Cut a hole in the hood of my Buick LeSabre so I can pull the wire to open the hood that the moron at Walmart Oil Change Services jammed shut because apparently he doesn’t understand how hoods work, in order to disconnect the battery that will go dead if and when I park for more than 2 hours, because the car was from Michigan and all the wiring was rusted to the floorboard causing a short that would drain the battery leaving me unable to start without a jump every time.
OK so 3rd of July (a Sunday) left the farm after a family reunion in the PA mountains (only a few miles from where the 911 plane went down - very rural). Drove up the barely one lane dirt track and apparently had a broken fuel line as I was leaking gas. Twenty or so minutes later pulled into Berlin. Walked into the only open gas station and, after finding out nothing would be open until Tuesday yelled out, “does anyone know of a mechanic who can help me?”. A kid came up and said his uncle fixed cars. He called his uncle. His uncle opened the (free standing) car repair place, called the owner of the car parts store out of a family picnic to get a part, changed me $200 cash only (doubt the owner ever knew about this repair - no receipt either) and I was good to go within 90 minutes. Cheaper than staying in town with my car sitting outside of the garage waiting for Tuesday and with a nearly full tank of gas slowly draining onto the pavement.
When I used to take people camping for a living there were a few epic breakdowns like Saturday night at 11pm in rural Kentucky. Or when I moved to northern Idaho from Oklahoma - radiator cracked in Kansas (was pulling a trailer with the ghetto van). Fortunately overheated not 3 miles from a very rural exit that had, amazingly a dodge dealership there (ghetto van was a grand caravan). Talk about luck. Because that thing was so old the only replacement radiator was in Billings, Montana. So had to drive there with the radiator cap loose filling it a million times and pouring in a bunch of leak stop stuff… Oh yea - this was the end of July so really hot out too. And we had to run the HEAT to try to keep the radiator cool. That sure sucked.
I used to try and do everything myself to save money when I was college age. Happily I’ve got a comfortable salary now so I’ll take it to the dealer or a specialty shop for anything more complicated that changing a filter or a bulb, etc.
And my experience with chains like Firestone has almost always been negative (they’ll fix one thing and break another) while the admittedly pricier dealer will get the work done right the first time.
@FightingMongoos - I completely agree about chain repair shops, I had a horrible experience with Meineke one time. FWIW I always enjoyed Car Talk on NPR and I remember Ray or Tom one time saying that it’s not that mechanics try to cheat you, they just don’t always know what they’re doing! I still prefer independent garages to the dealership, though.
@FightingMongoos I miss Car Talk… Back in MA, they’d still play reruns on WBUR every weekend, even after Tom died, but now that I’ve moved to the West Coast, I haven’t heard it on the air once. I might have to listen to an episode online now and again just to reminisce.
And remember, always tell your wife she’s pretty, even if she looks like a truck: https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/11/tom-magliozzis-fitting-wake/.
@Daeghrafen@FightingMongoos Come to think of it I haven’t heard it for a while either (of course I live where there is hardly any radio reception anyway and public radio is usually full of static). One episode of that show that was really funny was when some woman told the guys that her car was an extension of her purse. Mine can be, on occasion, an extension of the garage and shed I don’t have. LOL. Those guys had wonderful one liners and some of the call in folks were just as hysterical. I didn’t know one of the hosts had died.
I take a look, and if I figure out what is wrong with look, and I can fix it, I do. Otherwise, it’s to my mechanic buddy. He takes the same approach with his computer coming to me.
Filters, brakes, lights, batteries, etc. it’s all on me. Blown head gasket - it goes to the dealer. (With a big Fuck You Subaru! I’m glad that POS is gone and I’ll never buy another!) 73k miles on my 3y2m old Mazda CX-5 and I haven’t even had to replace the front brake pads yet. Yeah, from you guys I’ll buy another.
