I have really been trying to avoid ever taking her to the mechanic, but i felt like it was falling apart so i finally gave up and took it to a good family mechanic. Here is what they found: Exhaust leak, fixed with some welding beads and something else. Front brakes some how had used like 50% pad in only 5000 miles so they ware almost gone and my annoying squeak was the metal clip rubbing on the rotors (Which need to be replaced) front wheel barring need repacking and seals need replaced so i am replaceing my front rotors, pads, seals, and barrings. The real reason that i took the truck in was because the trany fill bolt was round and i had no way to get it off, they had to drill it out and re thread the hole ( i guess who ever changed it last put a random bolt from a hardware store After everything is replaced and all labor is done i am looking at about $500 sigh, at least i feel like i am caught up again with all the things that are wrong.

 

$500.00!?!?....Dude, you got off EASY.

I can't seem to keep my bill under $1500.00, unless its just a check-up.
For an old first gen, she's holding up pretty good.

 

Yeah but it don't matter what needs to be done or replaced, for some reason it is always like 500. oil change? that will be 500, oh you need your spark plugs replace that's 500. i guess it is a magic number. but it is pretty sweet that i have no rust on this thing underneath has no rust at all any ware and there was a ding on the pass side that was there when i bought it about a year ago and you can just start to see a bit of rust where a piece of paint chipped off but i think that is the only spot of rust, i am not really sure where this thing came from, but it has no rust… yet

 

Why not learn to replace your oil and spark plugs and things like that yourself? (Not intended as criticism.) Keeping up with older vehicles is usually a hobby. Or an illness...

 

I do replace my own oil, and spark plugs, i just needed an impact wrench to get a bolt off and i was also having a really hard time figuring out why my brakes dragged so that is why i took it in.

 

So what did they say about the brakes?

 

Actually they said that the back brakes looked great, only i went with the only shoes that the parts store had in (reybestoes or something) so they told me maybe rear drum might need machined, but mostly it was because the cheep shoes didn't fit the arc of the drum right on and so rubbed a little for the first maybe 1 or 2 hundred miles, and the hot smell i smelled was my bad muffler.

 

Good job on your first brake job. I was thinking it was shoes not matching, the smell was throwing me though.