Nov. 23 Weekly Open Thread

As always, this is the place for random off-topic conversation.

Suggested Topic No. 1--When your vehicle needs repair, do you take the car in to the dealer, to an independent repair shop, or do you do the work yourself?

Suggested Topic No. 2--How far will you be driving for Thanksgiving, and will you have to cope with wintry weather?

--Chris H.

Comments

[Anthony Cagle on November 23, 2009 at 03:05 PM]

A good mechanic is worth his weight in gold. I tried a few places with my Mustang before I found my current guy. A local Ford dealer kept fouling up the repairs and taking forever, etc. When I finally took it to my current place he checked the dealer's work and found their mechanic had broken a screw on the distributor and just left it sitting there half on. The current place is a performance shop that does mostly Mustangs, Corvettes and muscle cars in general. Excellent work (Brad's Custom Auto, Seattle).

I imagine this thread will generate all sorts of auto mechanic horror stories. . . .

[...m... on November 23, 2009 at 05:47 PM]

...my kingdom for a horse - if i had $7500 free right now i'd be all over this lotus elite, but it's just not going to happen... :(

http://www.sportscarla.com/detail-1975-lotus-elite-webers-4870133.html

...i figure the right kind of people are here to join me in appreciating its splendour...

[...m... on November 23, 2009 at 05:49 PM]

...here's a phrase you don't hear very often: those back seats are to die for!..

http://photos.ebizautos.com/used-1975-lotus-elite-webers-6818-4870133-14-640.jpg

[Shawn on November 23, 2009 at 06:08 PM]

...m..., I'm with you on the Elite lust. Amongst the 300 cars at the local vintage Euro show this year, a tan Elite in quite average condition was the star of the day for me. Those corduroy-ish seats and the unusual dash and steering wheel were in a world all their own. And nothing else at the show looked anything like it exterior-wise. The owner was optimistically trying to sell it for $10k, but this blue one seems like a steal comparitively.

I do all my own maintenance on my BMW 635CSi and Subaru Forester XT. The Boxer engine in the Subaru gave me an absolute fit changing the spark plugs this week for the first time. It is criminal how little clearance the normally quite thoughtful Subaru gives to do this procedure. My injured hands and back will now attest to why this is a several hundred dollar procedure if taken to a dealership. But in the end, it was worth the agony, as most car maintenance projects are.

[...m... on November 23, 2009 at 06:43 PM]

...lotus mechanics are not cheap - my elise has afforded me a wonderful excuse to begin acquiring a selection of tools which i hope will serve me for the rest of my life...yes, the first time i fix something it's about as expensive as it would be to take the car into the shop, but the second time that cost diminishes to just a pennance...

[...m... on November 23, 2009 at 06:51 PM]

...pennance?..pittance!..

[Paul C. Perkins on November 23, 2009 at 07:07 PM]

Lotus stopped making the Lotus Elan Sprint, Elan +2, and TC Europa in order to go "up market" with the Elise. Once you got past the styling, which I never did, you were left with a Lotus whose powerplant was never up to the handling potential of the chassis.
Lotus kept up this annoying mismatch until the introduction of the first Turbo Esprits.

Now - there was an engine swap offered by some firm in Quebec (IMS) involving a Rover V-8. The result was an Elite that finally lived up to the potential of the chassis. Best of all the F/R balance was, I think 50/50.

An Elise? No. . .

Paul

[Paul C. Perkins on November 23, 2009 at 07:13 PM]

Sorry - I meant to say Elite - not Elise.
Otherwise - the commentary stands.

Paul

[...m... on November 23, 2009 at 08:15 PM]

...so what do you do when your significant other, who fully supported the impulse buy of your first lotus as a second car, goes a bit manic upon learning that you've put your unused 'sensible' car up for sale to buy another, less-reliable vintage lotus?..especially when she hits you with the guilt trip that she was ready to trade in her own car for an MX-5 given the comfort of knowing that the cargo hauler remained as a safety net?..

...*technically* an elite M50 is both a four-seater and a hatchback...

