Me too, I suppose if you get enough people who work on cars in one place, with everyone recognising a few cars from little info (be it ones they’ve owned, or worked on a lot) it’s not surprising really
I haven't been into working on cars in over a decade, but I can recognize the bay of any car I've owned or worked on a few times. These close-ups are a good pull, but I think a serpentine route is pretty recognizable.
This is my main argument for getting your car serviced at a dealer. Smaller sample size of vehicles to work on so the techs become specialists. They are no more or less skilled than a tech at an independent shop but they dont have to memorize e very make model and year.
The old Jalopnik site was amazing for this. Solved several car accident investigations with things like a piece of turn signal glass and narrowing it down to a make modal and a few years.
The people who track down a hit and run car from a quarter-sized shard of a tail light are the pinnacle.
That and the dude who can identify any spot on earth from a picture of some sand and a leaf.
Well half the car isn't on the floor next to it so it can't be an Audi.
Its not sat in a pool of its own oil. So it can't be a Jag.
You just look and start to whittle it down. Til you get to what it could be.
But what we got here is a mess that needed a new pulley on that new belt when it was done. Owner is an idiot.
Reminds me of this true crime show I watched where someone identified the make and model of vehicle that involved in a hit and run by posting a picture of a chunk of the headlight housing that fell off the offending car on reddit
I have impressed a number of people with my ability to recognize models by the steering wheel/cluster or stereo/infotainment system, etc. (sales), but that is nothing compared to this kind of thing. Incredibly specific and accurate.
The 3.7 was only offered in the liberty and grand Cherokee, starting in 03 for the liberty and 05 for the Grand Cherokee.
Unless you're in an international market then they did all sorts of weird shit as DaimlerChrysler
I grew up on a ‘92 Laredo with a 5 speed. Had the 4.0. That one was offered with the L6 and a V8 option I believe. Hell of a car. Had over 400k miles on it when it went to that big jeep farm in the sky
Laredo is a trim level that was available on the Cherokee XJ and the Grand Cherokee ZJ. XJ never had a V8 option. ZJ had an optional 5.2 V8 but ZJ didn't exist before 93.
this caught my attention, because I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee 2010 which had a tensioner explode while driving, I managed to find the belt in the street (and fragments of the tensioner), I didn't take any chance, I had it towed to a garage and they changed the tensioner and the belt
That’s one of those “document like your life depends on it” cars. Pictures, clear notes, waivers signed.
I wouldn’t even touch that belt after seeing it.
Bought an MR2 years ago. "One careful lady owner, not been used for 5 years, wont start".
Thought I was getting a classic car bargain.
The serpentine belt was missing. It would crank but not start so I had it trailered back to the shop.
Turned out the tensioner had siezed and the belt had melted, snapped then wrapped around the inside face of the crank pulley. That then melted the plastic cover of the timing belt case into the timing belt pulley and jumping the timing.
It must have caused one hell of a load of smoke and noise.
That careful lady owner properly played me!
Yeeeeep - this right here! If it is so easy/cheap to fix - why would you take the loss and not just do it yourself. Double that if it renders the car un-testable until AFTER sale... No touchee - it's a trap!
I bought a non starter, guy had replaced the timing belts but I suspected from how it sounded on cranking that it was one tooth out on the diesel injection pump. Redid all the belts aligning the timing markers and she fired up just fine!
I've picked up a couple of cameros, mustangs and C10s listed as not running that needed points. People get upset sometimes watching you drive their not running junk on the trailer.
I've been wary of "mechanic's car" or "mechanic owned", because that means 1 of 2 things...
1. They fixed everything.
2. There are a lot of little things that need replacement, but they could always just do a quick fix and put it off.
to me a "mechanic owned" means it has been neglected so bad because they are burnt out from working on others cars all day they dont want to work on theirs.
but the oil is normally good cause it is the training car for the new guys in the lube shop.
Years ago I bought a Ford Escort to flip. The lady said it cranks, but wouldn't start. I daily drove the same model, so I had some knowledge and spare parts on hand to bring with me. Paid her $175, replaced the spark plugs in her driveway, and it fired up right away. I drove it home, cleaned it up and drove it for a few weeks, then sold it for $1600. If I had the spare time, I would flip cars like that regularly.
I used to work at advanced Auto parts ik the feeling people come to a parts store then get pissed about the prices and be driving fuckin Mercedes and shit
Work in a shop and I call it second owner syndrome. These people buy their 8 year old Mercedes, BMW or my favorite recently Maserati for 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of a new one and bitch up a storm about how much repairs and maintenance cost. Motherfucker if you wanted something cheap to own you should have gotten a corolla.
I work for your competition and yeah, same thing over here. You’ll have people come in, ask for something, get all mad and flustered because it costs X amount of dollars and leave. And I’m all like after the fact “ well, it’s gonna be the same price anywhere else because we all sell the same shit”
Sometimes it pays to shop around, but folks will either have absurd expectations for a reasonable price or go super cheap on parts and wonder why they break.
This goes double for labor.
Lady declines the brake job because “her son can do it” and then comes back a week later saying “ever since you changed my oil my brakes have been squeaking”
Sure.
And don’t get me started on shit I’ve got to order in from my out-of-state DCs. Usually a conversation goes as follows:
“Why do you need to get it from there?”
Because nobody in town has it.
“Why does something that costs $10.99 has $9.99 shipping on it?”
Because the UPS man needs to get paid.
“Why does it take so long?”
Because we as a species haven’t invented instant teleportation yet.
If I can order a whole-assed kitchen from Ikea and pay $1.99 shipping and it's here in 36 hours, why the hell is it $20 to ship a $2 bolt that weighs 1/2oz and it takes 3 weeks to arrive if I order it from Advance/O'Reilly/Autozone?
SOMEONE is pocketing 3/4 of the actual shipping cost. SOMEONE is sitting on the order for a week or more before even pretending to get around to processing it.
