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#818 of 1758 Thanks for the AC info by zapatista2000 Sep 18, 2001 (8:58 am)
Now that I think about it, the puddles under the car were clear and quite cool and only occured after the two times I used the AC. It must have been condensation and that makes me feel better. The code 32, however, has returned and I'm taking it in soon. Anyone know a decent mechanic in the DC area who won't rip me off?
#819 of 1758 dweezil and zap by buoyant Sep 18, 2001 (9:43 pm)
Actually, the people testing and writing articles about cars for CR are indeed engineers. If you doubt me, check their creds. It's easy to verify this if you read the articles carefully too. There's never any flowery prose or humorous metaphors like you'll find in a true automobile magazine, and mass appeal (read: BLANDNESS) is actually considered a virtue by Consumer Reports.   And you might be interested to know that it is widely believed that the Ultradrive unit in my 1991 New Yorker with 175K on the odometer is completely original. I had it inspected before I purchased it and once by the guys at Aamco (it still operates with the fine precision of an Armitron watch) and the consensus is that it's not a rebuild. I'm thinking of contacting Chrysler to see if they're interested in placing it in a museum. Just think, I could be driving the longest-lasting Ultradrive on the planet.   On a different note...   Good luck finding a decent, honest mechanic in DC, Zapatista. And if you do, constantly shower him with gifts and praise so that you may never lose him. I have been living in the Twin Cities area all my life, and I've never found a truly competent mechanic or a shop I can really say I've trusted.   So before you decide to fix your car, consider the complexity of the problem, its effect on the life of the vehicle and how much it bothers you personally. If it's anything more complicated than a brake job, alternator replacement or muffler installation and you don't believe it will adversely affect the life of a major mechanical component if it's not attended to, consider living with it. Warning lights can be covered with opaque adhesive tape and strange sounds can easily be masked by a stronger amplifier and more powerful speakers. There are usually other options than repair.   After giving it some serious thought, if you still decide to fix the car at this point, do some research and try to find the shop most likely to be able to actually fix the problem you're having. For example, while places like Car-X may have the best deals on the "easy fixes", anything more complicated than a wiper-blade replacement can easily baffle their crack team of experts and end up costing you more money in the long run (not to mention the loss of your time). A shop that spends half its time advertising low prices is NOT the place to take your car if you actually need a problem troubleshooted (or is it troubleshot?). So save the $10 off coupon at Precision Tune for the next time you really know you need new spark plugs.   Try to get a referral from a friend who has lived in the area for a while and if no one is of help there, pull out the phone book and pray for the best. I will give you this piece of advice in the event the inevitable happens though. Document EVERYTHING!   It may not be in your power to keep auto repairs from being a major headache in your life, but you can make sure you avoid letting them become financial nightmares.   Before you go in the shop, take out a clean sheet of paper and write down the problem you're having in the finest detail possible (e.g., if it only happens after the car has been driven at freeway speeds for 6 hours or if the moon is in its final phase, WRITE THAT DOWN). Then make two copies (one for your records, one for the shop). I know it seems completely anal, but you'll be happy you did this after you fork over $200, leave the shop and find the problem re-occurring 3 miles down the road. I speak from experience.   ALWAYS make sure you charge ALL automobile repairs (to your credit, not your debit card). This way, when you find out your car has not been fixed properly (which happens 90% of the time if you wear a size 12 sneaker, drive a big Chrysler and think Depeche Mode still rocks), you have some means of recourse.   At this time, you can go back to the shop and try to have them resolve the problem. And if they tell you to piss off, write them a letter and produce 3 copies (one for you, one for the credit company and one for the shop). State in it - explicitly - that you are disputing the charge as the services you requested from the shop (and for which you were charged) were never received. Send the letters certified mail.   Why do this? Because if you pay with cash or write a check, you'll have to take the shop to small claims court if you ever want the problem resolved. When you pay with a credit card, you can dispute the charge and the card issuer will act as a mediator between you and the shop. And until the dispute is resolved, your card company can't charge you interest (so it won't drag-ass on the issue).   About a year ago, I took my car into a less-than-honest shop in Burnsville because it was making an annoying clunk (still is BTW). I wrote the problem out explicitly when I took it in (detailing exactly when it made the sound - even noting that it tended to happen only on hot days when the car had been driven for a long duration). I ONLY authorized repairs that would fix the clunk (i.e., no new muffler, stereo speakers, air conditioner recharge, window tint, etc.). Unfortunately, you have to do this with some shops because it's much easier and more profitable for them to sell you $60 alignments than it is to troubleshoot actual mechanical problems.   My ordeal began with the "mechanic" (this was an actual repair shop too, not some high-volume franchise muffler shop) replacing a couple suspension bushings and ended with him putting in four new struts (I should mention that the old ones were only a couple years old and were of much better quality) and aligning the car. The total bill for NOT fixing the clunk came to $548 (a staggering sum that I probably will never forget and that almost made me faint when I first heard it).   And of course, predictably, this same shop that was so interested in fixing my car one week prior wanted nothing to do with me when they realized they had no idea how to actually fix the car. When I told them it was still making the same noise as when I first brought it in, they basically told me "TS". Their work was done, so to speak.   Well, four months and several well-documented letters later, they apparently waved the white flag. I'm not sure if they ever answered my card issuer's letters (they avoided contact with me like the plague), but Citibank did a charge-back to the repair shop and cleared my account. Buoyant 1, Dishonest Repair Shop 0.   So...long story short, finding an honest AND competent shop is not always possible. Just use your best judgment and be sure to cover your butt at all times.   Ideally, your problem will get fixed and you'll go along your merry way. If your luck is anything like mine when dealing with the auto repair industry though, well...I just hope you keep good records and like to argue.   A side note: my car still makes the clunking noise (I've learned to accept and live with it by properly adjusting the volume on the brilliant-sounding Infinity sound system), b
#820 of 1758 DC area mechanics by 71charger Sep 19, 2001 (3:58 am)
I work in Bethesda with people spread out from Pennsylvania to Fredericksburg. Where in the DC area are you looking? A friend's uncle has a shop in Rockville if that's good for you. If not, where? PG, Fairfax, DC (NW, SE, SW, NE), Loudon? I have a friend with a garage in Leesburg (The Tire Shop) that should treat you right.
