Don't go to Meineke!

[mikkelstuff]

The original power steering rack and pinon began to leak on my 2002 Ranger in 2016 at 113,588 miles. Being new to the area and knowing no where else to go, I had the local Meineke replace the rack and pinon. Cost me $591.33 for parts and labor.

Less than one year late in 2017 the replacement rack and pinon began to leak at 120,195 miles. Meineke told me the labor was covered under warranty but there was no warranty on the rack and pinon. Hence I paid another $200 to replace this rack and pinon. I was assured this time that both parts and labor were under warranty.

Now 3 years later and 140,500 miles the rack and pinon is leaking again. I called Meinke with the invoice number to check on the warranty. They almost laughed at me! The said warranty was good only for one year!

Luckily a great mechanic has now moved to my location BUT looks like I'm out yet another $600 or so for yet another rack and pinon. I'm hoping they can find one with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Dirtman]

This is why you don't use remanufactured parts. Not really a meineke specific thing. The only time your going to get a steering rack that'll last more than a year or two is to buy a NEW one.

You can blame shady mechanic practices but the truth is remanufactured parts are usually half the price or less than brand new parts so when a customer needs their car repaired and shops around for quotes, mechanic A says $200 and mechanic B says $500. You instantly think mechanic B must be a ripoff so you go with mechanic A, never realizing mechanic B was quoting you brand new parts that would actually last...

 

[Biggfoot44]

Not really a Mienikie thing , would apply equally to just about any service chain location .

 

[adsm08]

I wouldn't go to Meineke unless I had to, but:

They did not rebuild the rack on site, they sourced it from a local parts store. Whatever warranty it did or did not have came through the store the part was bought from. A 1 year warranty on parts like that is typical.

Most of those parts store warranties, if you read them, only cover the part and not any labor involved in installation.

That means Meineke would be responsible for determining what warranty to put on their labor, and it is very uncommon for labor to be warrantied for more than a year.

So yeah, the problem here is that you went with cheap parts. The most responsibility Meineke bears here is possibly not pricing the top-shelf parts in hopes of not loosing the job by quoting a price that was too high.

 

[scotts90ranger]

all automotive parts are a crapshoot anymore, you never really know... I've been sent to California to get a street sweeper running that had 6 hours on it, problem was a distributor cap that was shorted internally giving all the sparks to one cylinder (if any of you are familiar with the GM flat top distributor cap for the 4.3L and 5.7L you know what I mean...), they used to reliably go to 1000 hours then a few years ago you never really know, could be 5 hours of life, could be 800 hours...

 

[black_demon69]

this is why I do my own work (my labor on my truck is lifetime for me ) so I can only bitch about the quality of the Chinese parts that all parts stores carry now.

 

[sgtsandman]

I rarely let others work on my vehicles. Unless it’s warranty work, something I don’t have the equipment and tools to fix the problem, or I’m physically incapable to do the work.

There are too many hacks and monkeys with wrenches out there.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I rarely let others work on my vehicles. Unless it’s warranty work, something I don’t have the equipment and tools to fix the problem, or I’m physically incapable to do the work.

There are too many hacks and monkeys with wrenches out there.

This. I had a good mechanic that I would always take stuff that I couldn’t handle to. He was a manager at a big shop and could do stuff on his own, so labor was what got agreed on. Sadly he’s moved on so now I need to find a new one

 

[adsm08]

This. I had a good mechanic that I would always take stuff that I couldn’t handle to. He was a manager at a big shop and could do stuff on his own, so labor was what got agreed on. Sadly he’s moved on so now I need to find a new one

If you want to move a few hours east I know a guy.

 

[sgtsandman]

If you want to move a few hours east I know a guy.

Dirtman?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

If you want to move a few hours east I know a guy.

Don’t think I haven’t thought of doing that, or move up to near @holyford86 or something.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Dirtman?

 

[Dirtman]

But I has wrench!