All,

First thank you for this forum. I feel like I found my car saviors

My 2001 Montero Sport (144,000 miles) had a Service Engine Soon light come on. I am car illiterate so I went to Autozone and they encrypted the code!

P0305 Cylinder 5 Misfire Detected

I took it into the Dealer and they said they pulled the first plug and wire off and oil came oozing out of it. Their recommendation is

"Replace spark plugs and wires, valve cover gasket and plug seals"

at the nice and friendly dealer price of $800.

Then they added all this other crap like tire alignments, break pads, rear cam seals, blah blah blah. They were giving me crap about passing inspection, etc.

The total cost was $2200.


I don't know what to do. I was tempted to have them change out wire 5 and a new plug. My truck has been skipping and idling weird so I know it's an issue but I cannot justify spending $2k and have them open up the engine and find more issues.

Any advice? It's been a good SUV for the last 3 years but I dunno if I should put that 2k towards a different vehicle. Inspection is due next month.

I really appreciate any advice. I am a lamb into the slaughter because I don't know cars.

 

Unless you have another mechanic that you can trust to work on your Mitsubishi, I would buck up the $800 and have the misfire taken care of. I don't have inspections in CO, so I have no idea what they look at to deem if a car is road-worthy.

Cam seals are more of an annoyance because you are leaking oil. The alignment should be done if you are wearing your tires unevenly or the wheel isn't holding straight when driving. Are you hearing a loud squeel when you stop? That is your brakes telling you there is no pad left. If you drive like that long it ruins the rotors and repair costs increase.

I would get the valve cover and plugs done so you don't create larger problems. And brakes if they are screaming (ask how much pad is left?). Then I would worry about the cam seals and alignment. I personally trust and love my Mitsu and would pay the $800 before I traded it in on something else for payments. I just payed a dealer $1200 for a Timing belt and water pump last year @ 100K miles. Which begs the question...has your T-belt been done?

 

I agree with carlover626. I just spent $1,200 on my high mileage Montero (that is probably only worth $3,000) because I couldn't think of anything I'd like driving better. So I'm going to try to hit 250K. But it's a personal matter and if you're getting the urge to get something new then that's a different story. And as carlover pointed out if you're overdue for the timing belt you need to factor in another $1,100 or so very soon.

There are a lot of those engines out there so if you have a good independent shop with Mitsu experience the spark plugs, wires, gaskets, etc. are not that big of a chore. And the cam seals are a snap. So you may be able to get the engine stuff taken care of for less than $800. But even if you have to spend that at the dealer it's not too steep. (Compare it to just the sales tax and initial reg fees for something new)

If your state actually has a safety check as part of the inspection then the brakes might need attention but even here in red-tape happy CA the only inspection is for Smog. Your Check Engine Light and 305 code would fail you on the inspection so that needs to be fixed.

Good luck, and welcome to the BB.

Ron

 

do you actually think thats expensive?

thats exactly what you should be paying for work done to your truck. Im not sure why everyone thinks its such an incredibly easy job to do, and why people dont deserve compensation for their work.
if its that easy, do it yourself!

 

Thanks for the reply's.

"do you actually think thats expensive?"

Yes I think $800 is expensive. I have no problem paying it if I know for sure I am not getting ripped off. For all I know I need a new spark plug and the Dealer is trying to get more money out of me.

This is why I am here. I get tired of Car repair shops trying to nickel and dime me so I am starting to do more homework.

 

Good reply, wookey. Sorry you had to get flamed for asking reasonable questions but this is an open community and everyone has an opinion. Some are formed by actually wanting to help and others are formed by ... well I guess I'm not sure.

In any case as I see it you had two concerns. First the $800 for fixing the misfire and leaking gaskets. The other was the $1,400 in other "suggested" repairs. Taking the 2nd concern first, every dealer is different but in these hard times there is very litlle profit in selling new cars, more in selling used cars and even more in shop work. Most dealer shops are mostly honest but I don't doubt for a minute that the pressure is on to find all areas where additional work could be suggested. Whether it really needs to be done now and what are the consequences for waiting is where they have you at a disadvantage and are wise to be skeptical - especially if you're not a car person. If you're going to keep the truck the only way to get around this is to always get 2nd opinions and check references on shops and try to find one that you can develop some trust in. Whether it's a Mitsu dealer or independent. Other than that I'd not jump at having anything replaced until you notice a real symptom like pulsing or squealing brakes. etc.

