Just had some repairs done on my 2002 S40 in Houston, it has 105K miles and I knew it was time to replace the timing belt plus I feared I had a break fluid leak since I was having to step on the pedal hard in order to stop. While inspecting the car the mechanic determine the car needed quite a few repairs which I'm listing below. He quoted $2,300 (parts and labor) and I'm trying to figure out if this was reasonable.

The repairs included:

- Replace timing belt, water pump, variable timing pulley and front seals (seals were leaking)
- Replace brake booster vaccum line with check valve
- Replace power steering rack
- Service transmission
- General tune up

After reading some of the threads here I gather the timing belt and power steering rack repairs alone are quite expensive so I feel I got a decent deal but I wanted to check with folks on this forum. Any thoughts??

A bit of an update: After getting my car back from the mechanic (and driving it about 10 miles) the check engine light came on, so I drove it back to the mechanic to have him check it, as I was making a left turn my steering wheel stiffened up, I almost ran into the curb. I parked, turned off the car and restarted. Thankfully the steering loosed up again and I was able to get it to the shop --they're looking at it tomorrow, I figure it has to be related to the replacement of the power steering rack and they just didn't repair it quite right.

anyhow, I wanted to check if $2,300 was fair although with the current problem I'm beginning to wonder. Any feedback would be appreciated.

thanks,

 

Power steering rack is not something goes bad very often so unless you know there was a problem with it I would be suspicious about it.It seems that the problem with your steering is more related to the pump itself than to the rack and its still persistent.Like I said would be good to know what was your complaint about the steering before the repair.
I dont wanna speculate here but since you said you had oil leak at the cam seals you could have had oil on the aux belt causing the power steering pump loose drive hence hard steering just like you described it on your way back.
The timing components are fairly cheap but it takes about 2-4 hour to replace it depending on the mechanic skill level/will.
Other than replacing the fluid in the transmission there is no service required or can be done on the transmission itself.What exactly did the mech do?
See a lot to answer before it can be seen what actually was repaired/replaced but if the mech actually did all that then it seems OK but the real question is what did he do unnecessary.He was supposed to replace the water pump with the timing belt and tensioners BTW curious as if he did that too?

 

Thanks for the insight. To answer some of your questions, the steering wheel wasn't giving me problems as far as I could tell, my real complaints were 1) the timing belt (a prior mechanic had told me it was showing some cracks, at 100k miles it was time to replace it, and the VVT seals were leaking); 2) the brakes (I was having to press hard to stop, particularly in the morning. After a few stops the brakes would feel normal again); and 3) It was time for a tune up since I'm planning a trip from TX to CA.

In retrospect I should have questioned the power steering rack replacement more, but I did tell the mechanic to do an overall inspection-- given my upcoming long trip-- and to let me know of any other repairs that might be needed. The pwr steering rack was one I wasn't expecting. When he raplaced the timing belt, he did replace the water pump and tensioner also. The transmission service was just replacing the fluids as you said.

I just got a call from the mechanic, and I emphasized the stiff steering experience again, he adjusted the belts timing belt and has been test driving the car for 10 miles and the check engine light hasn't come back, I hope that will take care of the issue.

thanks again,