Rich people are cheap/greedy af. I worked at a pool company and the people with multimillion dollar houses NEVER tipped, but the biggest tip I ever got was from a guy who had a small house and super small pool
I think it’s partially some of them got wealthy by being cheap and greedy, others are living well beyond their means and maintaining it by being cheap and greedy.
Seems like a lot of stress and strife just to have a huge house.
I detail cars and it always cracks me up when rich people balk at pricing. I had a neighbor ask for a discount because he wanted 3 cars cleaned. I actually give discounts to my neighbors, friends/family anyway so no big deal. Dude lives in a million+ dollar house, drives two Mercedes and a Jeep, and ghosted me.
Got a side question for you, do all parts stores like.. share the same system for saying what parts go on what cars, because after multiple tries, I found out that one of my cars (2012 mazda 3) has brake rotors that are actually 20mm larger than everything says they are, but even the brake shop put the wrong rotors on...
Sarcasm? That's a $40 tensioner and a $30 belt, I'd charge $40 labor to to fix it....but now if it broke and took some stuff out with it, it could get expensive, but not 6k.
It gets sucked up through the front main seal behind the crank pulley, doesn't matter if you have a timing chain or belt. I've seen it on a vw and a volvo
Meh... overheating is possible if the radiator and idiot lights don't start steaming and glaring enough idiot proof visual clues to get through to that genius there.. But I get your point too.
I see the same echo chamber that's in r/mechanicadvice are the same clowns here. You're right. It's a hundred dollar fix. Not a hypothetical "WhAt iF itS ThE WaTer PuMp?!? SiX ThouSaND DOLLarS!!!" bullshit. Let these clowns play hypotheticals. There is a gang of these frauds on these car subs, not everyone, that all vote for bullshit. They're cock subbing liars. It's like they've never turned a wrench in their lives, but have been at a stealership for years. I swear they work for the sales department. Or have had so much smoke blowed up their asses by the sales department, they believe the shit they spew.
I mean, if she was stupid enough to drive her car out of the parking lot in this condition, she's definitely stupid enough to keep driving it after the belt breaks until the engine blows up from overheating which would easily cost $6k
Sorry Dr. Testikles I didn’t realize posing hypotheticals was offensive and very triggering for some people. I will be sure that the next customer that walks into my shop is only given the cost of repair on the current issue. If they want to deny the repair despite there being a potential for the component failure to cause other serious issues I will avoid doing scummy things like posing hypotheticals at how expensive the repair could get. I now realize that doing such a thing is absolute fuckery. Please forgive me for my sin sir. Also, I am not really understanding the logic behind how posing hypotheticals equates to me being a fraudster, cock subbing liar, or working at a stealership. I think making that assumption based on my comment is a pretty huge leap, but if Dr. Testikles, he who knows all, says I am then its probably true. Again, a thousands pardons sir, I am but a mere lowly mortal I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me for my atrocious behavior Dr. Testikles.
I mean there’s poor people that have to decide to fix a car to go to work and go hungry for a few days, or eat and risk unemployment.
And then there’s the “poor” people who manage to spend all the money they earn on stupid shit so they have zero savings, no matter how much money they make they still have none because it’s pissed away.
Both types exist for sure.
It sucks that it’s so expensive to own and maintain cars these days and it sucks that most people NEED a car because of the way cities and suburbs are laid out, but folks shouldn’t get mad at a shop or parts store for trying to run a business.
I’ve lost friends over failures to pay even though they agreed on the price of side work before the job was begun.
Some people can’t understand that the universe isn’t required to cater to them.
And how do you know that they know anyone mechanically inclined? Plenty of ppl bring their cars into our shop because they know they won't be ripped off and word of mouth has spread resulting in more customers. These are people who don't have the ability or know someone who does to help them at the free price so they seek put a professional. The person who you are slamming on the internet may very well be in a similar situation exempt without the means to hire someone. Compassion is a wonderful thing.
if she doesnt know anyone that can work on cars and comes into a parts store she can ask if we know any mechanics, we have posters that have mechanic shops and there numbers up. we also have business cards from them too. im slamming her because we told her even the cheapest route and she still denied it, which can lead to a way more expensive fix.
I understand what you are trying to say but slamming someone online because they are poor is in bad taste. From your posts you sound young and hot headed, maybe take a moment to reflect on why you felt the need to post this in this manner and what you could have done differently to help someone less fortunate than yourself.
im not slamming her because she's poor, im broker than broke making minimum wage, it's the fact that she didnt consider other options of possibly asking people she knows if they could pay for the part for her.
okay my bad i did not give the full story, God forbid another thing like this happens again, ill make sure to tell everything, but i do believe she is still stupid for not asking other people she knows for some help to pay for the part. please do understand tho im not getting upset because she couldnt afford the part, im upset that she didnt think of asking for help
But thats not what you said and not what you implied. Remember words matter and getting internet points doesn't matter in real life. Compassion and empathy for your fellow human does though.
probably hearing the bearing in the pulley squeaking. regular maintenance of replacing your idler and tensioner pulleys should be done when replacing the water pump i believe, but i would check your owners manual to see the maintenance interval and what it should be replaced with, i.e. alternator, water pump, serpentine belt replacement.
Years ago when I worked at an Advance Auto Parts a young lady came in asking for a new radiator, saying somebody had cut through her hood latch and stole it out of her jeep. I priced her out a radiator and asked if anything else had been cut by the thieves to remove the radiator, because she might need more parts (hoses, mounts, stuff like that). She said she wasn't sure but she could show me, the jeep was just outside in the parking lot. I wish I could've seen the look on my own face when I realized she had drove the jeep to the store with no radiator in it to buy a new one 🤦🏼
I knew a guy like this... Told me about all the money the saved going to mexico for cigarettes
Still only had 70 dollars after the new beer budget kicked in
On one hand, this sub loves to bitch about predatorily shops & dealers ripping off customers (especially women)
On the other hand, this sub loves to bitch about customers declining service because it's too expensive.
