ZacFields
04-29-2009, 02:19 AM
Monday on my way to work, my car is idling really rough. I'm sitting at a stop light and the car is just shaking... it is obviously running on 3 cylinders. The light finally turns green and I start heading down Edgewood. The car has absolutely no power. I have the pedal to the floor and it's not wanting to accelerate hardly at all.
I decide that I don't want to drive it all the way across town, so I take a left on to Johnson avenue to see if I can make it home since I don't live far away. Things get worse. My check engine light starts blinking... no shit.
The car still doesn't hardly want to accelerate, and I'm reasonably sure it's not going to make it all the way to my house. On my right is a big blue building titled "John's Automotive Service." Okay, I've never heard of these guys, but at this point it feels like my car is about to explode and I need to pull it over now before I end up broken down somewhere on the side of the road and having to pay for a tow.
I manage to get the car into the parking lot and go inside. This being the first major problem I've ever had with my car -the same car that's been by my side since I first got my license over seven years ago- I was understandably flustered. The guy behind the counter is a pretty nice guy... very polite and was patient with me as I ramble on about what had just happened with my car.
"Do you have a few minutes?" he says.
"Yeah I've got someone on their way to pick me up so I've got a good 15 minutes or so."
"Here. This is just a questionaire to help my mechanics understand what's going on with the vehicle."
I've never been to a shop that has done this... but damn it's a good idea. The sheet had around 10-15 questions on it, and next to each question there'd be a handful of checkboxes. There was everything from "How far is the car driven on a daily basis?" all the way to "What kind of sounds is the engine making?" Very cool. I really liked this method of doing business, because it made me feel more confident that they know exactly what's going on with my car.
Before I left, the guy suggested that I take the face-plate off my CD player and bring it with me. Good idea. I snag my face-plate off and catch a ride with my dad to work.
Less than an hour later, I receive a phone call. They've found the culprit. The number 4 cylinder isn't firing. About five years ago, I cross-threaded a spark plug into my number 4 cylinder and once every 6 months or so it'll pop out and I have to torque it back in because I've been too cheap to get it fixed. I had known the spark plug had been loose for months now because it's been running pretty rough. I finally torqued it back in there last weekend because on my way home from work it had started to get really rough, so I figured I'd better get that plug back in there.
For whatever reason, the number 4 cylinder was no longer firing. I was quoted a very reasonable price for them to repair the cylinder and replace all my spark plugs, and they had it done for me the next day (Tuesday).
I am extremely pleased with these guys and would recommend them to anyone needing work done to their cars. I happened to randomly stumble into their parking lot, and I'm very glad that I did. The car runs better now than it has for the past 6 months!
http://www.johnsautomotiveservice.com/
I decide that I don't want to drive it all the way across town, so I take a left on to Johnson avenue to see if I can make it home since I don't live far away. Things get worse. My check engine light starts blinking... no shit.
The car still doesn't hardly want to accelerate, and I'm reasonably sure it's not going to make it all the way to my house. On my right is a big blue building titled "John's Automotive Service." Okay, I've never heard of these guys, but at this point it feels like my car is about to explode and I need to pull it over now before I end up broken down somewhere on the side of the road and having to pay for a tow.
I manage to get the car into the parking lot and go inside. This being the first major problem I've ever had with my car -the same car that's been by my side since I first got my license over seven years ago- I was understandably flustered. The guy behind the counter is a pretty nice guy... very polite and was patient with me as I ramble on about what had just happened with my car.
"Do you have a few minutes?" he says.
"Yeah I've got someone on their way to pick me up so I've got a good 15 minutes or so."
"Here. This is just a questionaire to help my mechanics understand what's going on with the vehicle."
I've never been to a shop that has done this... but damn it's a good idea. The sheet had around 10-15 questions on it, and next to each question there'd be a handful of checkboxes. There was everything from "How far is the car driven on a daily basis?" all the way to "What kind of sounds is the engine making?" Very cool. I really liked this method of doing business, because it made me feel more confident that they know exactly what's going on with my car.
Before I left, the guy suggested that I take the face-plate off my CD player and bring it with me. Good idea. I snag my face-plate off and catch a ride with my dad to work.
Less than an hour later, I receive a phone call. They've found the culprit. The number 4 cylinder isn't firing. About five years ago, I cross-threaded a spark plug into my number 4 cylinder and once every 6 months or so it'll pop out and I have to torque it back in because I've been too cheap to get it fixed. I had known the spark plug had been loose for months now because it's been running pretty rough. I finally torqued it back in there last weekend because on my way home from work it had started to get really rough, so I figured I'd better get that plug back in there.
For whatever reason, the number 4 cylinder was no longer firing. I was quoted a very reasonable price for them to repair the cylinder and replace all my spark plugs, and they had it done for me the next day (Tuesday).
I am extremely pleased with these guys and would recommend them to anyone needing work done to their cars. I happened to randomly stumble into their parking lot, and I'm very glad that I did. The car runs better now than it has for the past 6 months!
http://www.johnsautomotiveservice.com/