Yesterday, I gave up, and we brought our car to Christian Brothers Automotive to get some diagnostic assistance. I am generally skeptical of automotive garages, but I had heard a couple of good stories from this one. So, I thought I'd try them out.
From the very beginning, I had reason to be skeptical. The guy I was speaking to seemed convinced that I was trying to deny him and his mechanic work by bringing my car to get diagnosed by them. I'm not sure how that makes sense unless one assumes that I only have 2 choices, diagnostic or full repair. I actually had a third choice: I could not come at all. Therefore, by coming, period, I am providing business they would not otherwise have had. I'm still annoyed about his faulty logic.
Anyways, I bring it in for diagnosis. By the end of the afternoon, I'm expecting to be able to come and pick it up. Nope. They're not finished. So, I have to wait until today. Finally, I am needing to have some kind of clue as to what is going on. So, I call them. "I was just about to call you," he says. "Let me call you in about twenty minutes. I am with a customer." So, I wait. He call. He informs me that he can completely fix my car for only $1,300. My eyes are almost bug out of my head. That's way beyond my budget. It's totally outside of my price range. I tell him that's impossible. So, he tries to convince me that he can partially fix it for ~$800. That's still way outside my price range, and, frankly, I am not wanting him to fix it. I just want to know what's wrong. So, he starts giving me a lecture about how I'm denying him business and his guy has put in a ton of hours already and what was I expecting anyways? I'm starting to get fed up here. This is ridiculous. After all, I was upfront with him from the beginning. I never planned to have them fix my car. Well, then he tells I can come pick it up and pay nothing, but they won't tell me what's wrong with it. I'm flabbergasted. I explain to him: $800, let alone $1,300 is just totally impossible, and I reiterate that I never wanted them to fix the car, just to tell me what's wrong. I explain I'm not trying to rob him. I actually planned all along to pay for this work. So, he tells me a new price. This is the price to know what is wrong with the car: $522. That is the absolute upper limit of what I'm able to afford. What am I going to do now? Let them waste their time and mine? I did try asking ahead of time what kind of charges I would be looking at, with no definite answer. I even told him ahead of time that I couldn't afford hundreds of dollars to do this. This price was sick. Still, I was desperate. And, so, feeling a bit intimidated and worried about my car, I agreed to the $522.
In retrospect, I am glad to have found out what was wrong. Apparently, we had received some defective part from Autozone. This included an incorrect AND defective EGR Valve. It also included the wrong distributor cap and rotor combination, something which led to the rotor rubbing a groove into the top of the distributor cap. Very sad. Also, apparently, the fuel pump on the car was bad along with the distributor itself and the catalytic converter.
Tonight, my dad and I got to work and affected some repairs. Now, the suburban has a new fuel pump, the correct EGR valve, and a new distributor with a new cap and rotor. Success. She is purring like a kitten again. It makes me very happy. We still have some stuff to do. Mainly the catalytic converter and the power steering (something we've been meaning to do but have been postponing). At least my car is working again.
And, so, with that done, completed at 4:15 AM, and with it now being more than an hour later (5:26 AM), I say goodnight.
My truck is working again.
Praise the Lord!
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