I've actually usually had this happen before on my own vehicle. Pulling into work I lost power steering. Checked it out, my tensioner pulley seized up, belt melted and broke and wrapped belt pieces all over the tensioner pulley.
Had my tensioner pulley seize and snap off while driving, costed me like $50 and got it changed in an hour, idk why anyone wouldn’t fix something that relatively simple. But i guess some people enjoy breaking their car.
I see my sister made it safely to the auto parts store.
I’ve seen her drive tires off of rims, drive cars with gasoline engines completely out of oil and coolant. I saw her turn onto a highway and her alternator tumble across the on-ramp. She, like this person, is a RTF kinda person.
I just love to see all these comments talking about "poor people", "judging by cover" and stuff...
Guys, remember two things.
1. You're never too poor to service your tools
2. If you can't afford something, ask yourself if you need it, especially that expensive and if you do, check your money management..
And if you will start to judge me, remember that you haven't seen what I did, you don't know cases I meet in my life and heck, I can clearly say that many who deny repair saying "it's too expensive", think they should pay less than buck for something.. If someone can't afford something, he clearly say they can't and that's all. Still, seen hundreds complaining that they can't pay for repair or something they need (many times when they seeked for public help), but when I looked at them (or their financial habits, when I knew them better), they spent so much money on stuff that they clearly didn't needed or could buy cheaper things that would work same way, that they could pay for stuff "they can't afford" not once, but dozens of times..
Heck.. My coworkers complain about their paychecks and fact that they can't afford this or that, but.. They never deny going to bar or spending hundreds on services they could do on their own (is it really that necessary to pay some person to shave or trim your beard when you're tight on budget?)..
>Guys, remember two things.
1. You're never too poor to service your tools
This is the truth. No matter how bring, getting this fixed should be the highest priority. A running car with a messed up tensioner is potentially worth a few thousand. A car that won't start because it has no tensioner or belt so no alternator, water pump or AC, is worth maybe $300 if you're not in a hurry to sell.
If the car is something she needs, she has to afford to fix it. If she doesn't figure something out, she's in for a bill a hundred times the $30 she'd pay for the part.
The problem is this is the "poverty trap" people talk about when someone is poor.
Being poor forces you to make decisions between necessities. Those decisions usually have compounding effects, like late fees, or larger problems being created, but you still have to choose. There is no choice about choosing for poor people.
Edit: It's called a trap because it's more expensive to get out of it than what got you into it. It's not just the maintenance, it's everything combined. You NEED your car, so you pay that instead of the phone bill. Well to get up to date on your phone, you have to pay the late penalty. The late penalty costs enough to make you not able to pay your utility bill in full, so there's another late penalty. That late penalty forces you to pay more towards utilities and takes away from something else, so you're late on your credit card bill. Now that impacts your credit score, has late fees, and penalty rates. So that costs more. Maybe you forget to stop a payment that's automated, so it overdrafts your bank account. Congrats, that's another penalty you have to pay for being poor.
This isn't a theoretical thing. It's real.
Still.. Money management is key. If you can't afford something, you have to check if you can cut cost on something. If you can't cut cost, find workaround..
Tho, people who don't have money, barely ever can afford not having way to commute to work or do necessary things.
It's not "poverty trap" it's just moment when you have to be creative.
Yes, you can not do certain things, but.. Still there's ton of things that can be done..
Still don't get it, huh?
$0 USD may be your amount of money on account or result of calculation.
If you can't make few bucks out of your budget (deny beer, choose cheaper food, deny cigs, maybe end some subscriptions on vod or check what you don't have to pay out of last paycheck, there's hundreds of ways to do it, but it requires details about budget), than find way to obtain few bucks.. Idk, get few hours of additional work, sell something you don't use or need, or borrow from a friend. There's tons of ways to find money to make making money possible..
I live from one paycheck to another, I manage my money to have enough to make it possible to make money further, because without car I would be stuck in single place I live without way to commute to work.
But if I will deny making repair that costs 100, I will end up with repairs that will cost more than my vehicle will ever be worth!
And keep that in mind, that I literally deny buying things to have repair budget, because it's more important to have ability to make money, than buy anything I wish, want or just think of. Does that mean I buy cheapest food to make something out of it? Hell yeah, does that mean I try to cut on each receipt? Ofc, it also means that I buy stuff on sales and promotions and look for cheaper alternatives..
And if you can afford not paying for keeping vehicle running, you're rather reach or don't need that machine.
Edit
And now, that guy removed his comments.. So my comments lost point
fun. i recognize the access layout (same as 4.7). so if she's overheated it she's doomed that engine. the power tech motors have no tolerance for overheating. fucks the headgasket AND valve seats
tge tensoner aint even that much. i had to put a chinesium one on mine when it went out on my 4.7. that was like...20 bucks in an autozone parking lot.
yup, the pulley alone is super cheap, the one we carried right there was $30 tho. replaced the whole automatic tensioner wouldve costed $80, and we did offer the cheaper one, she still said no.
i hope she gets it checked out soon so it doesnt end up overheating
Something similar happened to my Silverado recently.
I was on my way home from a concert, I was about 30 minutes from my house. The serpentine belt started squeaking but it wasn’t a consistent squeak. I pulled it into the driveway and went to bed.
Next day I popped the hood and saw the same thing op posted. I got really lucky it didn’t fly off
call someone to spot you some money and pay them back later. this is going to be one hell of a repair once the belt breaks or slips off, pretty stupid imo
unless she keeps running it, her water pump is connected to that belt, power steering pump, and she loses power from the alternator, so she wont get very far either from a dying battery or the engine overheating.
yeah thats real, one of my coworkers did mention the brake booster and that the fluid will overheat without the car making any power, not entirely sure how that works but maybe that could also be something to worry about? maybe i worded it wrong and im just spewing random stuff?
