Very dangerous Windstar situation

[glock19c2004]

My dad's windstar was running very rough a couple of weeks ago and the Service Engine light came on. I finally convinced him to take the car to my mechanic because they would take care of him with out the normal BS he runs into with his mechanic. The read the codes and determined it was missing on 1 cylinder caused by clogged intake ports. They pulled all the ports and cleaned and replaced where needed. $600 later the van had never run better (160K miles on a 98).

Decided since he was about to take a long road trip he should get the brakes replaced and tires balanced and rotated and an alignment done before he goes. On Friday he took it to his mechanic (25 years a customer) because he had bought the tires there the balance and rotation was free. While there they "discovered" a bad motor mount and front ball joint was going bad. $1000 later he drove the van home same day. On Saturday, he decided to tour the state to test the handling and brakes before his trip. Highway speeds for a couple of hours south, and then taking back roads home. On his way home, while braking to navigate a sharp curve the Front wheel buckled and folded under the car. Luckily the car behind him was a mechanic on his way home and was able to call a tow truck and put the wheel back on before the truck arrived so it could be towed. He said without further inspection (just at first glance) it appeared that someone had put the wrong ball joint on that wheel because the "pin" was forced in and was what had caused the wheel to fall off.

This morning he had the van back down to his mechanic to find out what they were trying to do. Had this happened on the way down at highway speeds he probably would have been in a major crash. Their tech quote was "I wondered about that part. I thought it was awfully hard to get on, but it eventually locked into place so I didn't think anymore of it". Nice of the tech to not care to check if the part he was installing was correct.

Just goes to show, even after 25 years of loyalty you cannot be assured decent service from a mechanic.

If in doubt get a second oppinion. May cost you a little more now but in the long run could save your life. Needless to say, the van has been in the shop all day today having everything wrong in the front end replaced/repaired for free (even a few things not caused by the accident).