[MikeMcMo]

Again, thanks everybody for your varied and valued opinions.

thom4782, great perspective. The reasonable efforts/reasonable measures is a good yardstick and a great reminder. But I have to quibble that the mechanic's work did in fact fall below a standard in that I brought the car in for them to address one problem, and they didn't. And yes, jcslocum, their failure was that they didn't take it for a decent test drive to determine whether or not they dealt with the problem. (Going 50 feet down almost any road would show that they didn't.)

mikefocke, when they called me to tell me their plan to replace the parts, there was no guarantee but they were pretty confident they had the problem sorted out, and I gave them the go ahead to spend the money. In 10 or 12 years, this was the first time they didn't get something right the first time. And I don't know if they found things that *actually* needed replacing- I have the parts but can't tell by looking at them- and in fact they did not fix the problem I came in with. I just want to make sure I'm not paying for an approach by which they were solving problems by, as jcslocum says, throwing parts at them. As I say, I think they are honest but perhaps made an honest mistake, and if that's the case, I think they should share the burden of that mistake. The told me they are willing to do whatever it takes to make me happy, which indicates they understand this, so I came here for guidance. On the bell curve of the advice everyone has offered, I think I will go right in the middle, and it will come out alright.

bwdz, thanks for your thorough and thoughtful explanation. That is some great theory and practice. When we finally master teleportation and no longer need cars to get around, people will still drive Boxtsers for fun, and your shop will thrive. Your practice of having a separate inspection fee but applying it to repairs is completely fair and reasonable. When I go to talk to my mechanics, I will acknowledge that they have since put in extra time (as yet unpaid) diagnosing the true problem (though I don't know why they didn't do it before the misguided parts replacement). If they had located the source of the noise, as you point out, and also recommended the replacement of everything else along the way, of course I would have told them to go ahead. It would have been totally worth it for not having to drive away, hear the noise right away, and come back a second time, etc, etc. And thanks for the assurance I didn't waste my money- that's largely what I hoped to find out. I have no problem pouring money in, but like everyone, I want value for my money.

Might be time to re-read Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance! I have always sided with the classicists there, seeking the most reasonable and appropriate engineering solution, true to the intents of the designer, over the romantics' assertion that the purity of the vision is more important, whether the machine ends up working or not.