Had my son’s car towed to the shop on Friday because it stalled on him twice. On his check up sheet in August 2010, the only thing needing attention was his serpentine belt; everything else was green.
After they checked the vehicle, they reported that the timing belt needed to be changed. Some other things they noted was the front brakes and the rotors needed to be changed, transmission flushed, new spark plugs. Is it possible for all this to go wrong in the space of two months?
1998 Mercury Tracer, 4 cylinder automatic
As for the tune up, transmission flush may just be time for this on the scheduled maintenance and in the long run, this will not hurt the vehicle. You can however put these to items off for another time.
As for the brakes, being a safety issue I would tend to be a bit concerned here. If you are having trouble stopping or hear grinding….you may want to have this taken care of.
If the brakes seem fine to you, you can say “NO” and bring it back when they do start to cause you an issue.
Some shops feel obligated to let you know of anything that they see make cause you an issue in the future and some shops, unfortunately, are just looking for things to inflate the bill. Two months worth of teenage driving… can cause a whole lot of damage, two months of grandma driving…not so much.
The good news is, you can say no to any of there suggestions at anytime and only pay for what work has been performed.
The timing belt if broken and causing it not to start, should be replaced. If they are suggesting it as a scheduled maintenance… you can wait a month or so if need be, But have it replaced.
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