Mechanics won't quote a difficult car part replacement
Garages often refuse or ignore requests to replace buried components like EGR valves or water pumps, leaving owners stuck doing painful repairs in awkward positions on the ground. This forces DIYers to work blind in cramped spaces, risking physical strain and hours of frustration trying to reach hidden bolts.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Consulting multiple different garages for quotes
- 2Using independent tire shops with diagnostic machines
- 3Considering replacing the car part independently using repair manuals
- 4Laying directly on the truck instead of using a creeper to gain extra reach
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m doing water pump on f350 6.7 on ground bc 4 post was taken.”source ↗
“If you lay on truck instead of creeper, get a couple more inches of reach but it’s like doing a plank bc of the bumper.”source ↗
“I can’t see shit below the pulley.”source ↗
“Feels like I’ve been hanging upside down all day. My neck hurts.”source ↗
“I have a 2016 VW caddy 2.0TDI DFSD that's been losing power and consuming more diesel lately, so i took it to 2 mechanics already and two of them did a diagnostic that turned out to be just reading the codes, where they didn't find any by the way, for a 100€ per visit”source ↗
“Now that we have an idea on what 's going on, I was advised to have the EGR replaced, and I was quoted 1.3k€ by a garage, and other garages haven't given me a quote yet (and i'm starting to think they don't want to for some reason).”source ↗
“I m running out of options tbh, so my question is, will someone who is not a mechanic be able to replace the EGR by themself? the EGR on this particular model is not easily accessible”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to temporarily fix a broken car part until shop appointment
- 7How to get a rusted suspension part unstuck
- 2How to find a replacement car suspension nut
- 3How to reach a hidden screw blocked by other car parts
- 5Finding individual brake parts for an older car
- 3Dealership can't figure out why my car won't start