@cinoclav 6 years and >100K miles on my Mazda 3, with nothing but scheduled maintenance so far. Still on the original brakes and battery. The dealer says it’s about time to replace fluids (brake, transmission, coolant), but everything else passes their inspection.
@macromeh That’s awesome. I’m really impressed with their newer products. I used to have a Tribute which wasn’t exactly a quality vehicle, but I can’t truly classify that as a Mazda. More of a Fordza. It was notorious for bad transmissions and mine fell victim to it too. My gf’s sister has a 2007 Mazda 6 and she’s just now starting to have some aches and pains with it due to it’s age. But she’s not exactly notorious for preventative maintenance either.
@cinoclav My daughter bought a very used Mazda 6 (2006) when it was 10yo that despite it likely being in a flood (and having the title sanitized through another state - all sensors were out and it needed over $7000 in repairs - I told her to get it checked before she bought it; that I’d pay for that but true to form what did I know, I was a dumbass so she didn’t), it is still marginally running. She is another one who doesn’t do preventative maintenance either.
Nice car if she had bought one that was in good shape, too bad it likely originally had a salvage title. She also paid twice what it would have been worth had it been in good shape (again didn’t listen to me about checking prices online).
Her approach to breakdowns is to call me, have me come with food and juice for her and the (preschool) kids (why she doesn’t travel with stuff like that is beyond me) and has me sort it out. If the kids aren’t with her I let her suffer a while since she is making no effort to help herself.
depends on the trouble - if i’m on the side of the road, AAA. if it’s maintenance or something that needs to be done but not immediately, i call my parents. yes, i am in my thirties. the reason is because my dad has been taking the family cars to the same place for decades so i just keep going back there. my dad sets up the appointment and leaves the spare key for my car (so it doesn’t matter if i come down when they’re not open yet) as well as one of their cars for me to drive while mine’s in the shop. also means i can do laundry for free and have a nice dinner with my folks while i wait the reason i don’t just call the place myself is because when i do they just call my father anyway there are also some things my dad can do himself and he doesn’t like if you spend money on those things (and yes, my parents are great!)
if i’m not on the side of the road and can’t make it 1-2.5 hours south, a local place. (actually had a local place i thought we would make the shift to permanently but the last time we brought the car there the service was so bad it would have been laughable if i wasn’t so pissed, so i don’t know if i ever want to go back there.)
meh polls suck. My car must have read the poll…
My Jeep, 6 mo out of warranty, broke this morning.
First problem ever for it.
Turns out a ‘speed sensor’ is out, causing most systems to fail. It’s got 4 sensors, one leading to each wheel. (I Googled the symptoms).
Almost $300 for the 4 sensors. I don’t feel like crawling under the damn thing. I’m getting too old for this crap.
Maybe I’ll try out that little car repair shop a few blocks away. They have nice ratings.
It’s always something…
@daveinwarsh AKA ABS wheel sensor? It may take more time to jack up the vehicle and remove the wheels than to change it. It’s usually just one. bolt that holds it in place next to the wheel hub.
@narfcake My OSB reader does not say which sensor is bad. The wires are snaked all over the damn car. Seems like I’m stuck buying all four unless I can think of something else… Ideas?
@narfcake Thanks! I’ll look again! Rockauto has them for less than half price than Jeep dealer. Wonder if they are HQ parts there??
2015 Patriot limited 4x4
@daveinwarsh In general, RA has varying grades - Economy, Daily Driver, and Heavy Duty, etc. Economy can hit-and-miss; DD has been my preferred option.
It depends on the age of the car, if it’s under warranty, and if I still owe money on it.
In my youth, when my cars were cheap, I fixed what I could and got a local guy to do the rest. Or just got another cheap car.
Now that I’m old and buy new or at least newer cars, I get warranty stuff done by the dealer. The rest is the same, although the number of tasks I’m comfortable doing myself has diminished as cars have gotten more complex.
The last time I moved I tossed my dwell tach and timing light; I’ll never use them again.
