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Amusing mechanic stories, eh?
A couple weeks back my exish-girlfriend was in need of an oil change ('97 Dodge Intrepid POS). Half a year back of so the handle of her dipstick broke off and the remaining part of it was pushed down into the dipstck hole about an inch or so. She got a new dipstick a few weeks back and took it with her to the oil change place. (She has refused my numerous offers to change her oil for/with her, whatever.... exish.) Anyway, oil change folks said they couldn't change the oil cause she had no dipstick and therefore they couldn't check the oil level when they were done. She says here's a new dipstick, can you get the old one out and out the new one in? They say no, then they say it'd be about $50. It took ten minutes, a drill, and a screw at 11:00 at night, working by flashlight on the street, to extract the offending dipstick. $300 per hour please....
Here's an inspirational story for counterpoint: a friend drives a '93 Saab 9000. It had outer tie rod end issues, loose and clunky. He replaced them himself and then learned that it also had inner tie rod end issues. He was leaving on a trip and didn't have time to do them himself so he took the car to an indie shop (but not his regular mechanic). They did the work (he provided the parts) and they charged him $400!!! For about 1-1/2 hours work/ He was furious and refused to pay that much and was able to talk them down to $300. Still a huge ripoff but better than before. He took the trip, returned home, and a few days later was pulling into his driveway and the car jolts to a stop. "That's no good..." he exclaimed. He got out and walked around the car to find the front right wheel had basically fallen off the car! Broken ball joint. So not only had this shop ripped him off, but had failed to notice ball joints so badly worn that two weeks later one of them breaks. Bad bad indie! Bad!
Now on to the good part. The car sat on blocks for a couple weeks untill he got the parts and found the time to address the problem. He had a bitch of a time at first cause the fender was all bent and there was some fender/wheel interference. Once he got it all straightened out and the new ball joints installed, he was happy and satisfied. Untill he went to drive the car and one of the brakes was siezed up. Frozen brake calliper. Damn it. He was fed up woth working on the car so he took it to his regular mechanic (Jerry the Saab Guru at 26th St. and Pilsbury in So. Minneapolis). This guy does not advertize at all and he typically has a month long waiting list unless your car's ailment is vital to your or your car's saftey.
So my friend got his car over to Jerry's and explained his situation. He was chided, in good fun, for taking it somewhere else (Quality Coaches in So. Mpls.). My friend was tired or futzing with his car and just wanted Jerry to deal with his frozen brake calliper, but Jerry refused! Jerry told him that after all the work my friend had recently done on his car, that a brake calliper was a piece of cake. And he wouldn't take his money for doing such an easy job. He refused to do work. I have never heard of a mechanic refusing to do work because it was too simple of a job!
This guy Jerry works almost exclusivly on Saabs (he bought one once, many years ago, did his own work and....as they say the rest is history), a real diamond in the rough.
Anyway, good luck Stella. Beware and be cautious when dealing with mechanics, there are good ones out there but there are plenty of bad ones too.
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Steve in Minneapolis - 1987 245DL 256k
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