So what did you do today?

[LuFins Dad]

I’m coming off a flu that had me knocked out for a few days. Was driving in to work for my first day back when the car started misfiring. Pulled over to a mechanics shop. Told them I need new plugs, possibly a coil. They said they would need to run a diagnostic and check the codes. That would be $200 and it would be three hours before they could start. And if it is the plugs, it would be an additional $100 for parts and $150 for the labor.

I walked next door to the Advanced Auto, borrowed their code machine. Misfire in Cylinder 5. I bought a plug and Dielectric Gel, switched the plug… Fixed for $15 and in 20 minutes. I flipped off the counter help at Mr. Tire as I pulled out.

[89th]

Ha if you know what you’re doing, do it! Awesome.

I put up Halloween decorations today.

[Mik]

Didn’t do any of that, but good job.

Slept in until 9, coffee, financial check and puzzles until 11. Recipe research for tonight’s spectacular dinner grocery shopping, to the gym for an hour then home for a shower and cooking.

[Horace]

It's impressive that you knew how to do that.

[Mik]

All the auto parts stores have code readers and will help you use them.

[jon-nyc]

@89th said in So what did you do today?:

I put up Halloween decorations today.

You’re one of them.

[jon-nyc]

This consumed much of my day.

Afterwards a free massage at the base station, lobster dinner, and went to sleep early.

[LuFins Dad]

@Horace said in So what did you do today?:

It's impressive that you knew how to do that.

It’s likely the easiest auto maintenance or repair to perform. Simpler than swapping out batteries in today’s vehicles. I had to do it years ago to keep an old Toyota on the road back when I was poor. This post wasn’t meant to be a pat on my own back but was meant to point out the sheer ridiculousness of the car repair place.

1. no diagnosing was necessary. I came in asking for a service - replace the spark plugs. I’m telling them what I want them to do. If I’m wrong on the plugs, that’s on me. It was my own decision. But, if it wasn’t the plugs, the. The Coils are the next most likely suspect and you would replace the plugs anyway if replacing a coil. Either way, I asked for a service and would have been willing to pay a reasonable rate for the service. With their tools and experience, changing out all 6 plugs would ha 20 minutes, tops, whereas, my replacing the other 5 will take me about 90 minutes on my day off. That time has value to me that I was willing to pay for.

2. If they want to do their own analysis of the check engine code, fine. It’s just a matter of plugging a simple and cheap reader into the a port under the dash. It’s the equivalent of plugging a mouse into a USB port of your computer to see if the port was working. And they wanted $195 for it. Ridiculous. It’s a free service provided at any auto parts store…