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Expected A Mechanic. Got A Lawyer.

AwayWeGo

AwayWeGo

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
16,039
Reaction score
2,140
Location
McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
Resorts Owned
Grandview At Las Vegas

[triennial - points]
OK, so the Sunoco folks who changed the oil on my 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT last week told me I better get new rear brakes quick, before the pads wear down to the metal & the metal starts grinding into the brake rotors.

The minivan has 65,000 miles on it, so it's not surprising it would be ready for new rear brakes. I had new front brakes installed at 45,000 miles or so.

I asked the Sunoco guy for an estimate. He said the job would take 90 minutes of labor & he'd get back to me with a price for the parts. He never got round to doing that, so too bad for the Sunoco folks.

On to Plan B.

Last year some Craig's List guys came over & did brakes on our 1993 Ford E-150, so I decided to see if they'd come back & do rear brakes on the 2005 Dodge. E-Mail to them bounced, so I looked for another Craig's List person who'd come here to do brakes on the Grand Caravan.

The 1st guy I contacted via E-Mail said he'd show up & put pads on for $80 if I buy the pads. A set of OEM "Silver" pads at the local parts place was $25 or so, but the Craig's List guy said to go with OEM "Gold," so I got a set of those for $40 & had those on hand when the guy showed up in his Lexus Saturday morning.

He got right to work & had the pads installed & everything put back together in 1 hour or so. I handed him the money. The Chief Of Staff asked him how bad the old brakes were. He said they were pretty much worn out, but might last through the end of summer. (Even so, by me it makes sense to get the work done at the start of summer.) Then The Chief Of Staff asked the guy if he's a mechanic. "No," he said. "I'm an attorney specializing in domestic law. I just do brakes & tune-ups as a sideline."

Who'd a-thunk?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Do you think he was for real, or pulling your leg? You could Google him and see...

And come to think of it, I don't know that I'd want some random person doing work for me unless I first checked if s/he was experienced, did it for his/her regular job, and so forth.....
 
My primary mechanic is a computer geek by trade, but he was raised "under the hood" by a master mechanic....his dad/my father-in-law.

We save no telling how much by not having to go the mechanic shop for most routine fixes. Most recently our son's car failed to pass local emissions testing. DH looked up the codes given by the testing center, spent less than $30 at the parts store, fixed it during his lunch hour and second time through it passed with flying colors!

I may have to rent him out via Craig's List--we could use a bit more $$ for Disney tix!
 
The last post about emissions testing reminded me about my last couple of emission tests.

I have an old 93 Voyager and it failed the test two years ago. My mechanic gave me the following instructions. Drive the car until the gas tank is as empty as possible. Fill up with premium gas. Drive the car on the highway for about 40 minutes and then drive right to the emissions testing. Try not to turn off the engine until you are being tested.

Passed the test two years ago and again this year.
 
Smogga-Smogga-Smogga.

CSB said:
The last post about emissions testing reminded me about my last couple of emission tests.

I have an old 93 Voyager and it failed the test two years ago. My mechanic gave me the following instructions. Drive the car until the gas tank is as empty as possible. Fill up with premium gas. Drive the car on the highway for about 40 minutes and then drive right to the emissions testing. Try not to turn off the engine until you are being tested.

Passed the test two years ago and again this year.
Click to expand...
Great suggestion.

Plus, if "visible smoke" is part of the emissions-failure problem, drain the crankcase & refill with 100% premium synthetic motor oil.

Synthetic oil won't stop a worn engine from burning oil, but when the synthetic stuff burns it won't generate much visible smoke coming out the tailpipe.

If nothing works & the car flunks smog check no matter what, all we can do is advertise it for sale out in the country, far enough away from the Washington Metropolitan Area so that emissions inspections are not required.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 
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