Jeep Liberty from Ontario - failed strict BC safety

[Rednel]

I moved to British Columbia from Ontario and it failed the out of province safety, although one or two of the things do seem a little silly like a rip in the seat cover is considered a safety hazard, yet the roads we drive on here have deer, bears, and snow that seems far more like a real hazard! I was told that I might not be able to unbuckle my seat belt in an accident because of the rip Anyway the Jeep really owes me nothing and I may just use it on my property or try and sell it for a few hundred bucks - not sure what to do.

I had it quoted to be fixed (pdf attached) and the amount exceeds what I paid for the vehicle when I bought it, but it seems such a shame to scrap it :-(. I'm not super mechanically minded but I was told there's 27 hours of labour and the following cost

$3594 for

rear defroster tab
seat cover
heater core (replace - though there's some heat coming out so it might be possible to do a reverse flush?)
replace transmission pan gasket
missing exhaust bolt
upper ball joints
outer tie rod ends
wiper arm

It's a bit of a sad story :-(

 

[tommudd]

Only hard thing on that list is the heater core
Everything else is fairly straight forward and not at all that expensive
upper ball joints you have to replace the whole arm
So I see no sad story at all really
One thing you do not mention year, how many miles etc

 

[Rednel]

It's an 03 but its been oil sprayed every year so not very rusty for its age. 205,000 kms. I've done a fair bit of servicing to it and replaced a fair number of parts. It just drove the 5000 km out to BC and did not miss a beat!

 

[LibertyTC]

What region of BC are you in ?

 

[Rednel]

What region of BC are you in ?

near Creston in the Kootenays

 

[LibertyTC]

Beautiful area but dang you are a long ways away from the mainland, closer to Alberta Border.
So much for dropping by and trying to help out..

 

[JeepJeepster]

$800 for upper control arms? Goodness, what are the made from?

I feel like all of that could easily be done for under $1,000.

 

[Big Al]

:-(. I'm not super mechanically minded but I was told there's 27 hours of labour and the following cost
:-(

Now that you have found this forum and another great resource is you tube, with a few basic tools, you could do the brunt of the work and let the shops do the specialized work for say half of what you were quoted.
Also, you get to know your vehicle better and also find small things that are wrong along with the list of work you where quoted. Try flushing out your heater core, it has worked for some of us. Again you tube is your best friend. There's a grand right there.

 

[tommudd]

You Tube, have to laugh at some of those videos and so called experts
They do so much more work than they have to, anyone relying on them needs to take them with a grain of salt

with that said, there are a few like 1AAUTO that do a decent job in showing parts, what tools etc
but otherwise you're taking a chance listening to some of those fools
Personally would never watch 99% of them

 

[Doing10to20]

YouTube is gonna be your best friend if you wanna get it fixed yourself..good luck

 

[duderz7]

Do one project at a time, you can come here to this forum if you get stumped. Lots of helpful folks here. You tube can be helpful, but can also be pretty out there. Watch a few videos and you'll be able to tell who's a nut and who is not.

 

[Rednel]

Just thought I'd post an update to this story as I ended up doing all the work myself and it passed the out of province safety this week so I have my 'BC' Liberty back on the roads. I'm very happy, as I nearly scrapped the vehicle when I had the $3600 quote to repair it. In the end, the heater core was fixed with a reverse flush and all the other work cost me less than $500. So thanks everyone here for their advice and encouraging me to try.

 

[LibertyTC]

Rednel really happy to hear you did the work yourself! You now have the Jeep in great condition & back on the road again! (Two Thumbs Up!)