Most recent issue:
Tried to go home for lunch, car wouldn’t start.
Battery is a year old.
Got a jump start and drove home.
Shut off car at home and tried to start it again. Nothing.
Observed symptoms and behavior: Radio and lights seemed to have power, but would not turn over. When tried to turn over, car would shut everything down and not do anything for about 15 seconds. (like a thermal protection breaker or something)
Tested battery with multi-meter, seemed fine.
Researched similar issues on the interwebz for specific car year/model.
Removed terminals from battery posts. Cleaned 'em.
Reattached and car worked.
Days later, same problem.
Tightened cables real good and car worked.
Seems fine now.
I think the combination of corrosion and the negative wire terminal that doesn’t stay tight is causing the issue.
Probably should buy a new negative battery cable. (consists multiple cables with weird 90 degree terminal that attached to battery)
Throw out the car, then buy a new one.
@ShotgunX Shhhh! Nobody tell him the car is just out of gas.
Leave it on the side of the road, take the plates, and buy a new car. Duh.
@nolrak Don’t forget to strip the VINs as well.
@blaineg after all, the battery powered Dremel was invented for a reason
Take it to the dealer and throw the key at them while yelling FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT à la Phillip J Fry.
Cut a hole in the hood of my Buick LeSabre so I can pull the wire to open the hood that the moron at Walmart Oil Change Services jammed shut because apparently he doesn’t understand how hoods work, in order to disconnect the battery that will go dead if and when I park for more than 2 hours, because the car was from Michigan and all the wiring was rusted to the floorboard causing a short that would drain the battery leaving me unable to start without a jump every time.
@JekiTheRogue do i have a deal for you!
Why on Earth does it say “try” and fix it myself? There is no try.
@unksol mechanics LOVE when I fix it.
@unksol
@hchavers if you have to go to the mechanic then you didn’t fix it.
@unksol What disturbed me more about that is the word “and.” The proper structure of that sentence should have been “Try to fix it myself.”
I don’t know, but WebMD says my car has cancer.
@TheCO2 I accidentally typed my symptoms into IMDB instead of WebMD and it told me I have Gary Busey.
OK so 3rd of July (a Sunday) left the farm after a family reunion in the PA mountains (only a few miles from where the 911 plane went down - very rural). Drove up the barely one lane dirt track and apparently had a broken fuel line as I was leaking gas. Twenty or so minutes later pulled into Berlin. Walked into the only open gas station and, after finding out nothing would be open until Tuesday yelled out, “does anyone know of a mechanic who can help me?”. A kid came up and said his uncle fixed cars. He called his uncle. His uncle opened the (free standing) car repair place, called the owner of the car parts store out of a family picnic to get a part, changed me $200 cash only (doubt the owner ever knew about this repair - no receipt either) and I was good to go within 90 minutes. Cheaper than staying in town with my car sitting outside of the garage waiting for Tuesday and with a nearly full tank of gas slowly draining onto the pavement.
When I used to take people camping for a living there were a few epic breakdowns like Saturday night at 11pm in rural Kentucky. Or when I moved to northern Idaho from Oklahoma - radiator cracked in Kansas (was pulling a trailer with the ghetto van). Fortunately overheated not 3 miles from a very rural exit that had, amazingly a dodge dealership there (ghetto van was a grand caravan). Talk about luck. Because that thing was so old the only replacement radiator was in Billings, Montana. So had to drive there with the radiator cap loose filling it a million times and pouring in a bunch of leak stop stuff… Oh yea - this was the end of July so really hot out too. And we had to run the HEAT to try to keep the radiator cool. That sure sucked.
woops typo - that was never know about the repair, not ever know about the repair…
@Kidsandliz twenty minutes from Pennsylvania to Germany? You must have been going like a maniac
@nolrak Rocket car (grin).
I call AAA and ask the tow truck driver what he recommends.
I’m able to fix most minor and moderate problems. There are big ones i just won’t do. They arent worth the hassle or headache to me.
