Questions and Answers

Geo Metro Falling Apart? Q. 1994 Geo Prizm, Automatic Transmission, 30,000 miles, Fuel Injection, ABS brakes. All driving in Chicago city traffic. Ok, so that's the base of the car. Now here is my probably too long of a question.

My car wouldn't start, I took it to the mechanic across the street from my house, he put in a new starter. I've been told once that starts happening, it's best to get a new car, because everything else will fall apart. That's question 1, is there any truth to that statement?

With the new starter in place, the second problem. Now the ABS light is lighting up on my dashboard. The mechanic across the street can't find anything wrong. So I go to a mechanic that my boss recommends, they want to replace both front speed sensors at $235.00 each, plus labor. They also tell me my battery is only at 10% and that a new one will cost $100.00. They also tell me that my rear struts are no good and that will cost $300.00 for repair.

So, I go to mechanic # 3, who fixed my flat tire this past winter. I showed him what mechanic # 2 wants to do my car and he tests the car and says yes I do need a new battery, $80.00 and my right front ABS is in need of repair, $348.00 (part & labor). When they are done with those repairs, they will do another test on the left front ABS, since it looks fine right now. But they want to double check, since mechanic #2 said there might be a problem with the left ABS.

My question is should I have gone back to the mechanic across the street? I figured if he couldn't find what was wrong, to go somewhere else, but I'm being told my family that I should have gone back to the mechanic across the street.

Regarding the battery? Does it make sense that I need to replace it? I don't want to be stuck in a cold Chicago winter with out a good battery. What about the ABS, are they that expensive to fix? Why would my ABS brakes go out? Is this normal wear and tear on a car? (Which leads back to question one)

I really appreciate your help!

A. Did mechanic #1 check the battery before he put in the starter? Maybe it didn't need a starter. Two other mechanics told you the battery is bad so maybe that was the problem all along.

There is no rhyme or reason to when a car starts to need repairs. There are hundreds of factors that effect this. Is the car driven hard? Easy? City? Highway? Harsh road conditions? Smooth pavement? All of these effect the condition of the car and the repairs it will need over time. You have a seven year old car with 30,000 miles on it. That means you put less than 5,000 miles a year on it. To me this is not hard on a car. The only bad thing about this is you get the "use it or lose it" syndrome. Cars that sit most of the time deteriorate from lack of use. I wrote an article How Much Is Enough? that addresses this question.

As for the battery, you have two mechanics telling you the battery is bad. That would seem to me that the battery is indeed bad and should be replaced. That is not a difficult job for you to do yourself. You can purchase a good battery just about anywhere and install it yourself. Need help? Just read my DIY: Replacing Your Battery.

Mechanic #2 wants to replace both wheel speed sensors. It is very rare that both sensors go bad at the same time. Mechanic #3 has the better idea to replace just one and retest. How he decided to replace the right front wheel sensor, I don't know, but it does make more sense to replace the suspected bad one and retest. The speed sensor lists for about $210.00 from GM so the price mechanic #2 gave you is just a little out of line. The price from #3 seems to be high, $210.00 for the wheel sensor and one hour labor to replace one side shouldn't be more than $300.00, maximum. But he might be including the diagnostic time in it which would bring it into the reasonable area.

As far as which mechanic you should have doing your work, it seems to me that mechanic #3 is showing the most sense in how he goes about doing repairs. #2 seems like he's unsure and wants to replace everything and hopes he gets it right. #1 doesn't instill a lot of confidence in me because he should have caught the bad battery before replacing the starter.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA