The week of motor vehicles.

So this is a picture from the end of the week, which I must say was far more enjoyable than the days preceding. This is a picture of Dad's 1988 Fiero GT which Chris entered into the Concours d' Elegance at Thanksgiving point. It was fun to go to a car show where you see a very familiar car. The Fiero looked great, and was awarded first in the American Sports Car category, I think that was the category anyways. Later on they paraded the first place winners across a carpet laid out under a pavilion. It was fun to see all the winners and hear the Grand Marshall as he told us of the history of each car. So, that was definitely the highlight of the week. Jackson had come along with me, he and Jemma roamed about taking pictures of their favorite cars. Mom commented that this is the nicest car show to go to, and I agree, people were very courteous and interested, and most kept their shirts on, except for at the end when at least one attendee decided he needed to air out.





The weekdays leading up to Saturday were filled with frustration. We took our van in for a tune up which went fine, just that it took longer and cost more than expected, but I guess that is usually how it goes.

After that we needed to get a wheel stem replaced, it had somehow broken off. I was on State St in PG, and decided to just stop at the first place I came to and ask them about the repair. So I stop in and ask the "salesman", if I had known he was just a salesman and not much of a repairman I may not have stayed, how much and how difficult this repair would be. This was at a little after 9a.m. He told me it was a simple procedure and wouldn't take longer then 30-45 minutes and would be about $40. I thought heck, if it is that easy why don't I just get it done now, I was going to drive to a shop near Lehi, where I usually take my work truck and where I have come to know the manager, but thought I would just get it done and then be able to go about the day. This was on Tuesday. So they pull the van in and shortly thereafter a young mechanic comes in and asks me "Which tire is flat? I checked the one but it isn't flat." Warning number two. He is quickly corrected and told there isn't a flat that needs repair, but it's the wheel stem that needs to be replaced. So then they get to work on that, there sure was a lot of banging on the rotor when they were getting it off, which I thought was odd, warning number 3 and I should have gotten out of there.

After about an hour and a half I ask the salesman how much longer it is going to be because I want to get on with my day, and he tells me they are having trouble finding the right size stem for the wheel. He apologizes for the time it is taking so I am feeling pretty good, at least this guy feels bad for the hold up. After another hour or so they still aren't done, so they let me take the shops truck and go home so that I can get some stuff done cause they were still having issues. Only an hour later they call me, not because they are finished, but because the owner needs his truck back to go to lunch. So take the truck back, and then they drop me off at home. We are waiting and waiting, then finally at about 2:30 pm they call and say it is ready. I wasn't able to get down there until about 3:30 though. When I get down there and pick up the van I turn the key on and the "ABS" light is on, which wasn't on when I dropped it off. I immediately go back in and say, "We've got a problem." So the owner comes out and takes a look at the rear brake and wires, they look fine to him, so he consults a book to check what might be causing the light to come on, warning number 4, instead of running a diagnostic to find the true cause. He tells me that since they had to remove the rotor and take apart the brake, that the computer wasn't reading the rear brake but give it about 20 miles of driving for it to kick back in. So, the next day the light hasn't gone off and there is a rubbing & squeeling coming from the wheel they worked on. We take it back and tell them the light is still on and about the noise. They say they have to take it to a dealership down the street to fix the problem and run a full diagnostic. So the next day I show up right when the place opens, and end up going down to the dealership for the repair and diagnostic check. I spend two hours there while they put the wheel back on and run the test. Finally I get the car back, there is no more noise but the "ABS" light is still on. I am told that the "ABS" rear sensors are not reading correctly. Apparently they both were not functioning at first, but then the mechanic cleaned the one on the left side where they were fixing the wheel, and that only the right side was bad. Yeah, right.

Finally, I take the car to the shop in A.F. where I trust the right work will be done. They run the diagnostic and tell me both sensors are bad, so we replace them both in pretty much no time at all, comparatively. We did have to get them done one at a time at different times of the day because they had to find the sensors. Now, I need to go back and talk to the guys at the first place and tell them what crummy work they do and get them to reimburse me for the left side sensor, which the owner had previously said they would pay for if it was needing to be replaced. I called on Friday to get that done, but the owner had left for the weekend and wasn't reachable, also the whole thing with the dealerships mechanic and just cleaning the sensor seems real fishy. This shop, Larkin Tires on State St in PG,and the Low Book mechanic, sure seemed like they were in cahots with each other. Very frustrating, but nearly over, just need to get the money back.