I used to try and do everything myself to save money when I was college age. Happily I’ve got a comfortable salary now so I’ll take it to the dealer or a specialty shop for anything more complicated that changing a filter or a bulb, etc.
And my experience with chains like Firestone has almost always been negative (they’ll fix one thing and break another) while the admittedly pricier dealer will get the work done right the first time.
@FightingMongoos - I completely agree about chain repair shops, I had a horrible experience with Meineke one time. FWIW I always enjoyed Car Talk on NPR and I remember Ray or Tom one time saying that it’s not that mechanics try to cheat you, they just don’t always know what they’re doing! I still prefer independent garages to the dealership, though.
@FightingMongoos I miss Car Talk… Back in MA, they’d still play reruns on WBUR every weekend, even after Tom died, but now that I’ve moved to the West Coast, I haven’t heard it on the air once. I might have to listen to an episode online now and again just to reminisce.
And remember, always tell your wife she’s pretty, even if she looks like a truck: https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/11/tom-magliozzis-fitting-wake/.
@FightingMongoos “The radiator needs to be flushed in your 1967 Beetle.”
@Daeghrafen @FightingMongoos Come to think of it I haven’t heard it for a while either (of course I live where there is hardly any radio reception anyway and public radio is usually full of static). One episode of that show that was really funny was when some woman told the guys that her car was an extension of her purse. Mine can be, on occasion, an extension of the garage and shed I don’t have. LOL. Those guys had wonderful one liners and some of the call in folks were just as hysterical. I didn’t know one of the hosts had died.
@narfcake I think he needs a new Johnson Rod in there.
@cengland0 Turbo encabulator.
@narfcake Haha, that was great.
@narfcake
That’s an absolute classic
I take a look, and if I figure out what is wrong with look, and I can fix it, I do. Otherwise, it’s to my mechanic buddy. He takes the same approach with his computer coming to me.
Do what needs done. I’m up to 20 so something always needs worked on.
Filters, brakes, lights, batteries, etc. it’s all on me. Blown head gasket - it goes to the dealer. (With a big Fuck You Subaru! I’m glad that POS is gone and I’ll never buy another!) 73k miles on my 3y2m old Mazda CX-5 and I haven’t even had to replace the front brake pads yet. Yeah, from you guys I’ll buy another.
@cinoclav 6 years and >100K miles on my Mazda 3, with nothing but scheduled maintenance so far. Still on the original brakes and battery. The dealer says it’s about time to replace fluids (brake, transmission, coolant), but everything else passes their inspection.
@macromeh That’s awesome. I’m really impressed with their newer products. I used to have a Tribute which wasn’t exactly a quality vehicle, but I can’t truly classify that as a Mazda. More of a Fordza. It was notorious for bad transmissions and mine fell victim to it too. My gf’s sister has a 2007 Mazda 6 and she’s just now starting to have some aches and pains with it due to it’s age. But she’s not exactly notorious for preventative maintenance either.
@cinoclav My daughter bought a very used Mazda 6 (2006) when it was 10yo that despite it likely being in a flood (and having the title sanitized through another state - all sensors were out and it needed over $7000 in repairs - I told her to get it checked before she bought it; that I’d pay for that but true to form what did I know, I was a dumbass so she didn’t), it is still marginally running. She is another one who doesn’t do preventative maintenance either.
Nice car if she had bought one that was in good shape, too bad it likely originally had a salvage title. She also paid twice what it would have been worth had it been in good shape (again didn’t listen to me about checking prices online).
Her approach to breakdowns is to call me, have me come with food and juice for her and the (preschool) kids (why she doesn’t travel with stuff like that is beyond me) and has me sort it out. If the kids aren’t with her I let her suffer a while since she is making no effort to help herself.
