Springfield

An SRS light is something I would definitely leave to the pros, or at least fixing it. Any shop that has the appropriate scan tool can see what code is stored that caused your SRS light. With that code, they can trace out what caused your car's problem. There are several possible problems... a clockspring (the wiring harness in the steering wheel), the impact sensors, and any one of the air bags your vehicle is equipped with. I would say though, with out a doubt and knowing any codes, that the most likely failure is in the SRS module (the controlling computer of the SRS system). I see more failures of SRS modules on Honda and Acura models than other components. That's my two cents. Also, something of note. The air bags will not deploy on you out of the middle of nowhere because there is a fault with the SRS. I figured you might want that information. When the SRS light comes on, the SRS is disabled to prevent such an incident. It also will not work if you are in an accident and the air bags are supposed to deploy. The system is set up that way to prevent accidental deployment and injury due to that. In short, there would be serious lawsuits if air bags were exploding in people's faces without notice. In summary... take it to someone who is qualified, this may be a dealer or a private shop. My bet is on a faulty SRS module. Don't worry about the air bags deploying unexpectedly, they wont.

I asked a friend who has a S2000 that had a similar problem to yours about it last weekend. He said that he had his rear suspension lubricated and that took care of the problem. I'm not sure if the rear of the S2000 has lube fittings, I highly doubt it, and he wasn't specific about what part was actually lubricated. You may also get a can of WD-40 (or another brand of penetrating lubricant) and spray down the bushings on the rear suspension while your changing the fluid. It may or may not solve your problem, but it would be a piece of cake to do while you're under there. Sorry I'm not specific about my friends similar problem, but he wasn't specific about it either. Couldn't hurt though. I did a little investigation while I was at work today. Technicians make as little as $27 per labor hour. Most of them make no more than $34 per labor hour. 1 Technician, who has worked for us for 20+ years, makes 44% no matter how many hours turned. 44% of $89.32 is $37 and some change. So I was wrong about my $50, sorry about that. I still think they are well piad based on the work they do. Just thought I'd throw that out there since I had made an error and I wanted to correct myself.

That's why I prefaced my OP with this little tidbit. But seriously though. Everything isn't a "piece of cake". I'm straight up with the customer, if it's a piece of cake, I'll do it myself right while the customer is there. Wipers, light bulbs... piece of cake. Brakes, axles... NOT a piece of cake. If I wanted a job where I had to bust my ass physically every day. Go home with the worst back aches ever from bending over a hood all day and risk permanent back injury. Have hands that would be permanently dirty, unless I was on vacation. I would have became a mechanic/automotive technician for all of that. The money is nice, but I want to be able to stand when I'm 35 years old. I have a lot of respect for every last one of my mechanics. I realize that they have a super hard job, every day. Not to say that my job isn't easy, but theirs is clearly a hugely physically demanding one. And to answer you, eventhough you are joking. I don't consider it my job to BS the customer or tech. We joke around and have fun at work, that's for sure though. Sorry about your luck. I think it's a bad thing honestly if an advistor has TOO much power in the working relationship. It should be a give/give, win/win relationship.

They get paid for every hour turned... I can't say it's exactly $50 per hour, but some of them I'm sure are damn close.

