barretj

I took my 2003 Civic LX Coupe to the Honda dealer today for free recall service for a couple of minor service bulletins (10-059 and 12-025). When they were all done, they told me that the "lower ball joint boots are open and weeping, and both of the outer tie rod end boots are cracking" (quoted from the paperwork they gave me). I asked if it would pose a safety risk and they said no but I should have it taken care of soon. My local guy was closed by the time I got done at the dealer, and isn't open again until Monday. Before I take it to him, can anyone give me an idea of how much this would cost to fix? I recently had him replace the rear upper control arm. Could he have caused this somehow when he was doing that? Or is this just normal wear and tear for a 9 year old car?

thanks in advance

ezone

Oh, yeah. He did it. The dirty rat!
He also made the spare tire go flat, made the dash rattle, made the license light bulb go out, caused you to run that red light a week ago, made you pick losing Lottery numbers, and made all your babies be born naked.
AND made the Cubs not win the World Series for the last 100+ years!





You can't seriously think that working on the REAR suspension caused anything on the FRONT suspension to WEAR OUT, do you?

Rubber dries out and cracks as it ages, and from heat and Ozone.
No, your mechanic didn't do it.
It's wear and tear.
As long as the joints are still tight, it is not a safety issue yet.



I'm surprised that rubber boots is all that the dealer found when they did your interlock recall and the headlight wire recall. Makes me think:
Either you keep a pristine car
Or you got a flunkie that can't find real problems on a 9 year old car
Or they figured you aren't going to buy a damn thing so they didn't even try. "Recall and warranty only" consumer.


HTH, in my own sarcastic way.

barretj

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know the ball joints and tie rods were only for the front suspension. I'm a total car noob (although free free to ask me any computer question ). I actually trust my mechanic pretty well, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask some experts who didn't have any financial motivation to tell me otherwise. That being said, my main reason for posting was to find out how much it might cost to get these things fixed. Any idea?

You guessed right that they found other things. It's just that these ones seemed like the most expensive and urgent to get fixed. In case you're curious here are the other things:

• Rear shoe adjustment
• Timing belt
• Minor oil weep that could be oil pan gasket or a rear main seal
• brake fluid is dark
• transmission dip stick is loose
• head light lenses are cloudy

The timing belt I was going to wait till 100k miles to do (25k more to go). I know it's a risk, but I like gambling. They said don't worry about the oil weep unless I see oil leaking on the driveway which I don't. The rear shoes and brake fluid I'll get taken care of when I get the brakes done soon (the front are at 35% remaining). Transmission dip stick they said was not critical, and I'm assuming it's not expensive to replace. The head light lenses I'll do myself - looks like a fun weekend project with one of those kits.

ezone

it wouldn't hurt to ask some experts who didn't have any financial motivation to tell me otherwise.

If you mean us on the internet, ok.

If you meant the dealer, you are sadly mistaken.



That being said, my main reason for posting was to find out how much it might cost to get these things fixed. Any idea?

Maybe. Ask your trusted mechanic.

• Rear shoe adjustment

BZZZZZT! Wrong answer. The brakes are "self adjusting". I live in the rust belt, and I don't see them frozen up or not doing their job.



If you fall for this, it is easy cash for no work for the shop.


Has your brake pedal dropped? I seriously doubt it.

(Toyota is the only manufacturer I see regularly that actually NEEDS drum brakes manually adjusted periodically.)



Most of Hondas rear (drum brake) shoes can outlast the car for many people. I see them go an easy 200k, or more than 5 sets of front pads before even thinking about needing the rears.




I live in the rust belt, and I still don't hardly ever see problems with these.
The only time I see real problems from the rear brakes on these is for a squeak when you pump the pedal, or after some clown puts cheapo aftermarket shoes on.

• Timing belt

7 years/100k miles. Important, these engines bend valves when the belt lets go. Definitely not cheap to ignore too long.

• Minor oil weep that could be oil pan gasket or a rear main seal

Check your oil with every tank of gas.
There is a world of difference between seepage, leaks, and a freekin' gusher.

If the "leak" isn't doing damage to something else, and you can keep oil in the engine, and it isn't staining the fresh concrete driveway, I'd be likely to ignore it if it were mine, but I don't think the same way as everyone else.... Is buying a quart of oil once in a while worth the $800 repair (or whatever the estimate is)?

• brake fluid is dark

Yeah, it's always recommended to flush brake fluid every 3 years.

• transmission dip stick is loose

They do that when they get old. I have seen them missing completely, they can fall out when they get loose.
Buy one and stick it in there yourself. $11.



Item #6 here: http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...EEDOMETER+GEAR

• head light lenses are cloudy

DIY headlight polishing kits at any DangerZone.
I hate them, too much manual labor for me.





HTH

barretj

I meant all of the nice people here on civicforums.com



Looking back at the printout I got from the dealer today, it says "The rear shoes are aftermarket". These must have been put on by the previous owner (I bought it at 50k miles in 2010), because I've never had any brake work done on it.

ezone

I'm not sure what to think about this.

#1, Based on my experience with the cars, I think it should not have needed rear shoes unless there was some disastrous malfunction.

Maybe the previous owner shopped at some chain store that has the word BRAKES in the name?

#2, I feel sorry for the poor car.

#3, who at the dealer is taking the time to inspect that thoroughly? Rear drum brake inspection is not part of the 47 point (whatever it is) "courtesy" check.
Did you have other work done?
Work that would involve removing the rear wheels?

About the only way I can think of that they could see they were not OE is if they see a bright blue (or red) color through the tiny inspection holes in the backing plates.



#2, I feel sorry for the poor car.

barretj

Yes. I had them rotate the tires since it was due for that anyway.

ezone

What else did you have them do?



That explains why they were looking in there, at least someone is doing a proper brake check while the tires were off. Good for the dealer tech that did the work.


"Clean and adjust rear brakes" is a *gimme* job that is normally of no real value.....

As long as your brake pedal feels normal and is not slowly getting lower and lower when you brake, I don't think I would touch them.

If it is happening, it is not always obvious to the driver since it happens slowly over a long period of time, but it may be quite obvious to someone that has to drive 20 different cars each day. "HEY this one is a lot different!"

Know what I mean, Vern?


HTH
(Still feel sorry for the poor car though.)

j_dock69

you can manually adjust the ebrake cable, if it clicks more than 7 times while pulling up it should be adjusted