Dublin, CA – Diagnosing a Maintenance Problem | Auto Repair Shop Advice

A nice lady walked in to the shop the other day asking how much to replace the fuel filter on her Ford Expedition. “Well”, I said, “Probably not more than about $75.00, but are you having a particular problem?”. She said the truck was a little sluggish and thought that might be the problem. I then asked her if the Check Engine light was on. “No”, she replied. “Well, not now. We disconnected the battery to turn it off”.

Hmmmm…. OK…

I then asked her if it was running rough at all. She said it was…a little.

Ok…have you had a tune up lately? Ever?  Nope…never, she said. “And my gas mileage has gone down a lot”

How many miles are on the vehicle? Ummm…over 120K.

I looked at her with an almost dreaded look. I knew this truck has almost never been serviced. We would inspect the truck and find an extreme lack of maintenance. Fluids old and dirty…filters dirty and clogged, belts cracked…loose suspension and steering bits…

Now…this nice lady didn’t look poor, she was very well dressed…although these days with the unemployment rate the way it is, you never know… but she had told me they owned the truck since 30K miles. And I would guess all they did was put gas in it and occasionally change the oil.

They were trying to find a shortcut solution to an ongoing problem. And that problem is lack of maintenance.

Now, if this lady and her family were in financial straights and they really needed a low cost solution, they are probably out of luck. Maintenance is just that…Maintain. It’s a long term commitment, like having a child or getting married. Although I was sensing a divorce may be in their future, not between husband and wife, but between them and the truck.

My point is, with some investment along the way, they wouldn’t be in the situation they are now.

Car expenses can be spread out over time. With the help of a good auto repair shop, a place that understands the needs of it’s customers, and someplace that won’t try to sell you a laundry list of stuff every time, you can plan for maintenance and spread the cost so you don’t get hit with a big bill all at once.

Now, sometimes things just fail, and it won’t give you any warning. But, the better maintained the vehicle is, the less this type of thing occurs. And it just lasts longer, too.

We never did inspect the Nice Lady’s truck. After quoting her for a few things she asked about, she said she would bring the car back the next day. She never showed for her appointment. I suspect she found someplace who would just replace her fuel filter.