#821 of 1758 THX for your report by dweezil Sep 19, 2001 (5:46 am)
on the Ultradrive. Sounds like like got a winner. I do believe C/R people are engineers....and elitists.I really think they have encouraged people to investigate products to the point of paranoia.And I am not saying I'm immune to it. Just take it with a pound of salt. Dave
#822 of 1758 71Charger, Buoyant by zapatista2000 Sep 19, 2001 (9:40 am)
71Charger- I live and work on the Hill. I'm willing to take it anywhere that I can get back home on the Metro while they work on it. The code it's giving me is a 32--EGR System Failure. Some folks on the neons.org board have had the same problem and it seems to be a minor issue that sometimes just goes away (a la Buoyant's approach to auto mechanics) and other times is remedied for a maximum of $200 for a new sensor and labor, or something like that. Some even have decided to block off the EGR system entirely. If you have any suggestions of Metro-accessible shops that are trustworthy, I'd greatly appreciate it.   Buoyant--Sounds like you and I live by the fate meted out to us by Murphy's law. I blame my Irish grandmother.
#823 of 1758 Irish grandmothers and faulty Neons by buoyant Sep 19, 2001 (6:57 pm)
I'd blame mine too, but since she's no longer with us I'll just blame it on the German one. Damn Germans.   Out of curiousity, is the light coming on red or amber in color? Amber warning lights can usually be ignored (particularly if they come on intermittently) whereas the red ones signal impending doom.   Personally, I would ignore any orange light signaling a malfunction in the emissions system.   But if the light REALLY bothers you, invest $3 in an allen wrench, pop off the gauge cover and pull the thing out completely. This way you'll have that fresh finished look (no tape) and then you can take the $197 you saved and blow it on a new 20" Color TV, 120 Steak Chalupas or perhaps a ceramic kitty-cat if you're into that kind of thing.
#824 of 1758 Reed Brothers Dodge comes to mind by 71charger Sep 19, 2001 (7:26 pm)
Reed Brothers Dodge on the pike in Rockville, MD has always treated me well (except their body shop manager, but that's not where your problem is). It's a dealer and you'll pay premium prices but they are literally right next to the Shady Grove station on the Red Line. Carmax is right across the the Metro driveway from them. It's as far out as you can get on the Metro but I've never known them to do unnecessary work. I'll ask around at work when I can. These are pretty hectic days and I've been open-endedly (is that a word?) transferred to second shift. I'll see if I can get any other recommendations for you.
#825 of 1758 Reed Brothers by snowman Sep 19, 2001 (7:51 pm)
Indeed We have very good experience with them. Their mechanics are very good.
#826 of 1758 197 Bottles of Beer by zapatista2000 Sep 20, 2001 (7:23 am)
I could blow it in a big way at dollar Bud night at any number of establishments around my office. That reminds me of a funny story about my boss, but back to the car...   Thanks for the Reed Brothers advice. It's an amber light that comes and goes and I might give it a few more days to see if it goes away again. If not, I think I'll take it up to Rockville and maybe play some pinball at Jillian's at White Flint on the way back (why is it that there are no dart boards or pinball machines in this entire city? The things I miss about Minnesota......) Thanks again for the help.   Open-endedly sounds like a discription of our newest made-for-TV war, "Operation Infinite Justice."
#827 of 1758 Check your grounds and wiring connectors by 71charger Sep 20, 2001 (7:30 pm)
Before you spend any money on fixing an amber light it might be an intermittent problem in a wiring connection. At least eyeball your ground connections and make sure they look good. Pull apart and reconnect as many connectors as you can. There may be a small bit of corrosion in there somewhere. As the temperature of the wires rise so does the resistance. At a certain temp point you may be getting to where there is insufficient current flow through a connector giving a false fault reading. Saved me some money doing this when the temp gauge suddenly started going nuts in my Lancer.

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