The mechanics at my shop are paid approx. $35-$50 per hour based on skill level and accrediation. They are paid based on commission, more precisely how many hours of labor they actually perform. If they finish a job that pays 5 hours (according to the labor guide, which we have three different sources) in 3 hours, they get paid for 5 hours worth of labor. So, for every hour of labor performed, the shop gets $55-40 and the technician gets the rest. What does that other $55-40 go towards? It goes to paying people like me, the service advisor, paying the light service techs (oil changes and tire rotations hardly pay their hourly salary), paying the accountants, maintaining the shop, etc. Last but not least, the ownership has to make a pretty penny too. Out of the technicians at our shop, at least half of them made over $100K last year. A couple made close to $200K. It's safe to say that none made less than I did and a few made double or triple what I made. It's safe to say that the technicians (at my shop at least) are handsomely rewarded for the work that they do and I feel completely that they diserve it. On top of their handsome pay. The technicians are guranteed a "base" pay, meaning that if they do not perform enough hours of labor to make a "base", they are guranteed a certain amount of pay. This is also based on skill level and accredation. This is very helpfull to them in a couple of ways. First, the summer and winter are ALWAYS more busy. Vehicles break down more often in extreme weather conditions, that's a simple truth. Second, even with all of their knowledge and skill, technicians can still get "stuck" on a hard problem. They can waste hours or days of their time diagnosing a problem that only pays 1 hour. It's good to know that if they have an off week, they can still bring home enough money to pay the bills and take care of their families. So, to sum it up... Our technicians are paid well for the services they perform. They perform outstanding work for me and my fellow service advisors, so we (as management) must take outstanding care of them. It is still a back breaking line of work, but I hope that helps clarify things a little for you. To me, our charges are justified. If, even after all of that explanation, you still think that our charges aren't fair than I am sorry. We work very hard day in and day out and we strive to be at the top of our game. I think we diserve every penny that we earn. Lastly... I didn't really start this thread to bicker about the costs of auto repairs. I do appreciate your question though and I'm happy to offer any information I can to show you how things work. The cost of auto repairs, labor especially, depends highly on location and the cost of living in that location. While we may charge $90 an hour for labor in the Northern Virginia suburbs, shops in southwestern Virginia may only charge $40 and hour. It's a plain and simple fact.

I forgot to mention. I assume you meant clean and adjust rear brakes as opposed to rear brake alignment. There is no such thing as a rear brake alignment and there is only such a thing as clean and adjust if you have rear drum brakes. If you have a Corolla, it's likely you have rear drum brakes (as opposed to disc). Also I wanted to point out that you may be able to bring your extended warranty to where ever you want, unless that extended warranty says "Must go to Toyota dealer" somewhere on it. You could also save some money that way. Just an FYI. Didn't think you were going to bash me, just wanted to throw that out there for anyone reading the thread. Glad I could help Phoward.

I don't know if the S2000 has a cover on the differential you can pull off to inspect the gears or if it just has a drain and fill hole. If it has a cover, it would be worthwhile to look at the gears and fluid and see if there is scarring on the gears or metal shavings in the fluid. It's a relatively easy first step though. Like to know how this one goes. My friend has an S2000. He has a similar problem I believe, but he's more of a do-it-yourselfer gearhead. Keep me up to date if you don't mind.

And yes... that's me in the SWEEET jean jacket!!

Banned for compairing me to Car Talk. ****, wrong thread. :laugh:

OK. You're right. Is that what you wanted to hear?

I'll answer this in 2 parts. I'm doing this because there are two things I'd like to comment on. First... Extended warranties. A lot of the extended warranties that are bought when buying a car are not warranties from the manufacturer. It is important that I point this out because it means, you don't need to take your car back to the dealer for it. I deal with extended warranty companies quite a bit myself and I am in no way related to any dealership. You probably could have just gone to your local shop in Woodbridge in the first place. When you buy an extended warranty, you should read the fine print. First to find out where you need to go to have your car serviced under this extended warranty. Second to see what is covered... Things like electric motors, switches, relays. Gaskets like oil pan, intake, cylinder head. Hydraulic things like brake lines and hydraulic clutch lines. Bearings whether it be wheel, differential, transmission. Those are all good to see in the paperwork. And of course, the more expensive (most have silver, gold and platinum or something of the like for levels of coverage) the better. Getting the lowest level of coverage will probably not pay off in the long run, where as getting the best level of coverage may actually do some benefit for you. That's just speaking of my own personal experience with extended warranties. I just bought a car myself and opted to not get an extended warranty (but that's just an obvious choice for me). Second... The price you paid. I will only go into this because this is a shop close to my area (I'm in direct competition with them). Otherwise, I don't know what is a fair price. I will say, you would have likely got a better deal in Woodbridge... their prices are lower (everything's less expensive there, houses, gas, food, etc.) I will tell you exactly how I would have estimated this at my shop. The labor is in regular font, parts are in italics. Front brake job: $107.98 Toyota (OEM) front brake pad set: $105.00 Front brake rotors: $85.00 x 2 Clean and adjust rear brakes: $44.66 Brake fluid flush: $89.32 Brake fluid: $25.00 Safety inspection: $16.00 Emission inspection: $28.00 Total of parts and labor: $585.96 Estimate of tax, shop supplies, etc.: $64.46 Estimate of services: $650.42 Now... Before you go bashing me on my price. I guessed on the price of parts, it is certainly possible (and very likely) that the parts actually cost less than my guess. Also, I overestimate. That $650 that I told you what it would be over the phone would actually be something closer to $630-640 when you came to pick up the car later that day. Also, if price is a huge issue, I could opt for less expensive (read: lower quality) brake parts. I'd rather have my customer pay a little more to ensure they feel that the workmanship was first class, hence the OEM brake pads and expensive rotors. I could percivably save the customer $100 by using lesser quality, and thus, less expensive parts but I'd rather have a happy customer that doesn't return 3 times because of brake noise that is "normal" given the quality of parts.

