I took my 92 Civic in for a brake pad replacement, and got a call that the mechanic had broken the caliper bolt and need about $200 more work to replace the caliper and bolt.

I have a couple of questions about this for you do-it-yourselfers:

1) He claimed that Hondas do this a lot, maybe 10% of the time. Is this true? Or is he making that up?

2) He claimed he tried "all day" to extract the bolt but had no luck and that I had to pay for the extra work. Is the possible? Is it that hard to extract?

3) If I get this towed home, how hard is it to extrac the bolt on my own? The car isn't much worth the $200 bucks for a new caliper and labor. I'd rather spend the money on my own tools and do it myself. Is this a hard thing to do?

 

i would tell him screw you. he broke it, he should fix it. if he is a so called "professional" he should have taken certain precautions when doing this job. did he juse liquid wrench on the bolt? did he try and break it free first bvy tighteing it? did he use air tools or just a socket? i mean, the guy broke the bolt, he should fix it. god i hate mechanics

 

10% of the time? That doesn't sound like "a lot" to me, it sounds like he screwed up.

Um, no!! If you know what you are doing, you can remove a broken bolt in ten minutes. All you have to do is drill a hole, and use an EZ Out. Even if it did take him all day to try, you should not pay for him to "learn" how to try and get a bolt out when he could have just gone and picked up a rebuilt caliper for $50.

Well, figure it's going to cost you $50-$75 to get it towed home, unless you can find a buddy with a trailer and trailer it home. Then it's up to you. You can check prices on a rebuilt caliper from an auto parts store and compare it to the price of taking it to a machine shop and having them extract it. I'm guessing that since he "worked" on it all day that he most likely messed up the threads in the caliper and you are going to end up getting a new one anyway.

Good luck!!

 

he broke it , he have to fix it im working on the hondas 10 yrs never had a broken bolt on callipers

 

they have to fix it scare them with leting them know your gonna talk to your lawyereven know your realy not

 

good point here