DENNIS O’SULLIVAN
A Simcoe woman enlists Dennis’ help to rescue her car from a repairman who seems intent on not fixing anything for her.
QUESTION
Hi Mr. O’Sullivan, I hope that you can help me out with my problem. I have an older car that needs a timing belt to be replaced. I had the car towed to a garage that was recommended by my boyfriend, who I not longer have as a boyfriend. The car has been at this garage for more than four weeks and it looks like it has been taken apart but as of this email, has not been fixed.
The mechanic keeps telling me that the part is on back order and he is waiting for the part to come in. I called a dealer and they told me that they have three of the parts in stock that are needed for my car. I think that the mechanic is lying to me so I confronted him about the part and he told me that it is a timing gear that he is waiting for.
I apologized for my error and left with the understanding that it would be ready in the next four days. Four days have passed and the car is still not ready and when I asked him about the car, he told me to stop pestering him and the car would be ready when it is ready.
I have been getting a ride to school with friends but I would like to have my car so that I can be part of the car pool for rides to school. I spoke to my professor about my car problem and he suggested that I write to you for help.
Could you intervene for me and find out when my car is going to be ready?
Thank you for any help that you can give me. I do not know what else I can do. Anna from Simcoe
ANSWER
You really have gotten yourself into a pickle. You are probably aware that your car is not at a mechanical shop but you may not know that the person working on your car is not a licensed mechanic. He does do a lot of small mechanical jobs for friends but replacing a timing belt is not a job that he should have taken on and he knows that.
He told me that he cannot get the timing correct so here is what he is going to do. He is going to have your car towed, at his expense, to a garage that he used to work at as a tire installer and they are going to take a look at your car and get back to you with a price to have it repaired.
I have also spoken to that garage and they have told me that they will make sure that your car is readily repaired after their diagnosis as long as you agree to the repair costs. The cost to replace the timing belt on your car, as long as there are no other issues, is going to be around three to four hundred dollars. You might want to think about that before you spend that much money on a car that is worth approximately one thousand dollars with an odometer reading of two hundred and thirty thousand kilometers.
There is, however, some good news. The person attempting the work on your car has donated the timing belt and the gaskets so this should take about one hundred dollars off the final bill. There is not anything wrong with the timing gear. Let me know how you make out and now you can do me a favour. Suggest to your professor that it might be a good idea to speak in class for about ten minutes on your experience with car repairs so that your classmates will not in the future be caught in the predicament that you have walked yourself into.
QUESTION
My long email relates to the frustrations that I am experiencing with my 1988 Chevrolet halfton truck. I cannot find out why the taillights, signal lights and the brake lights all seem to be affecting one another when they are used.
I have replaced all the bulbs on the rear of the truck including the back up lights but the problem still persists. I have even removed the trailer package just in case that is affecting the operation of the lights.
Any ideas? Albert from Georgetown
ANSWER
I have shortened your email and my answer will be just as short. I have seen the picture of your truck that you sent me and it certainly is not a showpiece, so here is what I want you to do. Get a braided ground strap and in an inconspicuous area, bolt one end of it to the cab of the truck and the other end of it to the rear box of the truck. Make sure that the ground strap is long enough to allow for the twisting movement of the cab and the box of the truck. This should solve your rear light problem.
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.