Wednesday, May 5th - The First Sign of Trouble

Took the Jeep in for repairs on Wednesday, May 5th. I learned that fixing the oil leak would cost over $500. Then I learned that the coolant looked bad and the system would have to be flushed. That would run the bill up past $600. Today, May 6th, I learned that there were a host of other things wrong, to the tune of a total of $1,700.

I had to consider other options first, but I ended up agreeing to the repairs, since we can't afford a new car right now. I stopped by the shop on my way home, and the mechanic showed me one of the rear shocks. It looked like it'd been laying out in the woods for 15 years. Yikes! I've been driving this thing at high speeds.

The mechanic told me that every bolt was rusted onto the car, so they'd been working on it since that morning. I asked whether this would drive up the cost, but he said they'd stick with the price they'd quoted. I shook his hand and thanked him, thinking that he might have saved me some serious grief someday down the road.

Saturday, May 8th - A 'Fixed' Car Breaks Down

Ah... but the saga continues on Saturday, May 8th. I drove the Jeep out to Chelsea via I-94 West. I exited at Pierce Rd, and right at the end of the ramp, the engine died. I tried to restart it several times. It would turn over, but not catch. I opened the hood, and there was a little bit of steam rising.

I was in kind of a pickle because I have no cell phone. But to my great luck, the first person coming down the ramp was a very fine gentleman named Bob Ford, who took me to his house, where I was able to make the phone calls I needed to make in order to figure out what to do next. Not only did Bob not have a cell phone, but he also had a rotary phone.

Bob drove me back to the Jeep, but before I tried to start it, we examined it under the hood. I saw that coolant had leaked everywhere and was all over the road. I started it up and it made a frightening noise, but ran. It sounded strangely like a diesel engine, which it's not.

Bob followed me into Chelsea to a gas station right off of an I-94 exchange. I called the garage which had been working on the car, and they sent out a tow truck. Once we arrived at the garage, I was asked what happened by at least three different people. I don't know whether the extra questioners were just curious, or whether they were trying to see whether I told a consistent story.

But Sam, the mechanic who I'd been talking to, said he'd take a look and would call me. He said he was disturbed that this had happened, and had been trying to think of what could be wrong while they were awaiting my arrival. I hoped the problem is minor and easily fixed.

Week of May 3-7 - An Awfully Long Wait

During the week of May 3-7, I talked to Sam a couple of times. He said that I needed a new motor. At that time, I assumed "motor" and "engine" were different things. He had started shopping around for a new motor. When he got it, it cost $700. I asked him how much the labor would be and he told me it would be $800, but that he wouldn't charge me for the labor. I was surprised to hear this. He said that he wanted to take care of me, and that he knew sometimes there was a worry on (both sides?) that something had happened at the garage. Not a lot more happened that week. I didn't have the car all weekend.

Things finally started coming together during the week that began on Monday May 17th. I spoke with Sam a couple of times, and he said that he was almost ready and he'd take it home that night to test it out and I could pick it up the next day. One problem was that there was a faulty crank sensor, and he'd ordered the part, so that would delay things a bit.

Thursday the 20th - Deciding How Much to Pay

On Thursday the 20th I asked him how we were going to handle the money angle. He said he'd charge me $700 for the engine he'd bought, and that the labor would be $900, but he wouldn't charge me. We haggled a bit, but he kept insisting that he wasn't going to charge me. I told him I was thinking about paying half that amount.

On the way to work that day, I stopped at Illi's and talked to one of their mechanics. I laid out the situation and asked him what he would do if he were me (i.e., not pay, pay part, pay all). He said he'd take the no-pay deal and keep bringing Sam business and refer people to him. We talked in a fair amount of detail about the actual mechanics of what might have gone wrong with the engine. He felt that the lack of oil probably caused some of the trouble, but that the lack of coolant was a bigger problem, and it sounded like Sam's guys may have goofed in that area, given the major coolant leak on the day I had to get towed. So I started thinking about paying 1/4 or 1/3 instead of 1/2.

Friday May 21st - One Very Expensive Ordeal

I finally got to take the Jeep home. Sam showed me the bill. He'd written in the $450 I'd talked about paying for the labor, and said he'd take care of the tow bill, which was $83. I decided to stick with my $300, but pay for the tow bill, and when I said this, he said it'd be simplest to just subtract $74 from the bill he'd tallied up - the amounts were pretty close. So that is what we did. The total came to $1,200.

Sam showed me my old engine - it was an enormous beast. There were three other engines nearby, all of them smaller and newer. He said that all three of them had been ruined by people letting their oil run out completely. He pointed out one in particular which had an actual hole which was caused by a piston hitting the metal. Unbelievably, one of the engines had come out of a year 2000 car - can you imagine having to replace the engine on a not-even-four-year-old car??

I started feeling wondering whether my original lack of oil might have caused more of the engine damage, and started feeling guilty, but I'd already paid. Sam sent me on my way with a free top-off of gas. I told him I might be back if Michigan enacts an emissions law.

So in the end the grand total for all of this work (assuming this really is the end!) is $2,900. There are still many parts that might need to be replaced in the next several years, but in large part, the car is new. Now that I've invested that much money in it, there is no way in hell I am parting with that car! That plus all of the other money I've spent on it since I got it about (3?) years ago add up to quite a bit of money for a "free" car! But considering that it's a 1988 model, obviously stuff is going to go wrong.

This story picks up again in October - see The Jeep Saga - Part II.