Lower ball joint problem

Wow, that sounds high to me. I think the parts on an Eclipse are around $48 USD a pop. The labor shouldn't be that high because it is really not that hard to change them. I think the standard rate is one hour, but the warranty rate is only 40 minutes (the real amount of time). Of course they are probably adding in an alignment.

I don't know about Canadian laws, but I believe a recall is for the life of the car. If that part fails again, it's still thier responsibility to fix it. You may want to check into that.

I'm in Ottawa too !

Assuming the dealer part was a warranty job, its probably still covered. Ask. It sounds like the same faulty type of joint was used as a replacement.

C$550 isn't just high, it's outrageous. It really depends on the whether there's an available replacement ball joint for the 97 Galant or of the whole suspension arm has to be bought from the dealer. For example, no-one makes ball joints that fit my 93 Summit Wagon, so its normally necessary to buy the whole lower control arm (Chrysler want $220 each, Mitsu $120 for the same part from the same warehouse). In my case I have access to a machine shop and modified some Eclipse ball joints to fit, but this solution is not for everyone.

Assuming a third party ball joint is available from Moog or similar ($50-70 each), its about 40 minutes per side to remove and reinstall. You'll likely need a wheel alignment.

I know Mitsu has the ball and dust cover, but most dealers can't find it (it's not in CAPS). I actually did a press-in in TX for a very enterprising (cheap) friend. Of course this is the same friend that was too cheap to rent a tranny jack and got stupid me to bench press it in....I think I still have tranny marks on my chest to this day....

Thanks everybody for lots of info.

I am particularly interested to know if a general ball-joint test (like movement of wheel up and down) is applicable to Mistubishi galant ? In a docuemnt, I read that Misu galant (after 1994) requires special test to find out wear of the ball joint. Also, what are the typical sumptoms I should expect from a failing ball joint ?

Hi, Just to update, I took the car to a Mitsu dealer and they concluded that the noise is from tie rod and the ball joints are ok. Seems like Mitsu ball joint check is different than that the local shop did !!!!

Rgds.