...i'm feeling a bit scared, confused, and sad here, especially since i've already had two people jump at my sale price with cash-in-hand...

[David Colborne on November 23, 2009 at 11:37 PM]

I tend to start with some self-repair procedures, then throw the car at the mechanic when something is either under warranty, or way out of my league. Interestingly, I almost never do brakes - I don't mind if an engine fails on me due to my own stupidity, but if my brakes failed, my sketchy mechanical skills could potentially put someone else's life in danger. I'd rather not have that on my conscience.

Yes, I may be a little neurotic.

As for Thanksgiving, I'm pulling a Reno-to-Los Angeles run, so most of it will be pretty mellow. That said, Donner Pass might get interesting if a storm hits during the trip; past that, though, the worst I'll have to deal with is Central Valley fog, and that's only if I'm up early enough to experience it (HINT: I won't). Fortunately, all forecasts look clear, so I'm not too worried.

[Steaming Pile on November 24, 2009 at 05:40 AM]

I used to do a lot of my own repairs when I was in the Army and had access to an auto craft shop, complete with hydraulic lifts and all the tools I could ever want. It was a fulfilling way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Alas, I'm retired from the military now, and I haven't found a shop where they let me use their car picker-upper equipment, so we have to have someone do our repairs and such for us. Fortunately, we found a really good guy within walking distance (about a mile and a half) of the house. We drop the car off, walk home, and wait for the phone to ring.

[Cookie the Dog's Owner on November 24, 2009 at 06:08 AM]

I left maintenance on the GTI to the dealer until the warranty ran out--if there'd been a warranty claim, they wouldn't be able to blame me for it. I've been learning my way around the engine bay of the Frazer, and there's something to be said for good old pre-microprocessor Detroit iron--even an inept mechanic like me can figure it out!

[jdgjtr on November 24, 2009 at 06:53 AM]

About half and half. I do routine maintenance, (brakes, oil, etc) but anything that makes lights come on, I take to a mechanic. I thought I found a good one but then he failed my car's inspection because it needed a new gas cap from the dealer to pass the emissions test. Uh, my state doesn't have an emissions test and it can't require a dealer part to pass an inspection. I had him do an oil change just to kill two birds with one stone. He told me that an oil change would be 30 bucks but he didn't tell me about the seven dollar oil disposal fee. Not going back. Funny how being a little greedy can cost a businessman a lot of money in the long run.

[NatefromOgden on November 24, 2009 at 09:31 AM]

In my doddering old age, I've gotten much pickier about the work I do for myself. Replace an engine in my kid's car- if the weather's decent, sure, I can and have done that. Replace brakes in the driveway? As long as it's not snowing. Change the oil? Notgonnahappen. I take it someplace. I do have 2 new air springs enroute to me right now for the Mark VIII which I will change myself at the AF base hobby shop because it's November and cold and because they have a lift so I can stand up to work.

If it requires figuring out a check engine light, a local shop is getting my work and my money.

As for holiday travel, I'm staying home.

[kenny heggem on November 24, 2009 at 11:31 AM]

Several reasonable and fantastic VW mechanic in my area. JDM Motors and Hillside. I take the 92 GTI 16v to these locations.

Had one of those years in 09'...clutch, alternator, fuel pump all went out within 3 weeks of each other.
Then, I get it back for not even 200 miles and a clutch bar that goes to the tranny went.
Got to love A2's.

At least the parts and ease of repairing this vintage is more affordable than 93+ performance V Dubs. Have not been fond of anything they have put out since to be honest. Until we get a Lupo TDI or Polo....I see no reason to move into anything else they produce.

The 87 Sprint Turbo rarely has anything go wrong. Will need to find an affordable decent mechanic in Portland for those rare occasions. The shop near my home seems to think it is OK to put in new front bearings in for over $500. Luckily the bearings seem OK after all. Yeah, need to look around.

