I took my car to the garage. Suspected the wheel bearing or cv unit was gone on the driver's side. I had another vehicle to use in the interim. The garage calls and tells me the car is done and ready for pickup. They informed me the only problem I had was a loose tire. My initial reaction was- what, that's all. Where's the several hundred dollar bill for the repairs. I'm an idiot, I can tighten wheel bolts. I recognized this and ran it through the grid. Step back and take an honest look at what involved. What's my part? Where did this come from? Fear- I felt less than and was afraid of what they thought of me. Negative thinking. I then turned it around- I should be grateful that's all they found. Cost me $35. I've never been to a garage and escaped with a bill that low. Except for an oil change. And, really- What they think is none of my business. Right? Correct, I'm sure they've seen woarse cases. When I got to the garage they told me those car are prone to loose wheels- aluminum rims and bolts instead of lug nuts. I just bought the car. So, how was I to know. Learning through experience or wisdom. This one came in the form of experience. Thank you for the lesson today God. Negative thinking turned into gratitude. What a gift.
Hey Mike, Honestly, what I would do to make yourself feel better is to pay them $672.50, and tell them they are wrong! Tell them it was the CV joint.
Seriously, I went to a garage that specialized in engine swaps through a company called "Jasper Engines". I thought that the metalic rapping I heard HAD to be piston slap, and I was ready to bite a $3500 bullet for a remanufactured engine. I spent a lot of time on the phone with them coordinated prices blah blah blah. So I show up and about 4 mechanics walk out to listen to the "piston slap" and one guy gets under the car, and the sound stops! It was the heat shield banging against the catalytic converter! I looked pretty cool to those guys! They started laughing at me. Even my wife started laughing! It was at this point that I realized that looking like an ass saved me $3500 so I started laughing too.
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"You're in the right place. That's the door right there. Turn around."
I had a car that would make a funny piston-knock noise at idle but only when hot and RPMs were low. And it made sort of a rumble, and the oil pressure would fall down to nothing at hot idle, but as soon as you brought the RPM up, it would be fine. I replaced the oil pump twice, second time with a high volume pump which increased the cold OP to something like 75 psi, but it still dropped off to nothing at hot idle. Finally diagnosed it to be the main bearings - when we rebuilt the motor, either someone made an error miking the mains or the parts guy gave us the wrong bearings, but they were probably a few thou oversize from what they needed to be. As a result when the oil was hot and thin, the crank would chatter in the mains which was making the metalic rumble, and also the walking of the crank would occasionally cock a piston hence the piston skirt knocking sound. We concluded that aside from the alarming drop in OP at idle, there wasn't really anything at risk and the car ran great otherwise. Changing the mains would have been a much bigger job. The car wound up in the hands of a fellow AA and not sure where it went after that. I'd recognize it in an instant if it were to make an appearance... but could well have been scrapped long ago.
Hey Mike,,,,a pleasnt surprise no doubt.Isn't it amazing how we can conjour up such monsters in our heads!! And how much worse it was when functioning with brain sludging from the poison..Yup I can take looking possibly a little foolish but escaping without spending my whole Social Security check. Better to have more money at the end of the month ,then more month at the end of your money!!!
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Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Thats good, like you said, at least the bill was only $35, even though you could have done it yourself, you were expecting it to be a lot more, and your grateful, had no way of knowing, and it wasnt that bad, good for you.
Learning through experience or wisdom. This one came in the form of experience. Thank you for the lesson today God. Negative thinking turned into gratitude. What a gift.
HaHa, a auto garage should have no opinion on outside issues.... I don't know why I was thinking that I would have told them it's the car my wife drives
Glad you caught a break!!
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
Let's just say that I spend a lot of time in a culture where the absolute, primary, sometimes only consideration is "how does this make me look", "I must look [insert idealised quality]," and where being made to feel embarrased is metephorically tantamount to death and cetainly cause for extraordinarily bad personal repurcussions.
I'm glad I have the steps and this Fellowship, without which I'd be drinking. Shares like yours to help me stay sober.
In terms of how others see me... I used to go through life trying to be Bugs Bunny. Always clever, always one step ahead, smart-assed, wisecracking... but the rest of the world saw me as Daffy Duck.
Yes, low self esteem has gotten the best of me in those regards, and don't forget sarcastic jokes : ( Bleck It's something else that has fallen away for today thanks be to HP
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Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
I then turned it around- I should be grateful that's all they found. Cost me $35. I've never been to a garage and escaped with a bill that low. Except for an oil change. And, really- What they think is none of my business. Right? Correct, I'm sure they've seen woarse cases. When I got to the garage they told me those car are prone to loose wheels- aluminum rims and bolts instead of lug nuts. I just bought the car. So, how was I to know. Learning through experience or wisdom. This one came in the form of experience. Thank you for the lesson today God. Negative thinking turned into gratitude. What a gift. 
