In late March, I tried to get my older car aligned but no deal...it needed new inner and outer tie rods and upper and lower bushings.
I waited 2 weeks until Keith the Car Guy was available to buy the parts. It is difficult to buy parts when you are not a mechanic but that is the way things are done here.
You buy the parts.
Then Yella drove the car into a Panamanian car wrecking trap, otherwise known as a camouflaged ditch inlet, so we needed body work. We only had one car so we decided to wait until the first week of May when we would get the second car.
But no! We didn't get the new car until the end of May.
With the help of Keith, I took the car to a body shop in Los Anastasios, way out in the boondocks. The said it would be done in a week.
Ya, right.
It was done in 2 weeks, which is amazing in any country.
They had to pull out the rocker panel below the rear passenger door, fix the dented door, fix the rear bumper and we had them fix a couple of small dents in the hatch back door. They ended up painting the entire passenger side and the rear.
All this cost $350. Amazing! Bodywork is cheap here.
Now back to the tie rods.
I waited until the bodywork was done to replace the tie rods. The mechanic had the car for a day. In addition to the tie rods, he adjusted the fuel injector motor to reduce the amount of smoking from the engine.
He got $40 for the labor. The parts were expensive, maybe the same as in the US. They were $300.
I went to David this morning to get it aligned. Magically, the rack was open. Everything completed in 20 minutes for $19.
The car drives like new!
Only took 3 months to get it all done but it is worth it. The bodywork alone would have cost thousands of dollars in the US.
Now if only we could find the leak that keeps the driver's floor wet in rain.
2 comments:
Hi Tom, over here I have my Mexi-buddies who will fix my car for about a third of the US dealerships. I Love 'em! and good work, too. oh, those nasty floor wetting leaks are usually at the base of the windshield or just under the back of the hood just in front of the driver - it leaks it around or through the rubber base gaskets and travels down along the firewall (at least that's what mine were doing). Good Luck! Darshan
Good tip! I have felt it was either the windshield or something like you suggest. We will try that next...or just live with it and drive around in a swamp.
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