Last week, my steering started making a bad sound and smoke came out from under the hood. By luck (or maybe not) I pulled into a repair shop's parking lot to see what was wrong. I noticed a small puddle of some kind of fluid under the car, dipped my finger into it and smelled it. I smelled a lot like motor oil. I checked the motor oil and tranny, both were full. Noticed the AAMCO shop sign, went in and asked if a mechanic could look at the car. One did, agreed with me that the power steering was the problem. I'm undergoing cancer treatment and really need this car. The shop guys told me they could fix it. I left the car with them and a friend drove me home.

The next day, I got a call from them and the guy told me that there was a hole in a power steering fluid line from vibrating against the tranny dip-stick tube and that all the fluid had been lost. He said that the pump needed to be replaced, and that the rack and pinion was also shot because of this. He added then that they would need to replace both the inner and outer king-pins. I'm a mechanic myself, have always worked on my own stuff and worked on Harleys professionally. I can believe what the guy said except for the part about the kingpins. The car only has 66K original miles on it, and they should still have been in good condition. The next day I went in, asked for and got a copy of the estimate, told the guy clearly that I wanted the old parts. He acknowledged that I had done so.

It took them a week to get the car back to me, but although everything worked at that point, there was still a whine in the steering. They told me was because they had been unable to bleed the steering system properly. They told me I could drive it without worrying, that the sound should go away (it won't because the air from not being bled properly is now emulsified into the fluid) and that at worst, the pump might go out since there are now no fluid leaks. They showed me the old rack and pinion (and the hole in the line) and steering pump, but when I asked where the king-pins were, the mechanic said they were in the used parts dumpster. This is a classic warning sign of possible mechanic fraud.

I was feeling badly from the treatment I'd just undergone that morning and wanted to get out of there, so I told him to forget it. In retrospect, I can see now that this was a mistake. I just need the car. I can afford to miss one treatment, but if I miss two the odds of me not surviving increase dramatically. The repairs are under warranty, but I'm afraid if I take it back they'll tell me that the transmission needs to be rebuilt or some other such nonsense. What you you guys think?

 

From my years in the field I have learned to stay away from certain places and without naming it you also gained some addl experience.

I realize circumstances being what they were you didn't have much choice.
Maybe, if you can, have a dealership shop recheck everything at your convenience.

Places like the one mentioned give good shops a bad name.

Because of our shop's workload we sent a trans problem to that same type shop, they couldn't fix it so they took a trans from another person's vehicle and stuck it into ours to get rid of us. I couldn't believe they would do this , but that is why I wouldn't go near any of them.

Just like we try to have a family doctor that we know and trust , It is good to have a shop with towing capability that can at least come and get you.if need arises.
Just called planning ahead and hopefully you never need to be towed.

 

At this point, their repairs are under warranty. Having another shop work on it or attempting to correct the problem myself will void that warranty. I've been a mechanic myself all my life, have done all my vehicle repairs myself and only rarely trust shops to do the work. That's only when I don't have the tools or space to do the repair myself. I was a Harley mechanic for years, never cheated anybody. I was also a launcher technician on an FBM submarine and have a four year bachelor of science in biology. I'm not a chimp, and these guys might have made the mistake of believing I am. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt right up to the point where they try and charge me anything additional, then the kid gloves come off.

 

You have a valid point of utilizing their "warranty". and not touching anything. .
The idea here is to beat them at their own game..Good Luck !

 

Turns out, they were on the level. Still not sure about them needing to replace the inner and outer tie rods though. However, they were able to determine that the whine was due to the fact that the first power steering pump they replaced my old one with (and I saw the old one) was bad right out of the box. They replaced the pump again and bled it properly, and the steering is working great again. Also, the car is running nicely so far. Had they tried to come up with an additional cost though, I would immediately have know they were crooked. They came up with no such cost and were really nice about doing the repair. By the way, losing all of your power steering fluid *will* ruin your rack and pinion.

 

Thank you for the update. Hopefully , this place is worthy of your business.

On another note, it is a real problem today with a lot of parts being defective right out of the box.
As you know , if you are sure of your diagnosis and install a malfunctioning part you pretty quick can realize the part is bad. But, when folks guess and replace a questionable part with a bad one , they throw up their hands, assuming it can't be that part because I just replaced it .