This is my new swear word. When I stub my toe, I'm going to shout "mechanics!" When a car cuts me off in traffic endangering not only myself, but my children, I'm going to curse them with "mechanics!" When my children are driving me to distraction, I'm going scream "mechanics, mechanics, MECHANICS!"
You all know of course, if you've been reading faithfully, that our car broke. I dutifully called around to all the ward members in my immediate area, and found a couple of good candidates to fix it. One was about 15 minutes away, and couldn't get around to the car for two, maybe three days. The other was 5 minutes down the road, and could, they said, fit us in, and have the problem diagnosed by the end of the day. We have a winner, I thought. So, when John came home for lunch, we ran the car up to their place, and dropped it off. We'll call you in a couple of hours and tell you what's wrong. Sweet, I said, and went back home. That was quarter after noon.
By four thirty, we had heard nothing. I called them. They still hadn't got to it, they would call us in a few minutes. They never called back that night.
I called the next morning. The receptionist didn't know, and the mechanic was out. She would call in a few minutes and let me know. That was 9 am. I called at 1:30, and she said she still didn't know, she'd call back in a few minutes. (are you seeing a pattern here?) I called back at five, and was put on hold for 10 minutes. She finally came back on like she was answering the phone. She had forgotten I was there. Oh yes, she said, just one moment and I'll ask the mechanic. To her credit, she didn't forget me a second time. She came back and said that they had driven it, but it wasn't acting up for them, could they keep it a third day? Why not? I thought. It's not like I'm going to have THEM fix it, I might as well get it diagnosed.
The next day, I called, and was told that the mechanic was running errands, she would call me back in (you guessed it) a few minutes. 9 am again. I called them at four thirty, and she said they couldn't find anything wrong with it, and I could come pick it up anytime, they closed at six. Three days ladies and gentlemen, to find out that they couldn't find the problem. At least they didn't charge me, but I will assuredly be using the other candidate soon to actually find out, I hope, what's wrong with my car.
The Almighty Liz
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- lizS
- My name is Liz, and I'm a midwest girl born and bred. I am a wife, and mother of two. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love chocolate, girls' nights, my husband and children and my cat.
21 comments:
Don't they have one of those fancy diagnostic machines? You might want to go to a mechanic who has one of those, instead of one who just "drives it around" to find the problem.
What's the car doing again and how old is it? I will use my amateur mechanics to give it my best shot ;)
MECHANICS!!!! Ha ha ha ROFL, I forgot to tell you. I had to stop laughing and dry my eyes to answer Erik's "what's so funny" question.
they said that nothing was coming up on their computer. and it IS running better, but not great, they should have picked up on it. it's shifting a bit like someone who doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission, it loses power on the hills, and idols rough, worse in drive than in park. it's a '97, so she's quickly becoming a granny car. i think it's transmission related. might have a leak in the vacuum, or a clog in the fuel line and/or filter. all things that are easily checked, that i mentioned to them, if you have the equiptment. idiots.
Does the engine rev louder in park? That's what my cars do when they have transmission problems.
Otherwise, it sounds like fuel line, injectors, etc. Have you tried that stuff that you put in your gas tank every 10,000 miles that cleans your fuel injectors?
Yikes. I thought I had problems! At least my car runs. (KOW) I'm so sorry about your whole experience with this mechanic. That royally stinks. Better luck with the other guy. You know, I've found that people will lie about cost or time frames just to get your business. They are not the ones you want to do business with anyway. It's the ones that under-promise and over-deliver that you want. Of course how could you have known this would happen when they were only supposed to see if they could tell you what was wrong with it?
Feel glad that you dodged that bullet! Imagine if they had already pulled you engine apart then wanted you to pay them before they put it back together.
I totally feel your pain Liz.
Have you checked the clutch (if it is a manual). When my old car acted like that it was time for a new clutch. If it's an automatic, it sounds like it could be any of the problems you mentioned. I hope you find a good mechanic soon!
BTW, I love your new swear word! I have one myself gleaned from the system that I work on these day at the office! It makes no sense to anyone that doesn't work with us, but it does the job for me!
fhxbxcbsdghhop
i just got a feul system cleaning. that swabbed out the throtle body and sprayed some more stuff inside. then they ran some sort of cleaning fluid through the exhaust and put in a fuel additive. then they let it run for about 10 min. it smoked and stank for a bit. i then took it on the hiway for about 10 min and blew it out. i cost about $50. i think that might help. you may need to do a tune up it sounds like you might have a bad spark plug. but the fuel filter/pump sound likly to. the whole no oil thing cant be good though. i assume you corrected that. im throwing a lot out there but i have had to deal with all of them. oh i just though of sensors. like you idle secsor. that can jack you up too.
yeah, i just got the oil changed yesterday. the car gave the guys at the lube place something to chuckle about; turns out it's been two years since we changed the oil! whoops! and yeah, i'm gonna get it tuned up just as soon as i can scrape the money together. it's actually running okay now. we're heading across the river today though, so that'll be a good test to see if it stays running well after a longer drive. keep your fingers crossed everyone!
Oh my! You are soooo lucky. Speaking from non-oil changing experience that could have been, in technical terms, BAD!!! Boy were you blessed.
How did this not come up in conversation after you ladies returned from the 3 hour tour?
i dunno. maybe because we were so exhausted. and the car ran fine yesterday, no problems at all. hallelujah!
Fingers crossed that the oil change did the job!
Oh and you've totally inspired me to actually go and have mine changed. I meant to last week but the place I use closed. So I've been putting it off. Thanks for the reminder. :)
Dana, you still haven't changed your oil????!!!!!
BAD, BAD GIRL!!!
Oh, yeah, glad the car is running better Liz! I hope you made it back home from across the river!
Nope T...
I'm gonna try tomorrow! Really. :)
You haven't changed the oil in 2 years?! ROFL! No wonder your car wasn't running well! How does that slip one's mind, I wonder? I hope the oil change did the trick. Love ya!
Hey-
Liz, isn't it? So I like the blog. It's sweet. Kinda sleek and sexy ya know what I mean? Why don't you post a picture of yourself? Me, I'm about 220, 6'1", blond, smart, rich, sensitive. I work out. Blue eyes. I've been told that I am very attractive. Why don't you and me get together sometime? You know, and have some fun? Call me!
i would be very tempted to change the oil again right away, like in just a few days, because there are megga deposits of sludge and other crap like metal shavings from your engine in there and the filter will get used up very quickly. doing a quick change might be a very good idea.
and j, in the past people said you were good looking.
Maybe my new swear word should be "National Health Care!". Or maybe "Unattatched Garages!" Or maybe just short and sweet: "British!"
Hee hee hee!!! I hope you get things figured out and fixed.
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