My car failed its vehicle inspection today; the rack and pinion needed to be replaced. (It was leaking steering fluid "profusely", which I could see and know is a problem). The technician said that it was most likely due to wear and tear (2000 model, 118k+ miles). That sucked, but fine, it didn't sound outrageous. But I just had the car serviced YESTERDAY. Took it in for scheduled maintenance (which we keep up with); also had front brakes and pads, and air filter replaced. The technician from today said he was "shocked" that they didn't find the problem when it was serviced yesterday (it was done at a different shop). So my question to those who are knowledgeable about cars--based on this information, was it reasonably possible for the shop that did the maintenance to have missed this? Just need to get my facts straight if I need to have some words with them. Thanks.
you paid to have your air filter replaced? geez, if i were that mechanic, i'd have looked for anything out of normal and tried to get paid. does it leak fluid only while the engine is running (pump is on)? if so, maybe he didn't see the leak because he wasn't working on your car with the engine on, but the inspection guy would have had the engine running.
Unless you know any mechanic, it's safer to assume they're scumbags. It's a sales job for some reason. I've had mechanics tell me off the record how ****** they've treated the uneducated. Now, for those of you who know mechanics and will say "they're actually cool," I believe you. In a non-work setting, or in a work settign where you've already met them, yeah I believe it. Like almost anything, I usually blame the shop owners before the employee.
Most mechanics are not scumbags. If there is scumbaggery involved, it most likely is the management or the service writers trying to "upsell" unnecessary repairs. It sounds like the original place did not see the "profuse" leak, or did not note it on the repair because they weren't looking for it or because they did not do that kind of repair work so weren't motivated to check into the leak. Or...the leak wasn't really "profuse" and the second place wanted to sell you a rack and pinion replacement job. On state inspections, the place is supposed to check for fluid leaks, as fluid leaks drip on the pavement, it rains, gets washed into the storm drains, into the nearest creek, and down into Lady Bird Lake which looks like hell every time it rains. But most places don't check too carefully, and don't find too many leaks. If it actually is dripping on the ground while it is being inspected, they will often fail it. But if your car was leaking that much, you would have to add power steering fluid on a regular basis. Were you? If the rack is just starting to leak, the boots out on each end get oily, and you can tell the customer their rack is starting to leak, but you can also tell them it might take quite a while to get to the point where it is leaking enough to require replacing it. So I don't know if the first place missed the problem, or if the second place overstated the problem, or if it was somewhere in between. Were you leaving oily spots in your regular parking place?
Damn accuratehorn, took you long enough... I couldn't tell you if the car was leaving spots while parked because I am unfortunately notoriously unobservant of such things. It sounds like it was possible for the first shop to miss the problem so that addressed my main concern. As for replacing the steering rack... the car drives noticeably better, and considering the age and mileage, there has been very little work needed on it aside from scheduled maintenance. I'm guessing I was just due. Thanks for the replies everyone.