pierced1

Well i took my car (92 teg gs) to a local shop for a front end alignment, because a few weeks ago i had to take the front driver side wheel assembly off. Well i took it up there, for one thing it took them over 6 hrs to do the front end alignment(they wernt busy). Then when i went to pick it up the person at the front desk said the mechanic made notes that i also needed a rear alignment (rear right tire cupping) motor mounts (slight vibration when idleing) new struts (??) new rack and pinion steering (??) and new axles. Yea i know they are just trying to make a quick buck right? Well heres the thing, i do actually need a front driver axle (getting next week) and i do actually need a rear alignment (cause the tire is cupped) prob getting that done next week too, so they arnt bs'n me about everything which makes me wonder about the rest. But i dont exactly know how to check to see if the rack and pinion need replacing, it steers fine or do they go by something else? Is there a way i can "test" the rack and pinion on it? And the motor mounts seem fine to me, no other mechanic has ever mentioned them needing replaced nor the struts. Besides looking to see if the motor actually moves when you rev the car up how do you acutally test the motor mounts as well? Im not stupid when it comes to cars but this is my first honda/acura so im still learning. Im use to chevy or something a little "easier" to work on. But i love this car. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post!

VPUPPY

How many miles and what year is your car?

pierced1

1992 and almost 180k

thumper

Well with that many miles it's possible for most of that stuff to need to be replaced

pierced1

yea true, but its a well taken care of car. And i just wanted to know HOW to actually test some of these things instead of trusting someone whose probably trying to take my $$$$$. Plus there was ALOT of things replaced on the car before i purchased it (had 125k on it when i got it)

thumper

I don't know how to "test" for that but you could always take the car to different mechanic and find out

VPUPPY

Werd. It seems normal for those things to clunk out on a car with that many miles. Do you know how often your power steering fluid was changed?

For the motor mounts, they may not be broken, rather worn out. Are you putting the car in grear(reverse and drive) and reving the engine so see the amount of movement(with the brakes applied)? Do you know which motor mounts are broken? There are five - two in the front, two on the sides(on the drivers side next to the strut tower) and one opposite from it attached to the transmission, and one in the rear in the center a little forward from the fire wall. You could alway see for yourself and check for breaks in the rubber.

BAM

start reading up about your car and save money doing the work yourself.

pierced1

yea i do usually do the work myself i like working on cars, just cant afford an alignment machine to do the front end alignment myself.....thats why i took it to the shop

BAM

honestly if the car was in bad shape and you never serviced it before , it probably needed all that work eventually.