Just another repair shop rant

I work at a pizza place in town as a delivery driver for funding my car addictions and a coworker of mine drives a 2000 Durango with the 5.9. I did the front brakes on it a month or two ago as they were beyond worn, at that time I couldn't help but look the rest of the truck over and realized it was really solid for having 170k on the odo; apparently the girl's parents bought it new and passed it down to her when she went to college (she's 24 now). I told her she really ought to get up-to-date on the preventative maintenance since it's a solid vehicle and will keep running a long time with proper care........

Naturally it wasn't a priority for her until a few days ago her radiator cracked and dumped all the coolant... here's where the rant starts. She got it taken to a AAA-approved (or whatever) shop and they did a full inspection. Long story short they wanted an a$$load of money for work I told her I could easily do for a fraction of the price. She brings the truck over and within an hour I realize these guys are either idiots, crooks or both. Their report pointed out seriously worn tie rods and P/S pump; checked everything over and it's all 100% fine. They said the coolant leak was caused by a leaking hose; both hoses were solid and the radiator had an obvious huge crack where water would pour out instantly if you tried to fill it. They noted the front and rear diff and transfer case fluids should be changed based on mileage but didn't notice the BLACK brake fluid which I noticed when I did the brakes (HELLOOO...). Then something about the belt squealing, pretty sure it's the A/C pulley but whatever.

I'm just annoyed this kind of crap always happens. I hate to imagine how many would-be solid old cars get junked because of uninformed owners and crooked repair shops. I know it's been going on since the first cars but still drives me nuts. If only I could fix every decent person's car, but then I'd surely lose my sanity LOL!

At least the upside is I get to make some extra money and have the satisfaction of doing a full tune-up on a 5.9L Magnum that needs it badly, I'm eager to see what a de-carbonize, new dist. cap, plugs, plug wires and fresh GOOD oil will do. The way it runs now it has no problem moving this big SUV so I'm just imagining one in my Duster with a custom-grind cam and ported Edelbrocks mmmmm