I have a couple of thoughts on this one. I would assume it is not wheel or brake related, usually something in that area would show scarring, either on the wheel or the brake rotor. I will rule out the wheels and brakes. It sounds as if this is a bearing noise. Apparently the noise only occurs when that side is loaded up. When you turn the wheel to the right and you are at speed, this forces the weight of the car onto the left (and vice versa). It seems unplausable to me that both of the bearings are making noise at different times though, and after you have unsprung (lifted the car) the weight on them. My personal thought is that it is coming from the rear differential or the axles going from the differential to the rear wheels. It is possible that there is enough play in the differential or axles that when that side of the vehicle is loaded up during turns it makes a clicking noise. Noise from the rear end of Honda CR-V's are very common and only require a change of the fluid (in most cases) to fix. I am almost certain Honda doesn't use CR-V differentials in the S2000, but that may be a good place to start. Be sure you use the correct fluid in the differential though, this could cause major problems if you don't.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: It's so bad it's funny. Brought tears to my eyes.

I'll admit... I'm much better over the computer with a couple of drinks than I am in person completely sober. All joking aside, I pride myself on being good at what I do. If I was a professional shoe shiner, you'd have some damn shiny shoes. Thanks for the kind words, it's a boost to hear something like that from somebody in the industry. Agreed, however I wouldn't consider our prices ridiculous. Most people nowadays just plain old don't know about cars. There is a price for all of that knowlege, as well as the amount of back breaking work it takes to do it day in and day out.

Those both certainly sound like possible causes. I'd like to know how that one turned out. That goes for the rest of you. If you asked questions and then had your car repaired, I'd like to know how it went. You know, a little feedback. I'd like to know how my educated guesses over the internet turned out against a hands on diagnostic.

Most likely yes. On most brake pads there is a "wear sensor". This wear sensor is a metal bracket that hangs off of the backing of the brake pad. This metal bracket will touch the brake rotor and make an annoying screeching noise when the pads wear thin enough. The wear sensor will make that noise untill you hit the brakes when the wear sensor digs in deep enough that the noise goes away. However, if you read my post last page (a few before yours), I said some brakes make noise because they are cheap. Cheaper brakes are made of a semi-metallic compound which can contain enough metal to squeak. It is possible this noise is not an indication your brakes are worn out. Best advise would be to have your brakes checked. Any time your brakes make noise, you should have them checked at least. This should be obvious, but I know there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't think twice about driving with their brakes making all kinds of terrible noises.

Good luck. Remember, line up the splines on the axle to the splines on the transmission. You may have to tap the end of the axle to get it in, just don't tap too hard. Wheel bearings are a pain in the ass, love the cars that are designed with bearings built into the hubs. Bearing in hub design is a bit more expensive on the part side, but they are a hell of a lot easier to replace.

