I just discovered the front stabilizer bar broken on my '98 Olds Intrigue. It must be a common problem because my friend's Buick Century did the same thing -- the ends of the bar are flat instead of round from end to end like the older cars, and they break off on the end, seems like kind of a design flaw to me. Shop wants about $300 to replace it with a new bar, which includes about an hour and a half labor. I thought I'd just deal with it myself but had a few questions.
1.) Is this a pretty straightforward fix, or does the engine cradle need to be lowered or something of that nature?2,) If I get a used one from the junkyard for about $40, is it likely to do the same thing down the road?
3.) Since this is my everyday, runaroud car, kind of a beater, I thought about how the easiest thing to try first (not much to lose by trying it) would be to just try and weld the broken part back together -- with any luck it would hold for quite awhile, otherwise I'm back where I started and not really out any money or time.4.) A friend has a junk Malibu the same year, which I was thinking of buying for a parts car, is there any database online for people to find out if certain parts off one car will fit another (like the junkyards have in those books)? TIA