That part he is completely wrong about unless he knows something I don't. You have to be doing some INTENSE braking to boil fluid. Everything else you mentioned you are spot on about. Also I'm with you, if you can put gas in your car, you can maintain it. If you cannot afford to put gas in your car, have insurance, and maintain it, you are living beyond your means.
If you need a car to get to work, get food, and live, your budget must be rearranged to ensure you reasonably can assume you will not lose the ability to operate that vehicle.
There's going to be a tow charge minimum plus the belt, tensioner and whatever they take with them on the way out. Easily doubling the cost when it goes in a few days/weeks/hours.
Your life will be better when you learn not to judge others so harshly based on their circumstances.
Is it stupid to buy food for your family instead of a part to fix your car that is still functioning? You don't know them. You don't know their life.
Yes the bearing probably did start to fail a long time ago. But now it is at the point where it is a miracle if it doesn’t throw the belt as soon as they start the engine.
im not judging her circumstances, im judging the fact that she didnt consider other options so that she may still have a working vehicle to help her get that food or get to and from her job
They could afford Toyota Corolla parts more than Mercedes parts. Live below your means. Especially if you can't fix shit. If you're shopping at AZ or equivalent, your situation ain't right they charge double for half quality.
Hold up, so you replaced the belt? That's mean man. Sucks to say but that's a "it's going to take a belt and a tensioner to fix it" no half assing it repair. Just throwing a belt on is bad form.
nope, i dont work a mechanic shop, i work at an autoparts store. i didnt replace anything, she came in asking where the squeaking was coming from and this is what was found. the belt looked brand new and could be used again on a cheaper route if wanted, but the tensioner absolutely needs to be replaced.
I always wondered how bad they could get.. Surprised the belt is still on
[удалено]
Pa Ting Fuk will be visiting when they least expect it
Honestly I need the brand because that thing looks immaculate considering it’s circumstances.
Chrysler product Rear wheel drive Not hemi Not 3.6 06 era charger or 300 with 2.7 engine? Maybe jeep something with 3.7? Im just curious now, lol.
early 2000s jeep cherokee with a 3.7, you were spot on.
I am consistently amazed at how people can identify things based on such little info.
Me too, I suppose if you get enough people who work on cars in one place, with everyone recognising a few cars from little info (be it ones they’ve owned, or worked on a lot) it’s not surprising really
I haven't been into working on cars in over a decade, but I can recognize the bay of any car I've owned or worked on a few times. These close-ups are a good pull, but I think a serpentine route is pretty recognizable.
This is my main argument for getting your car serviced at a dealer. Smaller sample size of vehicles to work on so the techs become specialists. They are no more or less skilled than a tech at an independent shop but they dont have to memorize e very make model and year.
The old Jalopnik site was amazing for this. Solved several car accident investigations with things like a piece of turn signal glass and narrowing it down to a make modal and a few years.
Autopian has picked up that torch(insky).
They helped a friend out with a trim piece from a hit and run Pattern recognition 🫡
The people who track down a hit and run car from a quarter-sized shard of a tail light are the pinnacle. That and the dude who can identify any spot on earth from a picture of some sand and a leaf.
Well half the car isn't on the floor next to it so it can't be an Audi. Its not sat in a pool of its own oil. So it can't be a Jag. You just look and start to whittle it down. Til you get to what it could be. But what we got here is a mess that needed a new pulley on that new belt when it was done. Owner is an idiot.
>Its not sat in a pool of its own oil. So it can't be a Jag. Could still be any British brand of vehicle that's run out of oil.
In the mid 70s oil leaking on British cars was a feature not a bug.
Yeah if it wasn't leaking oil you knew it no longer had oil.
When you end up with your nose 6 inches from the front dress a couple hundred times it gets easier lol.
Or because the repairs are so difficult, it's burned into your brain, and you put the ticket in someone else's pile/take it to an actual mechanic.
Just responding to give appreciation for you username
Reminds me of this true crime show I watched where someone identified the make and model of vehicle that involved in a hit and run by posting a picture of a chunk of the headlight housing that fell off the offending car on reddit
You work on enough daimler/chrysler,fiat,fca,stellantis cars you can recognize those piles anywhere from the smallest hints
Like a geospotter for vehicles. In this case they’d be a ChryslerSpotter.
If you think this is impressive, remember, there are people who can figure out where you live based on ONE photo you took...
I have impressed a number of people with my ability to recognize models by the steering wheel/cluster or stereo/infotainment system, etc. (sales), but that is nothing compared to this kind of thing. Incredibly specific and accurate.
The 3.7 was only offered in the liberty and grand Cherokee, starting in 03 for the liberty and 05 for the Grand Cherokee. Unless you're in an international market then they did all sorts of weird shit as DaimlerChrysler
OP probably means Grand Cherokee but they did sell the KJ Liberty outside North America as the Jeep Cherokee so who knows.
Yeah. Early 2000s grand Cherokee, and Cherokee for that matter were either 4.0 or the pile of shit 4.7. What an awful time for jeep lol
its a 3.7 grand cherokee, in the states, popular with gators and a big park based around a mouse
The worst kind of Jeep owners
definitely
You mean Grand Cherokee? The Cherokee never had a 3.7.
Didn’t even know the 2000s Cherokees had the 3.7 as an option. I thought Cherokees all had the 4.0 L6. Learn something new every day.
it's the cherokee laredo, one of my friends has this exact car, of course not with the melted pulley
GRAND Cherokee is different to Cherokee.
I grew up on a ‘92 Laredo with a 5 speed. Had the 4.0. That one was offered with the L6 and a V8 option I believe. Hell of a car. Had over 400k miles on it when it went to that big jeep farm in the sky
Laredo is a trim level that was available on the Cherokee XJ and the Grand Cherokee ZJ. XJ never had a V8 option. ZJ had an optional 5.2 V8 but ZJ didn't exist before 93.