[jjd241 on November 24, 2009 at 12:25 PM]

While I'm not an accomplished wrencher I have done some repairs over the years (radiator, water pump, timing belts, u-joits etc). I am fortunate enough to have a friend with a full service shop. He lets me come down and use a lift if I need to and has all the tools required. While he specializes in German cars, he knows lots about american iron so he always has the right answer when I have a question. He is actually the one with a long thanksgiving drive this year (Olympia Wa to Eastern Wa) a few hundred miles including some probably snowy weather.

[John B on November 24, 2009 at 12:51 PM]

I do all three of your options depending on:
The car (we have 5 ranging from a custom to a new style Mini),
The job.
I'll do oil changes on my collector cars, but for the Mercedes and my Ford truck. I'll let the dealer do since they're so infrequent with the amount of driving it gets and the fact its part of a scheduled maintence program. Any other repairs or big fluid changes, I'll trust it to an independent Euro garage. That saves big money, more than $100 for the tranny fluid change over the MB dealer).

[Anthony Cagle on November 24, 2009 at 05:00 PM]

I ought not to be traveling this year. Or last. Last year the Spousal Unit was 2 weeks out from jaw surgery so I made the usual spread, but put it all through the blender for her (surprisingly, she said it was actually quite good all mushed together like that).

My one Thanksgiving automobile disaster happened a few years ago. We left later than usual for the in-laws', which necessitates crossing the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Well, traffic was jammed up way before the bridge and, despite our navigational machinations, ended up stuck on a street leading to the bridge. S.T.U.C.K. Went something like this:

"Okay, if we're not on the bridge in a half hour, we should think about just going home."

. . .

"Okay, if we're not on the bridge in an hour, we should think about just going home."

. . .

"Okay, if we're not up to the onramp in an hour, we should think about just going home."

"Okay, I hope we can make it the half-block to the next side street in an hour, because I really have to use the bathroom."

Ended up sitting in the car for 6 hours total and ended up just going home. Usually it takes about an hour to get there.

. . .

[kenny heggem on November 24, 2009 at 08:04 PM]

Oh sorry. Yeah, I dont want to bother with the trouble of oil changes. Seeing I drive 2000 miles a year average between both cars, I jut get 2 oil changes per year per car at a local indie place for $20.

Repairs are all handled by the indie V Dub mechanics above.

We are biking less than 2 miles to our family TG gathering. Might as well throw a bomb at the cars if we plan to drive them less than 20 minutes or under 7 miles IMHO.

[CG tutorials on November 25, 2009 at 04:32 AM]

Whenever my car get stuck I try to make it myself but each time I make it so worse it goes in more bad situation. Then after I go to local repairer and get it repaired. By the way intresting topic..

[Bob Sistek on November 25, 2009 at 07:42 PM]

O.k., I know this is way off topic, but isn't it time somebody changed the caption description of the '57 (?) Coupe de Ville on the top of the front page? Nice looking Caddy, by the way. Here's hoping everyone has a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving. And we are staying home with our ever-shrinking family. Ta.

[Bill T. on November 25, 2009 at 08:50 PM]

Mirroring some of the previous posters, I do almost all of the basic stuff myself - brakes, oil changes, and the easiest, like checking the fluid levels. For the major items, I know a small shop with four mechanics. One of them is the owner. Almost anytime I go in there with a question, I get it answered quickly. In almost every case, I will call ahead for an appointment, and they are punctual. I avoid dealers. They are overpriced, since they have to cover the cost of a building and their inventory.

[Tommy's Dad on November 26, 2009 at 01:49 AM]

Totally unrelated to the conversation above, but it's too good for me not to pass along...Mochi Mochi, I saw this on our local Craigslist and immediately thought of you:

http://kpr.craigslist.org/cto/1482398479.html

1969 VW Squareback, $500. It looks so sad, so dilapidated, and so desperately in need of some love and care. But underneath all the rust and dust and toasted paint there's still a cute, practical little car waiting to be restored to glory. Or greatness. Or at least all the goodness that a 69 Squareback can have. C'mon Mochi, I'm sure if you ask nicely and throw in a little extra they'll arrange for transport out of eastern washington...of course, you could also just drive it home, 10 miles at a time between tire air refills.