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Thread: TSG's Unified Fleet Thread

  1. #21
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    I'm sure ya'll recall the PT Cruiser fiasco over Thanksgiving... there was more fallout over the weekend.

    December of '12 she took the car to that same shop for a power steering repair. This was before I completely distrusted them. They did the repair, and while I was talking to Neil the Douchebag I asked how bad it was. "Well, we had to take the power steering pump out the bottom, which was tough." Wait, what? The pump comes right out the top, remove the upper manifold (10 minutes) and three bolts and you're done. That was my first inkling Neil was a tool.

    About a month later, I get a call that the PT Cruiser is overheating. I do a little thinking and we run a couple tests over the phone and I become convinced the problem is in the wiring. She takes it back into the shop, and the explanation comes back "Looks like the fan connector is damaged." Odd, because I had replaced the cooling fan just two months prior and it wasn't damaged then. It occurs to me that wrangling the power steering pump out the bottom of the car would have taken that pump right by the connector. Hmmmm.... They "fix" it and everything is cool

    When I was down there over Thanksgiving, I inspected their work. I would have expected them to replace the damaged connector, but they zip tied it together. Am disappoint, but not surprised. The repair looks solid if not jenky, so I don't mess with it. I should have, because over the weekend I got a call that the car was overheating again. DAMMIT.

    We did more phone diagnostics, determined it was the wiring. She took it to a new shop, and they told me yesterday the jenky connection had fried - looks like the plastic inside the connector was damaged - popped a fuse, and fried the fan motor. The new shop fixed it up to the tune of $500 ($300 part, $200 labor, ish).

    a) I should have FUCKING replaced that connector when I saw it, and I'm $500 poorer for it
    b) Hopefully the legacy of Brake Pros of Rancho Cucamonga, CA is at an end
    c) I have never been so torn in my life as to whether this car should be kept ($1k in the last two months) or replaced. Are its problems all addressed now, or are they just starting?

  2. #22
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    There's probably money in a business proposal that has a shop where the mechanics wear GoPro Hero 3's daily.

  3. #23
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    There are a couple shops here that do that! Well, not GoPros, but cameras in the bays that you can watch on their website to see how your car is doing. I think that's a pretty neat idea.

    I am convincing myself that I am going to find her a Benz or a Volvo. I think both of these brands have the advantage of a rabid following and that nets single brand specialty repair shops. Finding a place that genuinely knows what they're doing with a car would be helpful here, and maybe keep here out of the suspect "all makes" shops. I spent the last hour emailing Volvo and MB shops in her area to get a sense of how those places run. Although she doesn't live in the most uppity place in the world, there is a fair selection of them both! I wish she lived closer to Orange County - there are three positively fantastic Saab repair shops out that way, and I'd set her up with a 9-3 or 9-5 in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, a 50 mile round trip for car repair would be untenable.

    In any case the PT is back together. Hopefully I have the luxury of finding Mr Right Car instead of Mr Right Now Car.

  4. #24
    mAdminstrator Random's Avatar
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    http://sacramento.craigslist.org/rvs/4280597928.html

    Caveat: a 22' Class A seems like all the access hassles of working on a Class A without the square footage benefits, but it's pretty cute, regardless. Might be a handful in a sidewind, too.
    Whoomah!

  5. #25
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    I keep looking at that truck! I am attracted to its goofy wallpaper, and even moreso to the drop-down over-cab bed. That's a feature you usually don't get on a class A! You're right about the size, though - I think its too small to justify all the things that come with being a commercial chassis. What seems to be true is that Class A means "good for living" and Class C means "good for driving and sleeping." So, even though that thing is short, it's probably a lot more comfortable to live in than a van cutaway. It just so happens that such an attribute isn't very meaningful in my application.

    I am becoming slightly worried that I may have missed the RV window. Seems like there are lot fewer RVs for sale today than last month. I hope that doesn't mean pickings are going to continue to get slimmer.

  6. #26
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    Car++

    1994 Mercedes Benz E320.

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  8. #28
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    Related to your Benzo purchase- About every other year for the past decade I get a wild hair that makes me check prices on V12 W140s even though I know that it would be beyond irresponsible to actually purchase one. They just seem so fast and neat, with their double-paned windows and sonar parking. I bet if I picked one up I'd be finding all sorts of excuses to drive cross country at absurd speeds. God, now I'm looking at ebay, I have to stop immediately.
    -Formerly Stabulator

  9. #29
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    I feel like the window to own a V12 is closing, so I say do it. They are getting downright cheap, too!

    On the subject of irresponsible car purchases, I am about ready to burn down the Fleetwood. I can't make it run. I don't know what else to do. I've tried everything I know to try, and it's not even close to thinking about maybe consiering running. I am so fed up I would tow it somewhere tomorrow and have someone else deal with it, except for I have about zero confidence that the general automotive repair population is actually any more talented than I am. The situation is ridiculous. If I wasn't so manly, now would be a very appropriate time to cry.

  10. #30
    Where are my keys? GB's Avatar
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