Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 2:22 AM
My 1999 Honda Accord LX with 178,000 miles The shop wants $800 to $1000 for a valve job, is this a fair charge for the work? My car broke down about 2 weeks ago. Just simply turned off as I was driving at about 35 - 40 mph max. The previous day I had noticed a whirling sound upon accelerating (sounded like a siren off in the distance) which got higher pitched and faster with my acceleration. I had it towed to my repair shop where it remains. They told me the timing belt needed replacement and did that work. Then it was idling rough and pulled a code on the computer that told them the crankshaft position sensor needed to be replaced. They did that w/o a genuine HOnda part and then the idle was worse. They returned the position sensor and got the genuine Honda part installed it and now tell me it's running better but is idling at 600 when it should be 800? Does that make sense? So now they say 12 of the 16 valves need replacing. I'm waiting for a callback with the total charge to do that work. The mechanic first suggested it would be around $800. The other work thus far totals $800. My concern is this. Should I be spending $1600 on this car when the book value is approximately $3000 (I really am not in a financial position to get another car at this time, but am really wondering how I'll even afford this repair) The last thing I want to do is spend this money only to find out that there are other things wrong as well. Tough question I know but some kind of guidance would really be appreciated. I am a woman and relatively resourceful and pretty good at making sure I don't get taken advantage of, but I do not have a mechanically inclined male friend in my life to advise me so I am worried that I will make the wrong decision. I need advice asap as I probably need to let them know tomorrow if they should go ahead and do the valve replacement. I'm also wondering if you're in there replacing 12 of 16 valves perhaps you should replace them all? Thanks in advance for your help. Pat