you got screwed and maybe not, unless you know assume not but change mechanics . . . and don't let yout car's brakes and other mechanicals go to the point of failure before doing something.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

I tend to disagree with most of the posts. You are mostly assuming that the seal was leaking and the wheel cylinder was not. With a seal torn in two, the fluid loss would occur in a manner of minutes.

No offense intended Andy, but it sounds like you wait for problems rather than getting preventative maintenance. That is fine, but when you wait for problems they hit you in a hurry and tend to be expensive.

Maybe the mechanic is a hack, maybe not, but I don't know what he did and what was wrong at that point in time. Maybe you got screwed and maybe not, unless you know assume not but change mechanics . . . and don't let yout car's brakes and other mechanicals go to the point of failure before doing something.

so what, i should have all my brakes replaced every month because they *might* go bad at anytime?

There was a problem, so i took it to get fixed. I dont know anything about mechanics on a car, so i trusted the guy i brought it to.


So you all are saying if you brought a vehicle to a mechanic to fix an unknown problem, and he said he fixed it, then a little while later something major happens that is related to the work that was done you would just let it go?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

The brakes are not related to the axle seals. The calipers are stationary and stop the wheel axle assembly.

It was just time for the seals to go...... I would not blame the mechanic.

Consider this..... what would have happened if your rear tires went flat..... could you blame the mechanic who did the brake work on those wheels.

 

[avenger79]

Re: VERY expensive life lesson learned...

i hate to be a jerk but is it really the friend mechanics fault? I mean you should have known if the caliper was leaking it would mean your vehicle would be low on brake fluid correct? you would have checked the fluid reservoir in your normal routine maintainence correct? your brakes would have tended to be mushy due to low fluid correct?


just a different perspective