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Loud except while turning left.
Topic Started: Apr 24 2014, 11:36 PM (763 Views)
charliemurfy
Murftastic!
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So yeah, The Gnat runs pretty loud and I know I've got exhaust issues. I've not gotten a chance to investigate yet. It's loud except while I'm turning left, so I think there's a crack somewhere. Any ideas where I should start my investigation?

Also, I'm a total noob when it comes to exhaust stuff; is it as easy as bolting on a replacement part (assuming there's no welding involved) ?
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Old Man


Who knows what man has done to your exhaust system in the past 23 years? Only way to tell is to look.
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Deleted User
Deleted User

Get a recommendation from someone you know for a good, honest muffler shop. Roll it up on their rack. They'll tell you what the problem is and how much to fix it. Turn $$$ into quiet times. Most independent shops can replace from the cat back for under $200 while you wait. Sometimes, you have to make an appointment, but it's all about getting in the shop with "that muffler guy".
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Woodie
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Loud EXCEPT when turning left sounds like a bad wheel bearing to me. Left rear would be my first guess.
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JADEDSL2
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Resident WraithSlayer

Rear wheel bearings sir. Replace them.
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charliemurfy
Murftastic!
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So I think I'm going to just take this to a local shop. It seems like it could be screwed up really easily. Do I have to worry about them using poor replacement parts? Being in Florida, I don't really have to worry about rust. Would a local auto parts store have Koyo bearings that I can drop off to the shop?
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

If you find a good shop with someone you can trust, don't insult them by bringing your own parts. It's like going to a diner for the breakfast special and bringing your own eggs.
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yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

That's an odd way to look at it, perfesser. It's just that we don't want to pay their mark up prices.
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Johnny Mullet
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Fear the Mullet

Napa can get the Koyo bearings. Get a qoute and then consider the less than $200 in gas to bring it to my shop and back and get the job done cheaper than the gas. Your call.
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myredvert
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myredvert

Quote:
 
That's an odd way to look at it, perfesser. It's just that we don't want to pay their mark up prices.
That's a respectful and intelligent way to "look at it." Whatever business you are in, how would you feel if every customer expected you to charge them less than normal, whether by cutting parts markup or your labor expenses?

If they don't make enough money to stay in business, they go out of business. And the good small shops seem to go first becasue everyone went somewhere else for cheaper tires, oil changes, etc. And if you ever need a shop like that with a trustworthy mechanic, it's nice to know you helped from time to time to keep one in your community.
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

yiffzer
Apr 29 2014, 05:42 PM
That's an odd way to look at it, perfesser. It's just that we don't want to pay their mark up prices.
The "mark up", as you call it, is also called the "profit margin". You pay it at every place you spend money. The diner adds a percentage onto the selling price of the eggs in your breakfast special to pay their costs. (A financially stable restaurant will spend 30% of the menu price on the ingredients. The other 70% goes into the expenses of doing business, and, if they're lucky, a small profit.) The supermarket, even the new cut-rate one in town, tacks some on to the price of every item they sell, unless it's an advertised loss leader. Emphasis on the word "loss".

When you bring in your own parts you are saying that they don't have a right to make a decent profit on your work. I have known small shop owners (the old school guys, with years of the kind of experience a young dealer tech will probably never have) who, if you pulled out your own parts, would push them back across the counter and ask you to take them with you as you leave (and don't let the door hit you in the back!) I've known others who would use your parts but still tack the profit on as a service fee of some kind.

You aren't saving money when you bring in your own $20- bag of parts. You're pissing off a guy that you expect to do wonderful things (that are beyond your abilities!) to your car.

To you it may be an odd way to look at it, but I think that's because you aren't looking at the whole of it. Look at it from the shop owner's point of view.
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exo
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myredvert
Apr 29 2014, 06:00 PM
Quote:
 
That's an odd way to look at it, perfesser. It's just that we don't want to pay their mark up prices.
That's a respectful and intelligent way to "look at it." Whatever business you are in, how would you feel if every customer expected you to charge them less than normal, whether by cutting parts markup or your labor expenses?

If they don't make enough money to stay in business, they go out of business. And the good small shops seem to go first becasue everyone went somewhere else for cheaper tires, oil changes, etc. And if you ever need a shop like that with a trustworthy mechanic, it's nice to know you helped from time to time to keep one in your community.
This post should be printed on 3"x5" cards and mounted on everyones dash/sunvisor/whatever.
The small shop that does quality work fills a huge void between the dealerships that assrape you/make you pay for the vasoline and the hackshops that have no idea what they are doing and end up costing as much as the analraping dealerships in the long run cuz you have to get someone else to do it over.
If you know of a small shop with a good mechanic that does professional work for much less than dealer shop rates, don't knickle and dime them, they are saving you a ton already.
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exo
Member
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Also, if the noise seems to be exhaust related, you could have a pipe/muffler resting against the underbody somewhere thus transmitting exhaust noise/rattling/vibration into the interior of the car. When you take a left turn your exhaust would swing slightly to the right and away from the body contact point and the noise stops. Inspect your exhaust system to make sure nothing is touching metal to metal between your pipes/muffler and the bottom of your car.
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yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

O.K.

I admit I'm ignorant of how much running an auto shop business actually costs.

With that said...

When they want $90 an hour from me, aren't they already making a pretty nice profit?

I understand a large bulk of that rate goes to operating the property, utility bills, maintaining tools, and such.

But a long time shop owner would have less overhead than typical start up businesses. They would have owned their own property, owned their own lifts and tools, and such. Charging $90 an hour would still garner them an impressive amount of profit!

I also run an independent IT job myself. I build computers. Knowing my distaste for being overcharged for parts, I tell my customers that they have two choices.

1) Order the parts yourself, bring it to me, and I'll build it.
2) I'll order the parts but it's considered as part of labor. I will charge you the labor of searching and getting the best deals for you. I'll build it.

Researching and ordering a whole build typically takes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. I usually get about $40 extra in profit. Because I charge a little bit extra, people often ask me to go ahead and get the parts for them anyway.

Compare that to auto shops in which they jack up the prices of parts (which they get wholesale anyway) and then literally DOUBLE the cost of it. That's like saying a video card that costs $100 should be marked up to $200. It is utter insanity.

So yeah, the mark up price and the $90 per hour labor rate? How are you enjoying your beachfront house down in Mexico, buddy?!

This is not going to the business. This is going to their pockets that's quite fat already.

P.S. I have never, ever, ever let a shop work on my cars without me bringing in my own parts. They haven't complained. I've saved tons of money that literally could've bought me 4 or 5 more Geo Metros. I kid you not. So yes, I think I saved quite a bit.
Edited by yiffzer, May 17 2014, 02:12 AM.
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exo
Member
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Yeah, I'd have no problem bringing my own parts to a shop that had a $90 shop rate. Thing is, I don't use those shops, and I don't think that those shops were what perfesser or redvert were talking about.
There are very few aspects of our cheap lil cars that would ever require that amount of expertise.
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