Motor mounts - how much for mechanic to replace?

[HippysChick]

Hello, long time no see - apologies for that.

Hubby's PT Cruiser Turbo hasn't seen much action for the last two or three months; the rear passenger side tire had what appeared to be a slow puncture (I think the US terminology is 'leaking tire'), in that when pumped up it would slowly flatten over the course of a week or so.

All four tires looked pretty new on the car when we bought it last year, so I figured it was a straightforward repair of whatever was causing the leak.

Took the car to Tires Plus yesterday (don't hate me - we have a line of credit with them and money is tight because of the boat motor rebuild that was necessary (don't ask!!) which we are about to finish paying off), and they eventually told me that the rear tires are five years old and while they have good tread depth on them, they were cracking in between the treads and effectively had rotted. So I bought a pair of tires.

I'd also noticed some nasty noises while driving it over, so had them do a check over on the car. Rear brake pads were at 1 mm each, so had those changed. Front brakes 8 mm but the rotors hadn't been changed out and were worn, so it's suggested those are done.

The tires and rear brakes cost me just under $700 yesterday.

Then they told me that the transmission is slipping (which they don't work on, so AMCO or Transmaster visit), and that the motor mounts are bad, which I remembered is an issue on the PT Cruiser from this forum.

Want to take a guess at how much they quoted to replace the motor mounts?

I think it's an obscene amount for a part that ranges from $9 to $33 at RockAuto - a hair over $1,500. And nearly $500 for the front brakes.

I don't have that big a line of credit, and I already think I paid over the odds; like I said, line of credit with them and not much spare cash. I went with the tires and rear brakes because of safety reasons, but wanted to run the rest past you all because you've never steered me wrong before!

Hubby reckons the transmission just needs the bands tightening? (I have no idea, I'm about to research here).

This vehicle, by the way, has done one trip from New Smyrna Beach to Palm Bay, PB - NSB - PB, and a couple of twenty mile round trips, so maybe 400, 500 miles since we bought it last August? It was squealing when I drove it TO Tires Plus; it isn't any more. Still a lot of vibration when stopped at lights; and the power seems to ebb and flow when accelerating. It isn't driving like a turbo, put it that way!

Um - thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice!

[HippysChick]

Okay, phrased the question differently, went to Google, found another thread on this forum asked by a noob who'd just had the work done and wanted to know had he paid too much.

One mount is underneath? and doesn't tend to need replacing (and is the mega-expensive one to replace)? Yeah?

And so $200 or a little less might be more reasonable (shopping around, etc etc)?

It's definitely preferable to $1,500, anyway.

[chuzz]

Where the heck do you live? If you buy the brake pads and rotors and bring your PT to Lake Wales, I'll change them for $100. As far as your transmission goes, NEVER take it to AAMCO. All Automatics Must Come Out. Go get 4 quarts of Mopar ATF+4 fluid and a transmission filter kit from O'Reilly Auto. Change the fluid and filter yourself and see if the transmission improves. You put anything besides ATF+4 in it and you'll kill it. Hopefully nobody has added any of the wrong fluid in it yet. Get the parts and bring it to me and leave it overnight and I'll do the fluid and filter change for an extra $50. Come back and get it the next day. I can't come to you because I just had a toe joint replacement last week and am not allowed to drive yet.

[bubba_1952]

Happy toes to you, until we meet again.....

[HippysChick]

Originally Posted by chuzz

Where the heck do you live? If you buy the brake pads and rotors and bring your PT to Lake Wales, I'll change them for $100. As far as your transmission goes, NEVER take it to AAMCO. All Automatics Must Come Out. Go get 4 quarts of Mopar ATF+4 fluid and a transmission filter kit from O'Reilly Auto. Change the fluid and filter yourself and see if the transmission improves. You put anything besides ATF+4 in it and you'll kill it. Hopefully nobody has added any of the wrong fluid in it yet. Get the parts and bring it to me and leave it overnight and I'll do the fluid and filter change for an extra $50. Come back and get it the next day. I can't come to you because I just had a toe joint replacement last week and am not allowed to drive yet.

That is a very decent offer! Thank you very much. Hubby is raging about the price mark up on the work that was done, but I was kind of over a barrel. Before his stroke he'd have thought nothing of doing the work himself; now it is a lot more difficult to get things done. I'm okay if I have a clear picture of what I'm doing, but as my back is shot to heck and I've next to no grip strength because of neck damage, if it takes a bit of strength I'm not much use, either.

It may be that we'll take you up on it; we're a couple of hours away, I think. This month we finally get out from under the boat motor rebuild and should know by the middle of the month if we have a little spare cash to spend on his car. Mine is - thankfully - our main vehicle and so far has been a pretty decent car.

I have to admit that I am nervous as anything about driving a PT Cruiser again; I drove like a little old lady the other day. I loved driving our blue one until it got all smashed up, and me with it.

[chuzz]

I can empathize with you about the neck injuries. My wife has had 5 back surgeries and 2 neck surgeries and I had an Arnold Chiari I malformation surgery back in 04. I also have back problems, but will be damned if I'll let some yahoo that doesn't know anything about vehicles touch one of mine. I'd rather take several days to make a repair myself and know that I've done it correctly, than pay someone a ridiculous amount, only to have to fix it myself anyway. I don't trust dealerships or garages anymore. Parts changers for the most part instead of mechanics. I'm NOT an ASE Certified Mechanic and don't claim to be one. It just ticks me off to hear of honest, hard working people constantly getting raked over the coals for simple, easy to do repairs. We're all supposed to help our fellow man, if and when we can. If you and the hubby want to try to get with me, just send me a PM and we'll work something out, okay?

[HippysChick]

Gaw, your poor wife! And you, too.

I have been signed off from Physical Therapy as of this week - yahoo! It's only been a hair over a year!

Anyway, I posted a really grumpy review of the dealership on their Facebook page, gave them one star because I couldn't give them any less. A few days later, I had a FB notification that there was one comment on my post. Happened to be the Service Manager of the dealership who asked me to bring the car in and they'd see if they agreed with Tires Plus and fix whatever might be wrong.

Well, I got back an hour ago. They definitely fixed the front brakes, I definitely have new windscreen wiper blades, and there is definitely no more vibration, rattling, squeaking and the funny hesitation of the engine has stopped.

He told me they fixed 'everything'. No money changed hands, I have no paperwork to show what was done, but everything seems to be okay and I'm happy.

The only thing is, now the radio doesn't work, but I am NOT telling my husband that! He's already grumbled that they didn't put a new lock in the tailgate!