I won't deny that people can do work for cheaper than at a repair station. You can do anything cheaper when you buy things online. The problem I see here is this. If you have 1 car and only 1 car, you can't affort to wait 2 days (at best) for this part to come in. If you have a job, you need to be at work. It's not a viable excuse to miss work because you have to wait a week for your part to arrive. That is where repair stations come into play. We (as an industry) provide speedy and professional service, of course there is a cost to that. If you are a good do it yourselfer, don't have an immediate need for the car you are repairing, and don't mind performing the repair again if you make a mistake or get a defective part, it's a good idea to fix your cars yourselves. You will end up saving a bunch of money. Otherwise, you should take your car to the professionals. As far as brakes. I wouldn't skimp on the price. I would buy original equipment (if Japanese or European) or top quality ceramic (if American). You'll save yourself a lot of embarrasment when your brakes start squeaking for no apparent reason.

UPDATE: I haven't seen this happen, or so I can recall. I asked one of my technicians about this yesterday. This has been known to happen on the Ford F Series trucks with the 4.6L (I believe). The plugs blow out, taking the threads with them. Apparently this happens so much, they make a repair kit for it. Basically at heli coil kit, just as you described. Just figured I'd give you an update since I had asked around.

What year and model of Jeep is it? I don't you recall you ever saying. Knowing you have a hood release cable problem, I would figure it's a Cherokee or Grand Cherokee. If so, what year is it? Sometimes you have to access the bulb from under the vehicle. Sometimes there is a "torx" screw holding the lense in in between the headlight and side marker light. Elaborate a little more and I may be able to help you. Bulbs are usually very simple to replace. At my shop, we don't charge to replace bulbs... unless you own the notorious New Beetle. Those headlight bulbs are the hugest pain in the ass to replace. Only in Germany could they design a car so hard to replace a headlight bulb.

Ignition locks aren't terribly expensive or too hard to replace either. I would imagine it would cost you somewhere between $200-300 depending on what kind of car you own. Sometimes you'll have to use a different key for the ignition than the one for the doors if they can't get the ignition key to match the door key. Good luck though, it shouldn't be super painfull.

Now that is something I can agree with.

There is certainly something wrong with Fords. There is also something wrong with GM, Chrysler, Toyota and every other brand of car ever made. Every car has it's problems. From my prespective, Ford has a fairly high failure rate when compaired with other manufacturers. I see my fair share of failures on GM's, Hondas and Toyotas as well but I think Ford ekes them out slightly. As far as GM, their cars (and by that I mean just that, "cars") are junk. They are about as good of quality as a Ford car or Chrysler car. Their trucks are very well made though, and by trucks I mean full size pickup trucks. I hold a Chevy pickup truck in much higher regard than a Ford or a Dodge. In reality though, cars are only as reliable as the people who drive and maintain them. That's the god honest truth. You can get a Kia to last to 200K if you take care of it properly and you can run down a Honda in under 100K if you treat it like your red-headed step child. And that, my friend is my *******... I mean opinion. Also, your father in law is a good man. I drive a Honda myself. Sorry I don't support the US economy with my choice in car. If the US automakers could produce what, in my *******, is a good car, then I would feel compelled to stimulate the US economy. I've owned 2 Chevys and a Dodge so far in my lifetime, those were enough for me to say Japanese is the way to go. But alas, this is a digression of the intended purpose of this thread. I shouldn't be here to give opinions, just the facts.

You're welcome. I find it histerically funny that you carry a spare coil and the tools to replace it, with you at all times. You know what it truly means to be a Ford owner.:laugh:

I kinda figured that's what you meant. I've never seen this happen. I'll ask around up at work, but as I recall, I don't remember this ever happening. Has to be damn annoying though. As I understand it, it's not the moisture that causes the coils to fail, it's the heat from the coils internally. That's why the coils always look a little bit burnt if you look at the silocone (or whatever that material is on the tops of them). I haven't had any problems when replacing them with aftermarket ones, so that would be my suggestion. I can't stand new Fords either, but that goes for many makes of cars. They all have their problems, some makes are much more problematic than others though. Ford seems to be in that "much more problematic" category. As far as trucks go, I think GM is heads and shoulders above everyone else when it comes to quality of trucks.