Patient effort can free up rear adjusters

We always get them loose. And we do exactly what you suggest: We use heat, penetrating oil and, our secret ingredient, interest in fixing it.

It takes work. We’ll gently heat it up with the acetylene torch, and as it cools, we’ll hit it with penetrating oil. We might have to do that three or four times. We sometimes even have to leave it overnight and work on it again in the morning.

I think the guy at your dealership was just being lazy. He probably doesn’t get paid well for the time he spends waiting for penetrating oil to soak in. So he’s disincentivized from using his time that way.

On the other hand, he knows that replacing the rear control arms nets him five hours’ labor. Fortunately, he had a pang of guilt at the last second and advised you to leave it as is.

So, yes, you should take the car to an independent shop that is willing to spend time futzing with it. We maintain an online database of mechanics that our readers and listeners have recommended over the years. It’s called the Mechanics Files (www.mechanicsfiles.com). You can enter your ZIP code and read the reviews of shops that other people like in your area.

And if any of you reading today have a mechanic you absolutely love (I know, that’s a rarely used sentence fragment), please enter him or her in our database and let other people know about the shop.