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quick input before I have a repair done

Homerboy

Homerboy

Lifer
Just the other day our 2004 Caravan started making a light knocking sound when the car was out of park.

Wife took it in today to the mechanic to have them diagnose. Seems its a serpentine belt/tension bar that needs replacing/adjustment.

They are quoting $350 for the work

A) price?
B) is this something I can do myself? I'm fairly skilled mechanically, I mean just did the brakes on the car, have worked on older cars/trucks with startes, fuel pumps etc etc.

Thanks in advance.
 
Did some googling... seems overly easy.
Though they did mention to my wife a tensioning arm too. Not sure if they meant it has to be replaced or what. I'll have to call and find out.
 
If all this is bad is the Serp belt tensioner then yea that is an easy fix. Remove belt, remove bolt holding tensioner, install new tensioner, install belt, and start car to test.
 
IDK about you, but $300 is still $300. 🙂

But I was an autotech for a while so working in cold/hot was part of the job.
I prefer hot. 🙂
 
Marlin1975 said:
IDK about you, but $300 is still $300. 🙂

But I was an autotech for a while so working in cold/hot was part of the job.
I prefer hot. 🙂
Click to expand...

Is that video I linked the right video? My inet is VERY slow at work.... it looks like a tire change in the begining? WTH

Will I need to get under the car for this fix? Or can it all be done from up-top?
 
Oh, if I get the belt off (that's the easy part) and cant get a new one on, will I be able to drive the car to the shop to then get fixed? Only like 20 blocks from my house.
 
Homerboy said:
Oh, if I get the belt off (that's the easy part) and cant get a new one on, will I be able to drive the car to the shop to then get fixed? Only like 20 blocks from my house.
Click to expand...


The video looks good. Remove belt, remove bolt and install new part.

If you can get the belt off you can do the rest.
 
Marlin1975 said:
The video looks good. Remove belt, remove bolt and install new part.

If you can get the belt off you can do the rest.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your confidence in me 🙂

I just got off the phone with them. Just having my wife pick it back up and I'll give it a go next weekend.

The BIGGER problem it seems is the intake manifold (just gasket I think) is F'ed. She said the mechanic said it was a 4.5 outta 5 "bad" rating. Whatever that means. Oil and coolant mixing then right? Not overly good for the engine. Ugh....
 
Homerboy said:
I appreciate your confidence in me 🙂

I just got off the phone with them. Just having my wife pick it back up and I'll give it a go next weekend.

The BIGGER problem it seems is the intake manifold (just gasket I think) is F'ed. She said the mechanic said it was a 4.5 outta 5 "bad" rating. Whatever that means. Oil and coolant mixing then right? Not overly good for the engine. Ugh....
Click to expand...

If the INTAKE gasket is bad you are probably just leaking coolant or getting it in the intake. If the HEAD gasket is bad you'll likely have oil/coolant mixing.

You could, in theory, drive it without the serpentine belt, but your battery won't charge, your water pump won't run, etc. I would recommend strongly against it. It shouldn't be too hard of a job, don't worry.
 
JCH13 said:
If the INTAKE gasket is bad you are probably just leaking coolant or getting it in the intake. If the HEAD gasket is bad you'll likely have oil/coolant mixing.

You could, in theory, drive it without the serpentine belt, but your battery won't charge, your water pump won't run, etc. I would recommend strongly against it. It shouldn't be too hard of a job, don't worry.
Click to expand...

Yeah I feel confident I can do it.
I just wish it was June not December in WI. 🙂

As far as driving it, even 20 blocks? The battery is like 6 months old, and as far as the water-pump, its 15 degrees out. Over heating shouldn't be a prob 🙂
 
FYI some of those serpentine tensioners are a decent PITA to remove. I've seen ones that required wheel/wheel well removal and some that required a special extremely flat 3/8" breaker bar (i.e. a normal breaker bar or ratchet etc etc was way too thick to fit in the space)



So.... Just because it takes 5 min with the motor out of the car doesn't mean you aren't going to wish you'd spent that $300



That being, the shop sounds sorta sketchy to me. Even at $150/hr that's 2 hours of labor which I find hard to believe
 
SpatiallyAware said:
FYI some of those serpentine tensioners are a decent PITA to remove. I've seen ones that required wheel/wheel well removal and some that required a special extremely flat 3/8" breaker bar (i.e. a normal breaker bar or ratchet etc etc was way too thick to fit in the space)



So.... Just because it takes 5 min with the motor out of the car doesn't mean you aren't going to wish you'd spent that $300



That being, the shop sounds sorta sketchy to me. Even at $150/hr that's 2 hours of labor which I find hard to believe
Click to expand...


Don;t forget the part and the markup.

I did not do much markup when I had my shop as I was near a Advance and AZ. So I charged my labor and used good parts and never had large problem getting/keeping customers.
 
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