On June 7 I was driving the Nimitz freeway and heard a thunk. I saw the battery light come on and realized that the fanbelt had broken. After pulling into Southland Shopping Center I realized that not only had the fanbelt broken but the pulley on the power steering had sheared off as if someone had sliced it with a knife. I've never seen such a thing and nobody else who examined it had either. It's likely that (being a 90 degree day) the belt might have broken and flapped up against the pulley and caused it to stress and rip apart.
On June 8 when I phoned and gave the model of the car (a 1989 GM Jimmy with A/C and a 4.3 liter engine), gentleman at the order desk, Jeff, told me the new pulley would be about $45 and the labor would be about half an hour ($60 in labor). This was very reasonable, of course.
I then drove it about 3/4 mile to the Firestone shop at the other end of the shopping center.
However, when I got there with the car, they couldn't find the type of fix on the "standard" fix list (where they have set standard prices for particular jobs). After much hemming and hawing, I was told that the pulley was $55 and the labor was $50 ($10 off for some reason), BUT that for that particular model, the RADIATOR had to be removed in order to fit the pulley on the shank. I questioned that but they said that this was typical for that model.
The charge for pullling and replacing the radiator was a full hour, or $120.
I contend that the radiator was never pulled for these reasons:
(1) There is no evidence of scraping on the nuts and bolts holding the radiator in place as would happen when a wrench and screwdriver are used on an object with grease or dirt on it;
(2) The coolant level had been down and was still down after the fix;
(3) They did not charge me for more coolant to replace what would have been lost if the radiator had been pulled.
I'm looking for any explanation that would show that Firestone is NOT ripping me off! For instance, is it possible to remove the radiator of a 1989 GM Jimmy (aka a Blazer) and do it so that no coolant leaks out and has to be replaced? Also, is it possible to remove a radiator and not leave markings indicating it had been removed? And third, is it even necessary to remove the radiator in this model of car in order to replace the power steering pulley?
Mechanics, please, this is your chance to shine. Please explain this to me before I begin asking for a refund and/or sending this claim on to the state automotive authorities.
Was I ripped off for $120?
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