DENNIS O’SULLIVAN

Some noises you just learn to live with, Dennis tells a reader with a very old Nissan Pathfinder that occasionally clunks.

QUESTION

Hello Dennis. Let me start off by saying that I love your articles and read them all the time. Sometimes I have laughed at some of the questions that have been asked and never thought that I would ever be writing you.

We have been loyal Nissan Pathfinder owners and this is the second one that I have owned. I sold my last Pathfinder when it reached 498,000 kms and to my amazement, it is still on the road. I still see it drive by me from time to time. I sure do miss that 1998 Nissan Pathfinder Chilkoot Edition.

I have an awesome 2005 Nissan Pathfinder with 463,000 kms and purchased this vehicle used with 33,500 kms in 2007.

Here is my problem. I have brought it to the mechanic quite a few times and had parts replaced but I am still having a clunking noise when starting and coming to a stop. No one can figure this out but when you bring it to a mechanic, it runs like a dream until the mechanic is out of the car and then it does it again.

I live in the Ancaster area and have also brought my vehicle to Plaza Nissan and they couldn't see what I was talking about but it seems to be getting worse. Any suggestions? Like I said earlier, the SUV runs great except for the clunking noise. I had the Universal Joints replaced; I had the driveshaft tested to see if it was warped and the universal joints in the front near the 4x4 were also looked at and everything seems to be very tight.

Do you think it can be a transmission problem?

I need your help as I love this vehicle and my wife says it time to put it out to pasture and get a new one. I refuse to cave in because then she wins again. Regards Nick from Ancaster

ANSWER

Sometimes you have to live with a noise in a vehicle and the only thing that you can do is to have the undercarriage completely checked out to make sure that the noise is not going to cause drivability problems.

Noises like you have described have been, in my experiences, things like a broken spring near the top or bottom where you cannot see it clearly. A cracked front frame or worn frame bushings will sometimes cause a crackling noise when starting or stopping and should be checked out. If you find that there aren't any immediate problems and a mechanic has given the truck a complete checkover then the radio is a good muffler for those annoying noises. I do not believe that it has anything to do with your truck’s transmission.

QUESTION

I have followed your column for over twenty years and I have noticed that the dealerships always look after their customers only after you get involved. If they are going to look after their customers, why do they wait until someone gets you involved before they do anything? Would it not be better if they showed leadership and did the right thing before having their customers look for help through you?

ANSWER

The dealerships, including the average garage, know the cost to retain a new customer and it is much less expensive to look after the ones that you have than to acquire new customers. The dealerships do look after their customers long before I get involved in many cases but sometimes the customer is being completely unreasonable in their requests and that leads to a deadlock holding back a resolution. A garage, for example, sold his customer four new tires. Two days later, he came back with a blown tire, which he said was defective even though it was apparent that there was a threeinch cut in the tire. He then not only demanded a new tire but he said that all the tires were defective and wanted all of them changed. The garage did offer him a new tire for free even though it was apparent that the tire was damaged but that was not good enough for him. He wanted all the tires to be changed which the garage would not do.

After I reasoned with this man, he agreed to accept the tire for free even though I believe he knew what happened to the tire. I later found out through my sources that what he was doing was creating such a fuss about the one tire and that by asking for all tires to be changed, this would hopefully get him a new tire for nothing.

Here is another example: A lady bought a new car from a dealership and after she took delivery of the car, she came back to the dealership to enquire as to why the car was not rust protected, as she was promised. She even brought her boyfriend with her to corroborate her story that she was promised a free rust protection at the time of sale, even though it was not marked on the bill of sale. This went on for months before I got involved with the dealership. The dealership stated that she was not promised a free rust protection and that they would not do anything for her.

When I did get involved, the dealership offered her the rust protection for half price but after a little more looking into the matter, I found out that her ex-boyfriend was collaborating with her in supporting the lie about the promised rust protection.

I told the dealership that they no longer had to offer her the free rust protection for her car for half price but they agree to honour their offer to her anyways.

Long before I ever get involved, the credit goes to many of the dedicated men and women working in the dealerships and the garages who depend on their loyal customers for repeat services. Sometimes however, they have to handle unreasonable customers and they try to do it with patience, understanding and with the soul purpose of retaining a customer for their employer.

Dennis O’Sullivan can be reached by email at: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca or by regular mail at Box 10019 Winona, ON, L8E 5R1. Be sure to mention where you reside when writing to Dennis.