I'm not a car expert when it comes to cars so I was hoping someone on here could help me. I took my altima into midas to get its brakes checked and they called me to say that the valve gasket was leaking and that the struts needed to be replaced because they were leaking.

I was a bit surprised by this because i have not seen any oil under the car ever and the car has been handling fine. For now I've told him not to fix the gasket/struts but I wanted to know if there was some visual inspection I could do to check either of the problems. Or do you guys recommend that I just let midas do it? They're charging me 240 for the gasket and 800 for the struts for parts and labor....

(this is also the second time that i've brought it in for one reason and they've called and said something else was wrong with it)

 

all places like that do that, they tell ou other stuff is bad so they can get more money. Just like jiffy lube does the transsmission service thing. Anyway, got to a few other shops and get their opinions on the struts and gastet.

 

I'd get a second opinion - try to get a recommendation for a private mechanic from someone you know. I would never trust those Jiffy Lube type places.

 

Look yourself, the valve cover gasket is very easy to see simply by opening the hood, even if it is leaking its not common that a valve cover gasket would be so bad that it would drip on the ground - its the highest possible engine oil leak you can have. Chances are also high its just a mild seap, not a substantial leak. As for the struts, again, just look yourself, make sure you do this on a dry day as the struts will look like they have a leak from road moisture on a rainy day. Pay particular attention to the area the spring is, where the shiney part goes into the rest of the strut, that's where they leak or seam. If you see even a little oily build up, it will usually be covered with dust and be a dirty looking build up, then they are leaking a bit, its dry and clean they are not. Struts go bad so proggressively its hard to notice the subtle change in ride if its a car you drive daily, and I've only seen struts leak so bad that they actually drip on the ground a small handful of times.

If you find there are no problems, I would just never go back there and tell eveyone you know. Chances are you have a mild valve cover gasket seap and one strut has light seap and its their job to tell you these things - if they were leaking and they didn't tell you, you'd be pissed. Its kind of the catch 22 in the automotive repair business, no one wants to be told something is wrong with their car, but if you don't tell them and they have a problem your still an ass hole.

 

For my valve cover gasket (as with many Saturn S-Series), it wasn't the valve cover gasket itself that leaked, but the spark plug tube seals...hence requiring the removal of the valve cover to replace those seals. When the seals failed, my spark plug tubes just filled up with oil...

 

Yea, it looks like there maybe a little bit of leakage on the valve cover. I checked that today. It seems really slight though and the oil level is still fine.

i haven't had a chance to look at the struts but I'll check tomorrow. If there is a leak though, is it common to replace all four at the same time?

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

These clowns get extra pay for moving more repairs. They don't make much on the oil changes, but that gets you in so they can "find" other things wrong.

As others have said - check it out yourself or get a second opinion - you did the right thing by telling these foo's "not now, thanks".

 

Struts? Usually two at a time...preferably four though.