My sons POS car being a POC
 

He said he had some wobble at 70. I figured, tire balance or alignment. I said “let me drive it”

Holy shit! That damn car (2010 Sebring he bought for three grand three years ago) was shaking and grinding like Oprah on Twerking with the Stars.

On top of that, the drive belt was screaming and the motor shook the entire car.

Took to a shop.

Both front hubs and bearings
Brakes
Two broken motor mounts
Needs new belt and pulleys

$2,800.00

Stay with me.

I told him buy another three thousand dollar car and all put in a thousand. Nope used car shortage.

So he must fix it.

Here is what the mechanic said

The thick plottens

We did the brakes and rotors in 2018. I’m going to check them tomorrow. I guarantee they are fine.

Hubs cost about $50 for the cheap ones. They want $546 per side to replace.

Engine mount kit (both mounts) are $69. They charge $1,100 to replace.

Belt replaced is 180 - but it needs pulleys. They left that out.

He is getting another diagnostic from a different shop.

All of the cost is labor. I wanted to avoid it but we will likely be doing the work. The hard one is the motor mounts but I’ve done worse.

Hubs
Mounts
Check rotor runout (might be a warped rotor)
Belt and pulleys

I’m going to rope my energetic neighbor wrench monkey into it. I don’t have a lot of stamina right now so I’ll need help. They boy will get dirty.

I think a full weekend of work. Any estimates from the peanut gallery? How many hours doing it on the ground?

Lotta labor he is charging for bolt on hubs,est time all depends if you have air tools to break free the axle nuts.there is overlapping repairs with doing the brakes and bearings,btw

A few things...

You'll want an impact wrench (battery or pneumatic) with a big ass impact socket for the front axle nut. Get the entire assembly (hub, bearings, bracket) that just bolts on and fits over the splined axle. Don't dick with disassembly of a hub.

If the metal mounts are good and it's just the bushing, should be no more than 4-500 including parts. The hardest thing about doing it yourself is getting everything lined up to reinstall. You'll need a floor jack to offload the motor.

Weird thing about a transverse engine is that you do the serpentine from underneath the car on the passenger side. You remove the tire for sure, but may need to remove the inner skirt as well. Find the tensioner pulley and loosen. There may be a diagram under the hood, but for sure you can find one on the interwebs.

Good luck!

2 hrs per side for hubs, brakes while you have apart so almost no extra time there.
Unless you live in rust belt shit will come apart.
New belt and pulleys couple hrs but frankly if have csr up already might be quicker since have access thru wheel wells. Engine mounts on that car no idea, some are an hr some are 4.

Parts i bet not 500 total if new rotors.
I'd say a weekend full of work on the ground, day and half with limited beer time and breaks.

I know all that work on any of my cars woukd be 8 hrs or so total, probably less. Been there done that but I have a lift which makes some of it easier, at least easier on the back.

:rofl:

As I suspected, they saw a young guy and tried to hose him. It will be interesting to see the other shops quote.

Our first decision was to go put and buy another beater. (He is still in the “smash into things” phase of driving) Under normal circumstances, it makes no sense to put in almost $3k to repair a car worth $2k.

However if we do the labor, he is only put a few hundred.

Under Biden’s America we now have to repair our cars because we can’t buy one due to lack of supply. Welcome to ****ing Cuba.

They prey upon the inexperienced and unknowing. Women, young folks and old people. Oh my grandma yer car ain't safe to drive with these socks you'll wreak it. For 750(marked down from 1k) we can fix immediately. Yes I've heard that with my own ears and i almost smacked the fukr across the room. Told the lady to get her car and leave. I was asked to depart also. Taught them a few new worss after grandma left with her pristine Grand Marquis and I mean it was immaculate.
My wife called me told me our 2 years old Park Ave needed 1k in repairs when she took in for inspection. Good thing I was out of town and couldn't get there.
I fired more than one guy over bullshit like that.

Broken motor mounts ? Hubs ?

Your boy either hit something or did some sweet jumps. Guess he needs to get another job to pay for this and bus fare.

I just paid to have a hub replaced on a Dodge 2500 4x4.....$ 470 for one side, but the actual hub assembly with the antilock wiring was over $ 300. My employee noticed faint noise while driving it, but we couldn't isolate it. Last week, he heard squealing noise, which we WERE able to isolate, but of course by that time the hub was damaged, so it wasn't just a replace and repack the wheel bearings kind of job.

I just wonder about the diagnosis of the Sebring. Did anyone see that the wheels had play when off the ground? Bearings going bad make noise. Did Enzo hear strange noises? He drives the car daily, I assume.

Considering all that, even if hubs look OK, I'd consider replacing the whole thing vs. new bearings......having a wheel fly off driving down the highway is something I would want to avoid.

No play on either side. VERY loud pulsating sound almost like a tire rubbing. Entire care vibrates in unison.

He says he has smacked some curbs. He bent something and/or knocked the alignment out.

The motor vibrated when he bought it. It recently got worse. My theory is that one mount was broken at time of purchase and one let loose later from the stress.

I’m going to look a bit closer myself when I can get him here. He works everyday except Mondays and Tuesday’s.

I’m waiting on him to get another diagnostic and quote. I need to tell him not to drive it.

It is unsafe.

The broken motor mounts are probably what's causing stress on the driveline. It is a FWD correct ?

Yes. FWD

Broken motor mounts do weird things at speed in OD, the torque to engine speed is different than non OD can can cause harmonics.
Hell that engine moves around too much shit starts hitting stuff. Seen engines hit the hood.
I'd also check the half shafts and rims/tires for wobble.

Holy hell. I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen put yet.

This is quite a pickle. I searched on Autotrader for cars between $3k-$5k 75 mile radius. It came up with zero listings. Tried several other sites. Nada.

He could get a loan for a nicer vehicle but that will just make it doubly hard to go to school and he is still in the ramming stuff stage of driving.

I have not met an automotive project yet that I couldn’t conquer. I just really don’t want to.

Sounds like maybe he was playing Dukes of Hazard.

Broke a motor mount in a truck once. Hit a buried stump climbing a sand hill. Anything more than a gentle squeeze of the gas pedal until it was fixed caused the fan to hit the shroud on the radiator. Not a sound you want to hear coming from a truck :rofl:

At least one mount was broken when he bought it. He isn’t that kind of kid. He knows that car is very important for his survival now that he is on his own.

I figured a $3k car would probably run rough and do all sorts of shit. Didn’t know about broken motor mounts. Apparently the new fangled ones have big, hollow rubber cushions that deteriorate and burst.

Compare to the mounts on my C2 which are almost indestructible.

Fwd engine mounts suck... If one goes bad it'll take the others out if not fixed. My caddy if top dog bones get slop the frt engine mount goes bad and soon. It'll leak and rip causing all kinda of weird shit. I've replaced all mounts at least once already.

Loan him the C2 :)

That's about what I was thinking too. I've done hubs a few times, and it is usually a full afternoon for me. The serpentine belt is a snap to replace, so are the pulleys if you don't run into a badly stuck fastener. All of that can be done on a Saturday with a few breaks.

I've never done motor mounts myself, but I don't think I have the equipment necessary to get the car up, and lift the engine off the mounts (probably one of the big reasons I've never done them). Do you have access to a lift?