It's a cliche, of course. You take your car to the mechanic to fix something and when you get there, it isn't happening. No weird noise, no odd vibration, no whatever-it-was that sent you there. The problem only happens when you get home and whatever was wrong decides to repeat. Or not at all, sometimes.
I had the car in the dealership a few days ago. First was because I needed better tires than the ones on it because snow is expected. It's coming on winter in Minnesota, after all. I was here back in '91 for that Halloween blizzard, which started with about 8" of snow that Thursday night and over three days piled up over 30", depending on your particular geography and winds. Our streets weren't plowed until the next Monday morning.
While I'm not saying the new tires on the car now would have made any difference back then, being the little low compact that it is, the ones I just replaced got me stuck once last winter when a bit of drifting of a small amount of snow bottomed the car out before the plow arrived. Those tires were considered "all weather" when I bought them new less than a year before and didn't have much mileage on them. But I did buy them down in Phoenix! After inspecting their tread a couple weeks ago I decided I needed something more sensible for Minnesota winters.
I also needed a repair. My parking brake had been sticking, badly enough that I'd taped the thing down against the center console so habit demanding that I ALWAYS pull it when I stopped could be circumvented. So last Thursday, after parts stocks were checked and tires ordered, I went to the dealership for both to get taken care of.
First, the new tires look great! There's a lot more tread on these than I've needed on tires for over a decade! Same car all that time, just different geography. The old tires I had put back in the car to reuse. They bag them to keep the seat clean. Next spring when all snow is gone I'll have them switched back and the snow tires stored. I should be able to do that for the life of the car, with the amount of use it gets these days. It turns out taking back the old tires dropped the cost of replacing them by a nice chunk as well. I'm sure there's a disposal fee.
I had been expecting to have to spend as much as a grand for both items. I knew I could get cheaper tires than what I asked for from the dealership... if I wanted the exact same ones I was removing. No thanks. But I'd also need to make two trips to get both taken care of if I did that. There was no estimate on the parking brake since a variety of items failing may have caused it to stick. Each was different in labor and parts, and it may even have been more than one thing.
As they do, the staff person returned in a couple hours while I waited with a list of expenses and a price tag. The first digit of the 4 on the left of the decimal was a 4 !!!!! OMG! WTF? I started trying to figure out exactly how I was going to find that in the budget. I couldn't even get that from selling the car, old as it is! I waited for the explanations.
They had noticed a minor oil accumulation under the engine. If I wished, they could replace the parts with what they deem was a bad seal with factory parts. Of course, if they went with after-market parts, the cost would be halved. Mentally I dropped 4 grand plus to maybe just three. Dare I hope for a 2 in that spot? He left to go reprice the bill if that option was chosen. I'd been in a fun book by a favorite author, but now had no interest nor aptitude for paying attention to the plot line. I was seriously discombobulated.
After about 20 minutes he returned again. Before he got started in the new cost, I asked him a question. Last year I'd had some gaskets replaced where oil was leaking. Was this new-found leak the same as what they'd just done? And if so, why was it failing this soon? He went away again to check the older records. Plus the car was now in their carwash, and he'd have better info afterwards on exactly what was leaking and by how much.
When he returned, there was good news. First, after the wash, there was a line of oil that would need to be checked periodically, but for now just looked "wet" - in an oily way of course, but exactly as it had looked before the carwash. So not new oil then. Use the dip stick regularly. The previous repair was up on the top of the engine block, and this new thing was on the bottom, so they weren't the same, but it was decided no repairs were needed. He also got around to telling me that the parking brake was just fine. They'd taken everything apart and tested it, and nothing stuck. Perhaps it had been pulled way too hard?
Well yes, as it happened. I'd been in the hospital and Steve had needed to head home for a couple days, then come back north to pick me up once I was released. The brake had been an issue both times. Luckily his daughter had come along for the return trip to get me, and together they'd unstuck the brake by putting the car into R and with her pushing backwards on the front of the car. It happened twice, with the same cure. After that I was driving, and it hadn't been sticking for me. Further, just to make sure, I'd taped the thing down. The verdict was "whoever had pulled the brake" had just used too much power! The bottom line was there was no charge for checking all the parts. And I had a nice chat at home with Steve on how wonderful it was to still have all that masculine muscle power in his 80s. Just don't use it on that parking brake!!!!!!
I walked out to the payment station with the guy who rang up the final total bill. Not only was it a full digit less in numbers, they'd dropped by more than 3 grand. Hoorray! I was only getting charged for the tires. Here's the plastic.
Oh, and did they remember to clean the inside of the windshield for me? I had asked when I dropped the car, pointing out how difficult it is for me to reach it with my shoulders, with how far forward of the seats it is placed, and he cheerfully agreed when checking me in that they could do that. In fact it had been forgotten, but he sent another guy out to take care of that while I was paying the bill, and I met him as he came back in with my key. The window looks great in warm weather. We'll just have to see if it still collects all the humidity in the cold which fogs it up inside until the car finally produces heat, generally 2 miles of hiway driving to produce. It makes winter mornings interesting! Idling takes much longer to heat up, and I have to blend in with morning school traffic to get to work. That down jacket gets a workout before I move the car an inch!
I didn't realize until I parked the car at home again that I had managed to walk out without the paperwork bundle reminding me not just of the bill but all the recommendations for further work. Aw shucks! That oil line just looked as it has for over a year. I know exactly why and it wasn't running at the time. And since it gets parked in the same place all the time at home and none accumulates on the ground, because I do check, I'll just keep an eye on the pavement and another on the dipstick.
Now to get my son over to haul 4 bagged tires out of the back seat and put them into the shed for me. I figure it's good for sharing a pizza and some conversation.
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