Call me gullible. The 21st of February I took my 1998 Mercury Sable in... read more Call me gullible. The 21st of February I took my 1998 Mercury Sable in because it had a slight shudder when accelerating in low gear and a squeak in the front. I figured it was my transmission, after all my car had appx. 175,000 miles on it. We had shopped around for a good used car and just could not afford one with the economy in the shape it's in. Any way we took it in. They assured me it wasn't the transmission, but needed new hoses, a belt, spark plug wires etc. because everything under the hood was factory except the spark plugs which we had replaced around 80,000 and the belt which we had replaced around 70,000. The bad news was the whole front end was out. Struts, ball joints, everything had to be replaced to the tune of $2,689.04. Crazy for that old of a car right. Well, the mechanic assured us it would be like a new car from front to back. He was sure that was all it needed. Since we couldn't afford a new car we went for it. Duh! When I got it home it was doing the same thing I took it in for plus my brake peddle is going to the floor sometimes. I never had any brake issues. So we took it back. When I got my car today they charged me $87.51 to tell me I need a transmission, a power steering pump, which I couldn't tell anything was wrong with, and an ABS sensor. What will be my total charge $2469.33. I would be stupid to put that much into a car that old. Moral of the story, when Rusty Wallace Ford mechanics tell you that they are sure that the work they will do will fix your car, they aren't. It may come back in worse shape like mine did. One things for sure I have a nice body with sound suspension it's just that it's not safe to drive! Beware!!!!