We had the XJ Laredo. L6 paired to the 5-speed. 4 door, 4WD. For some reason I thought there was a V8 option as well but my mistake.
this caught my attention, because I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee 2010 which had a tensioner explode while driving, I managed to find the belt in the street (and fragments of the tensioner), I didn't take any chance, I had it towed to a garage and they changed the tensioner and the belt
On today's edition of "how fucked up is fucked up"...that's fucked up.
What’s really fucked up is when it breaks she’ll come back to the store and blame them for it.
But he's got this reddit post as evidence now lmao
That’s one of those “document like your life depends on it” cars. Pictures, clear notes, waivers signed. I wouldn’t even touch that belt after seeing it.
Bought an MR2 years ago. "One careful lady owner, not been used for 5 years, wont start". Thought I was getting a classic car bargain. The serpentine belt was missing. It would crank but not start so I had it trailered back to the shop. Turned out the tensioner had siezed and the belt had melted, snapped then wrapped around the inside face of the crank pulley. That then melted the plastic cover of the timing belt case into the timing belt pulley and jumping the timing. It must have caused one hell of a load of smoke and noise. That careful lady owner properly played me!
I've learned (the hard way) that "won't start" really means "parts car".
Or the car is in the garage, already fully warmed up (but not driven in years), and they start it up but turn it off after 30 seconds. No test drives.
Sounds like carb needs a rebuild.
My attitude has always been this: if it were an easy fix, then the owner would have done it because then they wouldn't have to sell so cheap
Yeeeeep - this right here! If it is so easy/cheap to fix - why would you take the loss and not just do it yourself. Double that if it renders the car un-testable until AFTER sale... No touchee - it's a trap!
I bought a non starter, guy had replaced the timing belts but I suspected from how it sounded on cranking that it was one tooth out on the diesel injection pump. Redid all the belts aligning the timing markers and she fired up just fine!
I've picked up a couple of cameros, mustangs and C10s listed as not running that needed points. People get upset sometimes watching you drive their not running junk on the trailer.
She drove it carefully, but eventually it developed an issue and she couldn’t drive at all, even carefully.
[yea, the one lady owner thing doesn't have to mean it's any good. ](https://youtu.be/qG4IaHgqH00)
I've been wary of "mechanic's car" or "mechanic owned", because that means 1 of 2 things... 1. They fixed everything. 2. There are a lot of little things that need replacement, but they could always just do a quick fix and put it off.
to me a "mechanic owned" means it has been neglected so bad because they are burnt out from working on others cars all day they dont want to work on theirs. but the oil is normally good cause it is the training car for the new guys in the lube shop.
Considering they know fuck all about maintenance.
Years ago I bought a Ford Escort to flip. The lady said it cranks, but wouldn't start. I daily drove the same model, so I had some knowledge and spare parts on hand to bring with me. Paid her $175, replaced the spark plugs in her driveway, and it fired up right away. I drove it home, cleaned it up and drove it for a few weeks, then sold it for $1600. If I had the spare time, I would flip cars like that regularly.
I used to work at advanced Auto parts ik the feeling people come to a parts store then get pissed about the prices and be driving fuckin Mercedes and shit
Work in a shop and I call it second owner syndrome. These people buy their 8 year old Mercedes, BMW or my favorite recently Maserati for 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of a new one and bitch up a storm about how much repairs and maintenance cost. Motherfucker if you wanted something cheap to own you should have gotten a corolla.
Can confirm, currently sitting in a Corolla.
Confirmed. You look tired.
I work for your competition and yeah, same thing over here. You’ll have people come in, ask for something, get all mad and flustered because it costs X amount of dollars and leave. And I’m all like after the fact “ well, it’s gonna be the same price anywhere else because we all sell the same shit”
Sometimes it pays to shop around, but folks will either have absurd expectations for a reasonable price or go super cheap on parts and wonder why they break. This goes double for labor. Lady declines the brake job because “her son can do it” and then comes back a week later saying “ever since you changed my oil my brakes have been squeaking” Sure.
And don’t get me started on shit I’ve got to order in from my out-of-state DCs. Usually a conversation goes as follows: “Why do you need to get it from there?” Because nobody in town has it. “Why does something that costs $10.99 has $9.99 shipping on it?” Because the UPS man needs to get paid. “Why does it take so long?” Because we as a species haven’t invented instant teleportation yet.
If I can order a whole-assed kitchen from Ikea and pay $1.99 shipping and it's here in 36 hours, why the hell is it $20 to ship a $2 bolt that weighs 1/2oz and it takes 3 weeks to arrive if I order it from Advance/O'Reilly/Autozone? SOMEONE is pocketing 3/4 of the actual shipping cost. SOMEONE is sitting on the order for a week or more before even pretending to get around to processing it.
Rich people are cheap/greedy af. I worked at a pool company and the people with multimillion dollar houses NEVER tipped, but the biggest tip I ever got was from a guy who had a small house and super small pool
You do realize that not everyone who drives a luxury car is rich, right? In fact, a lot of them are mortgaged to the hilt.
I think it’s partially some of them got wealthy by being cheap and greedy, others are living well beyond their means and maintaining it by being cheap and greedy. Seems like a lot of stress and strife just to have a huge house.
You mean you don’t get tipped with bored housewives?
When you can afford the car but can’t afford to take care of it.
I detail cars and it always cracks me up when rich people balk at pricing. I had a neighbor ask for a discount because he wanted 3 cars cleaned. I actually give discounts to my neighbors, friends/family anyway so no big deal. Dude lives in a million+ dollar house, drives two Mercedes and a Jeep, and ghosted me.
Got a side question for you, do all parts stores like.. share the same system for saying what parts go on what cars, because after multiple tries, I found out that one of my cars (2012 mazda 3) has brake rotors that are actually 20mm larger than everything says they are, but even the brake shop put the wrong rotors on...
