Can’t a woman trust a mechanic?

That first mechanic should get 30 lashes with a greasy timing belt! But the I saw your column in the PostBulletin in Rochester, Minn. I knowthat sometimes if a woman goes to see a mechanic by herself, the mechanic will tell her something that isn’t quite true. One time, when my husband was in the hospital, awarning light on the dash ofmy 2005 Toyota Highlander illuminated, indicating one of the vehicle’s tires was low. The mechanic told me I needed four new tires. I should have known better, but I went ahead with his recommendation. But after he finished, the warning light remained on. He told me I had to drive a few miles before it would go off. I drove it for two weeks and nothing ever changed. He finally told me he would have to order a special wrench to get it to go off and that it would take a long time to get the wrench. I finally went to the Toyota dealership, and they fixed it. I know I should not have been so ignorant in the first place. Now, about a week ago, a mechanic told me to start saving money, because after a car gets so old, the spark plugs need to be changed. Though my car is old, it only has 1,300 miles on it. He said half the plugs are easy to get to, while the other half can’t easily be retrieved. He said getting them requires lifting the motor, and that the job would cost about $500. What do you think about having all that work done to check the plugs? I thank you for anything you can tell me. — Anonymous second one is correct that the right bank spark plugs on your 3.3-liter Highlander V6 engine are tough to reach, requiring a little more than two hours of labor to change. But why replace them now? Toyota doesn’t recommend replacing your long-life iridium-and-platinum spark plugs until a whopping 120,000 miles, and assuming no misprint in your message, you’ve only run up 1,300 so far. Spark plugs wear from use rather than time, but can become difficult to remove after many years of remaining in place. If it took 10 years to rack up 1,300 miles, and your driving habits have remained similar, your plugs should be good for another 90 years, give or take a few!

Were it my vehicle I’d forget about changing the spark plugs and let someone else far down the road contend with how well they might unscrew from the cylinder heads. What’s probably more important is performing regular engine oil changes as you appear to be tough on motor oil. Short trips, especially in cold weather regions, don’t heat the oil sufficiently to boil off sludge and contaminants. Unless you regularly make trips of at least 30 minutes, I’d renew motor oil at least annually, even with the very low mileage accrued (Toyota recommends every 5,000 miles, every 15,000 for the filter)

It doesn’t sound like you’re having much luck finding a good shop for vehicle service, other than the dealer. They certainly are out there! Are commendation from a friend is a good place to start, and take a look at the factory recommended maintenance information prior to making a visit. Other than exceeding the recommendations by performing brake fluid and coolant renewal every four or five years, I’d get a second opinion before agreeing to additional or earlier upsell recommendations.