Since it is still under warranty, it goes to the dealer.
depends on the trouble - if i’m on the side of the road, AAA. if it’s maintenance or something that needs to be done but not immediately, i call my parents. yes, i am in my thirties. the reason is because my dad has been taking the family cars to the same place for decades so i just keep going back there. my dad sets up the appointment and leaves the spare key for my car (so it doesn’t matter if i come down when they’re not open yet) as well as one of their cars for me to drive while mine’s in the shop. also means i can do laundry for free and have a nice dinner with my folks while i wait
the reason i don’t just call the place myself is because when i do they just call my father anyway 
there are also some things my dad can do himself and he doesn’t like if you spend money on those things 
(and yes, my parents are great!)
if i’m not on the side of the road and can’t make it 1-2.5 hours south, a local place. (actually had a local place i thought we would make the shift to permanently but the last time we brought the car there the service was so bad it would have been laughable if i wasn’t so pissed, so i don’t know if i ever want to go back there.)
Ignore it for two years.
@arielleslie A Chevy will run like shit longer than other will run at all.
All of the above. Depends on what’s wrong with it.
Let’s just say you should never let your friend drive your car on the beach. Did you know your car will sink up to the axle?
Oh the problems that ensue
meh polls suck. My car must have read the poll…
My Jeep, 6 mo out of warranty, broke this morning.
First problem ever for it.
Turns out a ‘speed sensor’ is out, causing most systems to fail. It’s got 4 sensors, one leading to each wheel. (I Googled the symptoms).
Almost $300 for the 4 sensors. I don’t feel like crawling under the damn thing. I’m getting too old for this crap.
Maybe I’ll try out that little car repair shop a few blocks away. They have nice ratings.
It’s always something…
@daveinwarsh AKA ABS wheel sensor? It may take more time to jack up the vehicle and remove the wheels than to change it. It’s usually just one. bolt that holds it in place next to the wheel hub.
Have you checked Rockauto for pricing?
@narfcake My OSB reader does not say which sensor is bad. The wires are snaked all over the damn car. Seems like I’m stuck buying all four unless I can think of something else… Ideas?
@daveinwarsh There’s usually a connector near them.
What Jeep anyway?
@narfcake Thanks! I’ll look again! Rockauto has them for less than half price than Jeep dealer. Wonder if they are HQ parts there??
2015 Patriot limited 4x4
@daveinwarsh In general, RA has varying grades - Economy, Daily Driver, and Heavy Duty, etc. Economy can hit-and-miss; DD has been my preferred option.
If it says Mopar, it’s the OEM part.
Call my parents, and have them tell me to bring it to the dealer.
It depends on the age of the car, if it’s under warranty, and if I still owe money on it.
In my youth, when my cars were cheap, I fixed what I could and got a local guy to do the rest. Or just got another cheap car.
Now that I’m old and buy new or at least newer cars, I get warranty stuff done by the dealer. The rest is the same, although the number of tasks I’m comfortable doing myself has diminished as cars have gotten more complex.
The last time I moved I tossed my dwell tach and timing light; I’ll never use them again.
Most recent issue:
Tried to go home for lunch, car wouldn’t start.
Battery is a year old.
Got a jump start and drove home.
Shut off car at home and tried to start it again. Nothing.
Observed symptoms and behavior: Radio and lights seemed to have power, but would not turn over. When tried to turn over, car would shut everything down and not do anything for about 15 seconds. (like a thermal protection breaker or something)
Tested battery with multi-meter, seemed fine.
Researched similar issues on the interwebz for specific car year/model.
Removed terminals from battery posts. Cleaned 'em.
Reattached and car worked.
Days later, same problem.
Tightened cables real good and car worked.
Seems fine now.
I think the combination of corrosion and the negative wire terminal that doesn’t stay tight is causing the issue.
Probably should buy a new negative battery cable. (consists multiple cables with weird 90 degree terminal that attached to battery)
Did you test the battery or just check the voltage?
My dad said his dad had a similar sign in his shop years ago.
Bring it to a dealer to trade it in for a new one.