How Many Arms Are There?
Sep 22nd, 2008 by papabear
Last Saturday I went to a workshop to inquire about the squeaking noises coming from the right rear side of my car. It sounded as if I had a bunch of mice or rats having a debate or a verbal fight at the back of my car. It was noisy and really irritating.
The mechanic at the workshop, without even making any effort to check out what was causing the noises told me that I had to replace the rear absorbers. He told me that it would cost me RM 250 to get the job done. I told him that I would come back at the end of the month when I have the money…
What I didn’t tell him was that I wanted to get a second opinion on the squeaks. I went to another workshop, which was a bit far from my house and this guy agreed to take a look at what was making the sounds before suggesting anything.
After a few minutes he called me to go under the car just below the right rear wheel and show me the source of my squeaking mice. There was no mouse after all. Instead, he push two piece of connected metals and I could hear both of them squeaked.
He then told me to replace the rear long arm and short arm for both rear wheels. He gave me the cost and seriously it would cost me an arm and a leg to get both side replaced. The cost would be around RM 400. I just sat there thinking while my mouth kept on asking about why those parts are expensive…
He then suggested that since the squeaking came only from the right side, I just need to replace that side first and only fix the other side later if it started to squeak as well. I agreed and I am RM 200 poorer that day.
After fixing the arms, he took the car for a test drive and came back saying that my mice had all gone away. As I was driving home, I started to hear squeaking noise from the same place again. this time the squeaks were not as noisy as before but it was still very annoying and since I was going to drive back to my home town later, I was not prepared to endure three hours of irritating squeaking sounds coming from the back.
I knew that I was going to be late but the squeak must go by hook or by crook. I turned around and the mechanic found out that the new long arm was faulty. He fixed me a new one and until I came back from my home town a few hours ago, there was no more squeak from my car.
I wonder how may arms are there in a typical car. So, I learned that my car has four arms on the rear suspension system. May be I should ask the mechanic how many arms are there on the front. If my car has a total of eight arms, then it should belong to the spider family.
On top of that, I also learned that we should always ask for a second opinion. Imagine that if I were to listen to the first mechanic. I would have replaced the rear absorbers, which was actually still good for another year or so, and I would still have the squeaks…
Do you know how many arms does your vehicle have?
KisahberuanG.com® » How Many Arms Are There?…
Squeaking arms!…
KisahberuanG.com® » How Many Arms Are There?…
Squeaking arms!…
hmmm…be careful bro.
what happened to me last time was when i had prob with my gear box and the 1st mechanic “forced” the gear to work. but it ended with a traumatic experience for me cause in the end i had to replace my gearbox!!!
if he was not rough with my gearbox…it wouldn’t happened.
the second mechanic told me that my gearbox was leaking and it ran out of fluid. if i came to the 2nd mechanic 1st, i might have been able to keep my reparable old gearbox:(
be thankful that u just have to pay RM200 and the prob eventually solved:D
i totally agree u with u, u have to get second opinion:D
cheryna’s last blog post… ramadhan: day 19 & day 20: atan’s buffday
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hahaha. lucky you to find a good mechanic and asking for a second opinion is a very good choice. so how much does the arm costs?
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ergh that squeaking sounds.. must be so annoying.. your car have four arms only then should belong to the horse family..
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cheryna, yup, that’s why when the first guy did not want to check, I went for the other guy…
taukey, RM 200 + alignment…
ellyda, 4 are for the rear only. It might have another for for the front…
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you’ll find a lot more arms on the average car mechanic to cope with all the fleecing of innocent pockets…..lol
tony’s last blog post… Rest In Peace
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tony, that’s exactly what it is all about. LOL!
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