Now back to the $800 question. $800 is probably not a gouge price and is probably the going rate for a dealer. But this doesn't mean it's the only way to go. Dealers are always going to have higher hourly rates than independents and, moreover you're going to pay the highest prices for all OEM parts. I'm a big fan of OEM parts but when it comes to plugs and wire sets, I'm not so sure. Here are the Mitsu retal prices for the parts you most likely need:

Intake Manifold Gasket $10.98
Valve Cover Gasket $23.75 (x2) $47.50
Plug Wires $138.27
Plugs $13.33 (x6) $79.98
TOTAL $276.73
(plus tax, plus misc material fees, etc)

So if your parts total is around $300 then your dealer wants $500 for labor which probably equates to 5 or 6 hours. Which is probably not atypical in dealer world.

But, do some searching on this board for plugs and wires and you will see that there are many options (and some controversies) for OEM-quality wire sets and plugs that do not cost $13 each. (I spent about $90 total for plugs and wires 90K miles ago and did the job in 4 hours and have had no problems.)

It's your choice, but there are probably some excellent independent, ASE certified shops that are willing to do the labor for less and stand behind their work. So shop around and do some online research on any shop you're considering.

Ron

 

jrmdir/carlover,

I really appreciate your guys help on this. I went "car shopping" over the weekend and realized a new truck like the one I have is a 6 year commitment and money I'd rather not spend. I am glad the price gouge for the dealer doesn't seem to steep for the repairs. I think I will get the misfire fixed and see if they can budge on price for the other necessities.

It seems like the essentials for passing inspection would be $1500 or so. What is that like 3 new car payments? lol.

I knew coming here would help. Thanks again!

--Wookey

 

you guys really are off base here quite a bit.

why does everyone assume the dealer is more expensive? theyre NOT. not by a long shot!
the small independant garages may charge less in an hourly rate, but trust me, the work you get isnt worth the 10 percent decrease. I guarantee they'll be using crappy, aftermarket parts. I guarantee the work will be of low quality. and I guarantee that in the long run you spend MORE.
why? Because all little shops do is whip everything at a car.
I cant tell you how many places dont actually even look at a car... i.e you come in for a brake job, and the shop just unilaterally wants to whip new rotors at it. is that cost effective? For them, yes. for you, no.
We are cheaper far more than we arent. And we have people that know mitsus, using mitsu parts and mitsu tools.

Frankly, i am sick to death of people calling dealers "crooks". What line of business are all of you in? You wanna be called crooks everyday for an honest days work? No.

 

Labor costs have increased dramatically, and that is where most (albeit 50-75%) of the cost comes from. My personal experiance with independant shops is that they have the lower cost, and as Manybrews points out a lower quality of work & less knowledge of quirks or technical details IMO. I would rather pay the higher price to someone that does the 3-4 hour spark plug job hundreds of times a year than a place that may see one or two Mitsu's a year and gives a discount on Mondays and Fridays.

Wooky, the placement of the plugs in your Montero Sport are such that many things need to be removed in order to even access them. I could change the plugs in my old 4-cylinder Grand Am in 10 minutes...haven't even attempted on my Mitsu cause they don't need it at 113K miles. When I called the dealer for the plug change here in Denver I was quoted $250 parts and labor. But considering the plugs only need changed every 70K miles if you use the iridium plugs that are recommended, $250 isn't bad. Though I am a bit more inclined to work on it myself, simply because I enjoy it and I am a broke college student.

BTW, what is the story on your timing belt? Have you had that replaced in the three years you have owned the car? It should be swapped at 60K mile intervals...if you think $800 is bad, if that belt breaks or skips you are looking at twice that amount because of internal engine damage. I have heard of people going up to 120K miles+ without changing it, but it is a risk that can leave you stranded and SOL.

 

We should probably take this to another thread related to "Dealers vs Independents" or "Unfair Dealer Bashing". Manybrews, I can understand your frustration and defense of your profession. For the record, my son is a career car salesman at a big dealership so what you're dealing with he gets in spades.

But I don't think it's warranted to go off on wookey or the rest of us for what you see as "everyone" "always" calling dealers "crooks". Please re-read the thread and let me know where it supports your venting that much pent up frustration. Other than wookey voicing a (commonly held) worry about repair advice and some of the others of us recommending he/she shop around I just don't see all the badmouthing you claim. I stated that independent shops are cheaper and you agree (at least up front) but the main message was to find someplace - dealer or indy, that has a verifiable reputation and long time happy customers. I'm sure your dealership fits that description. There are others that do not and there are also good and bad indy shops.

It's unfortunate for you (and my son) that you have to deal with negative comments about your profession but I don't imagine that the general population woke up one day and in unison decided to mistrust dealerships. The mistrust comes from a lot of poor business practices and horror stories over time. Your company is no doubt part of the movement to turn this perception around but in the meantime it could be suggested not to shoot the messenger - especially during their first experience with this forum. IMO.

Ron