My 98 SE needs a lot of work according to the dealership.

1. New control arms left and right. $1k
2. New Suspension front and back. $1k
3. Alignment Obvious but still $100
4. O2 Sensor, Knock Sensor, ABS Sensor, Airbag Sensor. Roughly $1800

The car has 168,000miles and runs great. is there any thing i can do myself for less and where can i get quality materials. Is there a better option for Struts/springs/shocks than OEM for around the same price. I fear the control arms i will have to have someone do, sadly the dealer, as i want a warranty on their work. If anyone also knows a good mechanic in the Princeton/ Trenton, NJ area, it would be great to be able to trust someone with my car that's not going to try and screw me or take my dip still again.

-Chris

 

is your ABS, air bag, and check engine lights on when driving?

 

yup all three, nice OR plates, thats where i'm from. One day will move back.

 

thanks. you can change out your sensors depending how good you are with cars, and depending which ABS and air bag sensor the dealer is referring to. theres alot of info on this board for replacing the knock sensor and o2 sensors.

 

If you have a decent set of tools and a basic know how, you can do all the suspension work yourself for well under $1000. An alignment shouldn't cost you more that $40-$60, since it is a front end alignment only. There is nothing to adjust in the back. Depending on what is wrong with the airbags, you MAY be able to repair that as well. 02, knock, and ABS sensors are all easy fixes, $1800 for that is INSANE.

 

If your looking to replace the lower balljoint without press tools... freeze the balljoint and torch the hole where the balljoint goes for about 10-15 min. and it should be able to be pressed in with anything. Do not bang it in with a hammer.

 

Even if you decided not to do it your self i think you would get better prices at a local shop

 

control arms $50 w/ball joint each here www.internetautomart.com (guys on org too)

what do you need for suspension exactly??

O2 sensors here www.buyoxygensensors.com

Alignment $60 at sears or goodyear, something else BESIDES THE DEALER

Bring those to a small garage and you should be good with less than 2 hrs for alignment and LCA

EDIT: fixed links, AGAIN

 

well just to let you know. i got an ebay kit for my control arms w/ bushings and ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, and sway bar links for $120 plus like $30 shipping. i got my shocks at autozone for about $220. they charged me $350 for the job including the alignment. and gave me the car the next day. and they provided all the old parts to prove they were changed. they were even gona change my belts for free but i told them no cuz i had to buy a new harmonic balancer($199.76 at NAPA). this is just so u get an idea about the prices that are out there man. those dealer prices are crazy. knock and O2 u can do but i dont know about the abs and airbag ones.

 

Don't let Dealership rip you off. Just go to a local mechanic. shop around.

 

Don't get autozone shocks when you can get Tokico blues for $40 more on ebay, spankin new

 

I have my manual and the forums stickies, looks like i have some fun times ahead of me. Since i have to replace my suspension, any suggestions other than OEM? I wouldn't mind 1-2" lower, if it wasn't to much more. I'm pretty clueless when it come to suspension, time to learn.

 

well i had bought tokico blues and tokico springs from ebay and i dont know about the springs but the shocks were ripoffs! and i had to return the set. i was sooo mad!

 

On Oxygensensors.com they are asking me if its:

From 6/98 Calif ESV
From 6/98 Non Calif or
To 6/98

Which one is the right one to get?
Denso over Walker for quality?

 

Dude, why would you take a 10 year old car to a stealership for service? DIY! You could do most of that stuff yourself if you just read up on it and buy some tools, and you could probably find someone to help you.

 

I had a 98 and that care was non cali spec or fed spec. I would suggest checking your vin to see what it tells you as far as being cali/fed spec. also alot of that work can be done at the same time so there is no need for you to let someone or a shop rip you off.

 

all i have to say is two words...



























rip off

 

Parting out my car.

I'm selling my spring/strut/mounts/bearings assemblies for $300 shipped, ready to install. They're Sprint 2" springs, Tokico Illumina adjustable struts, KYB bellows, Nissan mounts/bearings.

I just replaced all 3 O2 sensors less than a year ago (CA spec). They're $200 new, I'll do $110 shipped.

Knock sensor's rediculous. $170 new, I'll do $95 shipped. These pretty much don't go bad, I changed mine out for the heck of it around 160k, and the original one was still good. I changed it cuz everybody in the forums was getting improved gas mileage when they did that... I didn't see a change. LOL.

Dr J

 

that would be me.
I actually handle o2 sensors, and the knock sensors as well. I just haven't found a good page format to put them in yet.
PM me and I can shoot you some pricing if you want.