So I just had my Accord in for service. I reported the following issues to the mechanic:

• Bad vibration in front end at speeds over 50-55 MPH. Car pulls to left if you let the wheel go. Tires squeal if you take an exit ramp too fast (~40 MPH).
• Slow leak in right rear tire. Valve stem loses the cap a lot.
• A/C doesn't work well -- won't keep the car cool on sunny days.
• Front passenger door slightly out of line, door-open sensor trips when you make a hard left.

I got it back today with the following fixes:

• Replaced front two tires which were worn (I knew this) and front lower ball joints which were "about worn out" (I assume this was true)
• Resealed valve in tire
• Recharged A/C and added fluorescent dye to find leak. Note: "left front fan motor not working"
• Adjusted door

Now I'm suspicious of three things:

1. In discussing the ball joints, the CV joint boots were never mentioned, and I was under the impression the ball joints will last almost arbitrarily long if those aren't torn. (The car passed MD state safety inspection, which includes inspecting the ball joints and boots I believe, 13 months and about 32,000 miles ago.) Is this not the case? Should I crawl under there and check the boots myself?
   
   
2. Regarding the "non-working" fan motor, I got the impression the mechanic thought it was a second-but-equal fan to the right side fan and should be running all the time. I've always been told that except under very hot conditions (sitting in traffic on a hot day, or coolant loss), only one fan will operate and if the second fan is kicking on a lot during ordinary driving, it's something that needs to be checked out. But in talking to a friend today, he said some dual-fan cars are wired up so the second fan comes on if the temp goes over a threshold or immediately if the A/C is turned on. Which is it for mine, and if it's strictly temp-controlled, what's a good way to test that it's functional other than deliberately running the engine hot?
   
   I noticed the engine running a little warmer than it has been, but I don't know if that's due to the weather today being the hottest so far this summer or the A/C dumping more heat into the radiator because it's working better now. It runs about 2/3 of the way up from the bottom mark to the middle of the temp gauge normally; today it was a couple of needle-ticks above that for awhile (while I was sitting at the first long red light after the drive in; it was still below the middle mark on the gauge) and then went down a bit when I started moving steadily again.
   
   
3. When I picked up the car the check-engine light came on as soon as I started it (it was off when I dropped the car off on Friday). One of the techs came out with his OBDII tablet and said it was throwing a code that indicated a faulty secondary O2 sensor heating element. He cleared it, shut the engine off and I restarted it and drove to work; the light remained off during the drive. Is this something that is likely to have been a result of the maintenance? The owner agreed to do whatever is necessary to fix the problem if it reappears (presumably on his dime), but I'm wondering how hard it is to fix myself so I don't have to deal with leaving it there yet again.

Frankly I just don't know if I trust them with my car any more since they didn't tell me they hadn't done the alignment as promised on Friday until I arrived to pick up the car that afternoon (after which I left it over the weekend while I went out of town so they could do it this AM). Really, taking the car off the lift as "done" after replacing two tires and a set of ball joints but not doing the alignment you recommended and the customer agreed to strikes me as bad business.

And as long as I'm here... both of the knobs that control the vent fans (temperature and speed) have cracked off. The previous owner had glued them back, I cracked them and glued one back to working condition again. When I got my car back it had been twisted too hard by the mechanic and was cracked and loose yet again. Does anybody have a good suggestion for fixing them permanently, or something good to replace them completely with? Pliers work to turn the stems, but that's less than an ideal solution. Maybe zip ties? Metal bands? Hiring Voldemort to do some dark magic over them?