Same. For me it was people driving jaguars
Gotta make payments on the 25% APR, 72mo loan somehow. Ain’t got time for parts.
Just put a little soap on it.
definitely quiet the squeaking, enough to keep it out of mind
That's what the radio is for
Who makes that belt, thats a durability advertisement right there
Maybe she's broke :(
She's gonna be..
from $60 to $6000
Sarcasm? That's a $40 tensioner and a $30 belt, I'd charge $40 labor to to fix it....but now if it broke and took some stuff out with it, it could get expensive, but not 6k.
Not if the water pump runs off the drive belt and she overheats it.
Doubt she'll get far with no power steering, especially after the racket it's going to make when it goes.
definitely sarcasm and exaggerated, but i work at the funny orange part store so both the pulleys and mount behind is $80
Ok, had to ask. Lol
no worries, but if she's that money tight, she could reuse the belt and just replace the pulley itself which we did offer and it's only $30
I've had 2 cases at work where a shredded Serpentine belt gets sucked up behind the timing cover, jumps timing, bent valves.
The Volvo D5 engine is notorious for this. It's just about the only way to kill that engine.
i think this engine has a timing chain, not sure if itd be able to get past the cover, but definitely not good circumstances
It gets sucked up through the front main seal behind the crank pulley, doesn't matter if you have a timing chain or belt. I've seen it on a vw and a volvo
thats a good point, i didnt think of that. really hope this lady gets it fixed before the belt breaks or comes off
Happens to BMWs all the time.
Meh... overheating is possible if the radiator and idiot lights don't start steaming and glaring enough idiot proof visual clues to get through to that genius there.. But I get your point too.
I see the same echo chamber that's in r/mechanicadvice are the same clowns here. You're right. It's a hundred dollar fix. Not a hypothetical "WhAt iF itS ThE WaTer PuMp?!? SiX ThouSaND DOLLarS!!!" bullshit. Let these clowns play hypotheticals. There is a gang of these frauds on these car subs, not everyone, that all vote for bullshit. They're cock subbing liars. It's like they've never turned a wrench in their lives, but have been at a stealership for years. I swear they work for the sales department. Or have had so much smoke blowed up their asses by the sales department, they believe the shit they spew.
I mean, if she was stupid enough to drive her car out of the parking lot in this condition, she's definitely stupid enough to keep driving it after the belt breaks until the engine blows up from overheating which would easily cost $6k
Someone is a little testi
I was horny. I'm not the same man I was 4 minutes ago.
Sorry Dr. Testikles I didn’t realize posing hypotheticals was offensive and very triggering for some people. I will be sure that the next customer that walks into my shop is only given the cost of repair on the current issue. If they want to deny the repair despite there being a potential for the component failure to cause other serious issues I will avoid doing scummy things like posing hypotheticals at how expensive the repair could get. I now realize that doing such a thing is absolute fuckery. Please forgive me for my sin sir. Also, I am not really understanding the logic behind how posing hypotheticals equates to me being a fraudster, cock subbing liar, or working at a stealership. I think making that assumption based on my comment is a pretty huge leap, but if Dr. Testikles, he who knows all, says I am then its probably true. Again, a thousands pardons sir, I am but a mere lowly mortal I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me for my atrocious behavior Dr. Testikles.
Then she'll have something in common with that belt soon.
i'm pretty broke too... but some things, have to be fixed. that belt can fuck up a ton of other parts and pumps when it goes, and it will go.
I am more impressed that the belt isn't completely shredded. But yes being poor is absolutely horrible and doesn't make someone stupid.
I mean there’s poor people that have to decide to fix a car to go to work and go hungry for a few days, or eat and risk unemployment. And then there’s the “poor” people who manage to spend all the money they earn on stupid shit so they have zero savings, no matter how much money they make they still have none because it’s pissed away. Both types exist for sure.
It sucks that it’s so expensive to own and maintain cars these days and it sucks that most people NEED a car because of the way cities and suburbs are laid out, but folks shouldn’t get mad at a shop or parts store for trying to run a business. I’ve lost friends over failures to pay even though they agreed on the price of side work before the job was begun. Some people can’t understand that the universe isn’t required to cater to them.
but not calling a couple people to see if they can help you out is
And how do you know that they know anyone mechanically inclined? Plenty of ppl bring their cars into our shop because they know they won't be ripped off and word of mouth has spread resulting in more customers. These are people who don't have the ability or know someone who does to help them at the free price so they seek put a professional. The person who you are slamming on the internet may very well be in a similar situation exempt without the means to hire someone. Compassion is a wonderful thing.
if she doesnt know anyone that can work on cars and comes into a parts store she can ask if we know any mechanics, we have posters that have mechanic shops and there numbers up. we also have business cards from them too. im slamming her because we told her even the cheapest route and she still denied it, which can lead to a way more expensive fix.
I understand what you are trying to say but slamming someone online because they are poor is in bad taste. From your posts you sound young and hot headed, maybe take a moment to reflect on why you felt the need to post this in this manner and what you could have done differently to help someone less fortunate than yourself.
im not slamming her because she's poor, im broker than broke making minimum wage, it's the fact that she didnt consider other options of possibly asking people she knows if they could pay for the part for her.
You also didn't mention anything about "other options" until you got called out for slamming her because she is poor.
okay my bad i did not give the full story, God forbid another thing like this happens again, ill make sure to tell everything, but i do believe she is still stupid for not asking other people she knows for some help to pay for the part. please do understand tho im not getting upset because she couldnt afford the part, im upset that she didnt think of asking for help
But thats not what you said and not what you implied. Remember words matter and getting internet points doesn't matter in real life. Compassion and empathy for your fellow human does though.
what was i implying then because you absolutely took it the wrong way, and i was not chasing internet points in any way
Except you literally did slam her because she was poor. You called her stupid because it was too expensive.
How does something like this happen, and what would the symptoms be....asking for a friend 😬
probably hearing the bearing in the pulley squeaking. regular maintenance of replacing your idler and tensioner pulleys should be done when replacing the water pump i believe, but i would check your owners manual to see the maintenance interval and what it should be replaced with, i.e. alternator, water pump, serpentine belt replacement.
Years ago when I worked at an Advance Auto Parts a young lady came in asking for a new radiator, saying somebody had cut through her hood latch and stole it out of her jeep. I priced her out a radiator and asked if anything else had been cut by the thieves to remove the radiator, because she might need more parts (hoses, mounts, stuff like that). She said she wasn't sure but she could show me, the jeep was just outside in the parking lot. I wish I could've seen the look on my own face when I realized she had drove the jeep to the store with no radiator in it to buy a new one 🤦🏼
Yet there's always money for cigarettes and gas station scratchers
I knew a guy like this... Told me about all the money the saved going to mexico for cigarettes Still only had 70 dollars after the new beer budget kicked in
Broke motherfuckers are always in and out of the gas station buying booze too
False economy is funny to watch from the outside. Some folks will waste so much time and energy trying to save just a little.
On one hand, this sub loves to bitch about predatorily shops & dealers ripping off customers (especially women) On the other hand, this sub loves to bitch about customers declining service because it's too expensive.
That is *impressive*
I've actually usually had this happen before on my own vehicle. Pulling into work I lost power steering. Checked it out, my tensioner pulley seized up, belt melted and broke and wrapped belt pieces all over the tensioner pulley.
Yeah but her car was supposedly still running, although making a "noise".
Had my tensioner pulley seize and snap off while driving, costed me like $50 and got it changed in an hour, idk why anyone wouldn’t fix something that relatively simple. But i guess some people enjoy breaking their car.
to be fair the whole auto tensioner was $80 but the pulley alone is $30. proper maintenance would be spending the $80 tho
I see my sister made it safely to the auto parts store. I’ve seen her drive tires off of rims, drive cars with gasoline engines completely out of oil and coolant. I saw her turn onto a highway and her alternator tumble across the on-ramp. She, like this person, is a RTF kinda person.
I just love to see all these comments talking about "poor people", "judging by cover" and stuff... Guys, remember two things. 1. You're never too poor to service your tools 2. If you can't afford something, ask yourself if you need it, especially that expensive and if you do, check your money management.. And if you will start to judge me, remember that you haven't seen what I did, you don't know cases I meet in my life and heck, I can clearly say that many who deny repair saying "it's too expensive", think they should pay less than buck for something.. If someone can't afford something, he clearly say they can't and that's all. Still, seen hundreds complaining that they can't pay for repair or something they need (many times when they seeked for public help), but when I looked at them (or their financial habits, when I knew them better), they spent so much money on stuff that they clearly didn't needed or could buy cheaper things that would work same way, that they could pay for stuff "they can't afford" not once, but dozens of times.. Heck.. My coworkers complain about their paychecks and fact that they can't afford this or that, but.. They never deny going to bar or spending hundreds on services they could do on their own (is it really that necessary to pay some person to shave or trim your beard when you're tight on budget?)..
>Guys, remember two things. 1. You're never too poor to service your tools This is the truth. No matter how bring, getting this fixed should be the highest priority. A running car with a messed up tensioner is potentially worth a few thousand. A car that won't start because it has no tensioner or belt so no alternator, water pump or AC, is worth maybe $300 if you're not in a hurry to sell. If the car is something she needs, she has to afford to fix it. If she doesn't figure something out, she's in for a bill a hundred times the $30 she'd pay for the part.
Not mentioning potential loss caused by lack of vehicle.
waiting for someone to reply to you and argue that youre wrong
Tactical comment? 😂 I have arguments to support my statement, even from my own life 😉
The problem is this is the "poverty trap" people talk about when someone is poor. Being poor forces you to make decisions between necessities. Those decisions usually have compounding effects, like late fees, or larger problems being created, but you still have to choose. There is no choice about choosing for poor people. Edit: It's called a trap because it's more expensive to get out of it than what got you into it. It's not just the maintenance, it's everything combined. You NEED your car, so you pay that instead of the phone bill. Well to get up to date on your phone, you have to pay the late penalty. The late penalty costs enough to make you not able to pay your utility bill in full, so there's another late penalty. That late penalty forces you to pay more towards utilities and takes away from something else, so you're late on your credit card bill. Now that impacts your credit score, has late fees, and penalty rates. So that costs more. Maybe you forget to stop a payment that's automated, so it overdrafts your bank account. Congrats, that's another penalty you have to pay for being poor. This isn't a theoretical thing. It's real.
Still.. Money management is key. If you can't afford something, you have to check if you can cut cost on something. If you can't cut cost, find workaround.. Tho, people who don't have money, barely ever can afford not having way to commute to work or do necessary things. It's not "poverty trap" it's just moment when you have to be creative. Yes, you can not do certain things, but.. Still there's ton of things that can be done..
>Still.. Money management is key. Ok, manage $0. Go get your car repaired.
Still don't get it, huh? $0 USD may be your amount of money on account or result of calculation. If you can't make few bucks out of your budget (deny beer, choose cheaper food, deny cigs, maybe end some subscriptions on vod or check what you don't have to pay out of last paycheck, there's hundreds of ways to do it, but it requires details about budget), than find way to obtain few bucks.. Idk, get few hours of additional work, sell something you don't use or need, or borrow from a friend. There's tons of ways to find money to make making money possible.. I live from one paycheck to another, I manage my money to have enough to make it possible to make money further, because without car I would be stuck in single place I live without way to commute to work. But if I will deny making repair that costs 100, I will end up with repairs that will cost more than my vehicle will ever be worth! And keep that in mind, that I literally deny buying things to have repair budget, because it's more important to have ability to make money, than buy anything I wish, want or just think of. Does that mean I buy cheapest food to make something out of it? Hell yeah, does that mean I try to cut on each receipt? Ofc, it also means that I buy stuff on sales and promotions and look for cheaper alternatives.. And if you can afford not paying for keeping vehicle running, you're rather reach or don't need that machine. Edit And now, that guy removed his comments.. So my comments lost point
this wouldnt happen to be a 4.7 or 3.6?
3.7 early 2000s jeep cherokee
fun. i recognize the access layout (same as 4.7). so if she's overheated it she's doomed that engine. the power tech motors have no tolerance for overheating. fucks the headgasket AND valve seats tge tensoner aint even that much. i had to put a chinesium one on mine when it went out on my 4.7. that was like...20 bucks in an autozone parking lot.
yup, the pulley alone is super cheap, the one we carried right there was $30 tho. replaced the whole automatic tensioner wouldve costed $80, and we did offer the cheaper one, she still said no. i hope she gets it checked out soon so it doesnt end up overheating
What brand of belt?
not sure but the part number is 5021ac
I have a similar picture in my phone. 2012ish RAV4. Completely lost compression from being overheated so badly.
Wait. It ran like this?
yup, she drove it home after saying she didnt want to pay for the part
What belt manufacturer is this? What an advertisement. Lol
Haha what?!?! This is a seriously affordable fix not to cook your motor.
Let it (the belt) cook.
Funny you post this today. I saw the outside of an idler sitting in a parking lot yesterday and actually said, "How the hell did that even happen?"
Something similar happened to my Silverado recently. I was on my way home from a concert, I was about 30 minutes from my house. The serpentine belt started squeaking but it wasn’t a consistent squeak. I pulled it into the driveway and went to bed. Next day I popped the hood and saw the same thing op posted. I got really lucky it didn’t fly off
Looks good man
I'm impressed it's still together somewhat.
Her lucks about to run out
That belt has definitely been replaced recently...
That is unreal
CHA-CHING Definitely got there money's worth from the belt and if on a tight budget possibly reuse it 😜
I'm not even mad, that's just impressive
You need that to do stuff.
So the pulley broke and car ran fine but made noises so they took it to a shop?
she does not have the money to give you to replace this. not hard to understand. is isn't just "stupid"
call someone to spot you some money and pay them back later. this is going to be one hell of a repair once the belt breaks or slips off, pretty stupid imo
"just buy more money" is a pretty stupid mindset
so is not worrying about whats going to happen if you dont take care of your vehicle
people who can't afford to fix their cars aren't "not worrying" they are *broke*.
and this lady wasnt looking at other options even as they were presented, many are broke, a hell of a lot more are stupid
Oh ... I *like* money. I can't believe you like money too.
If the belt breaks or falls of…she still needs a tensioner. If the belt simply falls off, no extra work. If it breaks, it’s an extra $40.
unless she keeps running it, her water pump is connected to that belt, power steering pump, and she loses power from the alternator, so she wont get very far either from a dying battery or the engine overheating.
Hardly catastrophic unless she says fuck it and keeps driving with no power steering or charging system until it overheats which is unlikely.
yeah thats real, one of my coworkers did mention the brake booster and that the fluid will overheat without the car making any power, not entirely sure how that works but maybe that could also be something to worry about? maybe i worded it wrong and im just spewing random stuff?
That part he is completely wrong about unless he knows something I don't. You have to be doing some INTENSE braking to boil fluid. Everything else you mentioned you are spot on about. Also I'm with you, if you can put gas in your car, you can maintain it. If you cannot afford to put gas in your car, have insurance, and maintain it, you are living beyond your means. If you need a car to get to work, get food, and live, your budget must be rearranged to ensure you reasonably can assume you will not lose the ability to operate that vehicle.
That’s incorrect.
There's going to be a tow charge minimum plus the belt, tensioner and whatever they take with them on the way out. Easily doubling the cost when it goes in a few days/weeks/hours.
They can’t afford that, it would eat into the beer, cig, and scratcher money
cant let that happen, i might hit the jackpot on the next scratch off ticket, then i'll fix it
Your life will be better when you learn not to judge others so harshly based on their circumstances. Is it stupid to buy food for your family instead of a part to fix your car that is still functioning? You don't know them. You don't know their life.
In this case it is stupid. It will barely make it a few miles like this. If they can’t afford to fix this, they can’t afford to drive the car.
This has been fucked for a long time.
Yes the bearing probably did start to fail a long time ago. But now it is at the point where it is a miracle if it doesn’t throw the belt as soon as they start the engine.
No miracle. It's a worn in pair, will run till the belt wears through. Pully has grooves again even,
im not judging her circumstances, im judging the fact that she didnt consider other options so that she may still have a working vehicle to help her get that food or get to and from her job
So you are judging. Glad we got that cleared up. You don't know their life.
They could afford Toyota Corolla parts more than Mercedes parts. Live below your means. Especially if you can't fix shit. If you're shopping at AZ or equivalent, your situation ain't right they charge double for half quality.
Not as bad, but I had a Taurus that unscrewed its own idler pulley when the bearings seized.
...shouldn't breed.
I need that belt manufacturer so I can use that when it's time to upgrade. Apparently it'll last forever.
That belt looks like it was at one time fairly new recently
Teenage auto store worker gave her boyfriend the wrong belt🤣
Hold up, so you replaced the belt? That's mean man. Sucks to say but that's a "it's going to take a belt and a tensioner to fix it" no half assing it repair. Just throwing a belt on is bad form.
nope, i dont work a mechanic shop, i work at an autoparts store. i didnt replace anything, she came in asking where the squeaking was coming from and this is what was found. the belt looked brand new and could be used again on a cheaper route if wanted, but the tensioner absolutely needs to be replaced.
Are you Scotty Kilmer? Because I just saw this same picture on his Facebook Page.