I've always been a pickup gal. A redneck woman. Even in my teenage years, when my dad asked if money was not an object what kind of car would I buy - I answered, without hesitation, "A pickup." I just love how a pickup drives and handles and I love my baby, although I know she is getting a little long in the tooth, and I wish we were in a better financial position to purchase a newer truck. However, for now we just make sure she gets the maintenance she needs at least until the wheels come off.
We used to do all the trucks maintenance at Firestone, but have been very disappointed with them the last couple of years. Basically, they stopped being competitive and once upon a time, we could enter our local Firestone and they knew us by name and treated us right. Now their prices are higher then even the dealership on many items and the turn around on employees has lead us to feel like we are a number instead of a person. A few months ago, I went to Firestone and asked about the cost of replacing the fuel filter and they weren't just a few dollars more, they were close to $30 more then other shops I had called. Plus, I dislike how I have to spend half the day there just to get an oil change. Not too long away, they were the cheapest place to get an oil change, especially if I had a coupon - not anymore. My biggest frustration is we have lifetime brake replacement on our truck through Firestone and I had an emergency brake light that stayed on and I took the truck to Firestone, but they could not find anything wrong with the truck.
Fast forward a few months later, they brake light is still on (we assumed it was just a bad sensor) and I had stopped at the local dealership to get an oil change done on the truck. By the way, Gillis Auto Center in Shelton, Washington, I really like their shop, especially for oil changes now. Their price is reasonable and they wash my truck when they are done. When they had my truck up on the rack, they did an inspection on the truck and discovered I had a rear axle leak, which was dripping grease onto my emergency brake and had coated it. No wonder why my emergency brake was not working. They gave me a price quote and I almost swallowed my tongue. They also asked me who had replaced my fuel filter last time. I had to think about it and then remembered it had been Oil Can Henry's. Gillis told me they had put the fuel filter on backwards. What? Was that even possible? The Ford dealership wanted to replace the filter for me, but I shook my head and said, "No, I'll take it back to Oil Can Henry's and have them fix it right." As I was waiting for the truck to be washed and brought up front, I tweeted - How on earth could Oil Can Henry's put on a fuel filter backwards?
After I finished up at the dealership, I drove over to Oil Can Henry's, which was on the other side of the county, unfortunately. I pulled up the the large rolled doors and before I even had a chance to finish asking the question, they were fixing the problem. Had to chuckle, they said they were waiting for me because corporate had sent out an email to the local Oil Can Henry's that someone was going to come to the store to replace a fuel filter. So we are not only being spied on by the NSA, but Oil Can Henry's is spying on us, too. All kidding aside, thanks, Oil Can Henry's taking the time to make it right.
I love my husband with all my heart, but a mechanic, he is not. But thank goodness for neighbors who are. One of our neighbors worked on my truck a couple weekends ago and replaced both axle seals. He thought it was better to do both of them at the same time, since when one fails, the second is usually not far behind and with replacing a rear axle seal, everything on the rear end needs to be taken apart - the tires removed the brakes, etc. And of course, while he was taking things apart, he found more damage. He was able to replace those seals and he replaced the rear brake pads, rotors, and emergency brake shoe. However, the stupid emergency brake light is still on.
We used to do all the trucks maintenance at Firestone, but have been very disappointed with them the last couple of years. Basically, they stopped being competitive and once upon a time, we could enter our local Firestone and they knew us by name and treated us right. Now their prices are higher then even the dealership on many items and the turn around on employees has lead us to feel like we are a number instead of a person. A few months ago, I went to Firestone and asked about the cost of replacing the fuel filter and they weren't just a few dollars more, they were close to $30 more then other shops I had called. Plus, I dislike how I have to spend half the day there just to get an oil change. Not too long away, they were the cheapest place to get an oil change, especially if I had a coupon - not anymore. My biggest frustration is we have lifetime brake replacement on our truck through Firestone and I had an emergency brake light that stayed on and I took the truck to Firestone, but they could not find anything wrong with the truck.
Fast forward a few months later, they brake light is still on (we assumed it was just a bad sensor) and I had stopped at the local dealership to get an oil change done on the truck. By the way, Gillis Auto Center in Shelton, Washington, I really like their shop, especially for oil changes now. Their price is reasonable and they wash my truck when they are done. When they had my truck up on the rack, they did an inspection on the truck and discovered I had a rear axle leak, which was dripping grease onto my emergency brake and had coated it. No wonder why my emergency brake was not working. They gave me a price quote and I almost swallowed my tongue. They also asked me who had replaced my fuel filter last time. I had to think about it and then remembered it had been Oil Can Henry's. Gillis told me they had put the fuel filter on backwards. What? Was that even possible? The Ford dealership wanted to replace the filter for me, but I shook my head and said, "No, I'll take it back to Oil Can Henry's and have them fix it right." As I was waiting for the truck to be washed and brought up front, I tweeted - How on earth could Oil Can Henry's put on a fuel filter backwards?
After I finished up at the dealership, I drove over to Oil Can Henry's, which was on the other side of the county, unfortunately. I pulled up the the large rolled doors and before I even had a chance to finish asking the question, they were fixing the problem. Had to chuckle, they said they were waiting for me because corporate had sent out an email to the local Oil Can Henry's that someone was going to come to the store to replace a fuel filter. So we are not only being spied on by the NSA, but Oil Can Henry's is spying on us, too. All kidding aside, thanks, Oil Can Henry's taking the time to make it right.
I love my husband with all my heart, but a mechanic, he is not. But thank goodness for neighbors who are. One of our neighbors worked on my truck a couple weekends ago and replaced both axle seals. He thought it was better to do both of them at the same time, since when one fails, the second is usually not far behind and with replacing a rear axle seal, everything on the rear end needs to be taken apart - the tires removed the brakes, etc. And of course, while he was taking things apart, he found more damage. He was able to replace those seals and he replaced the rear brake pads, rotors, and emergency brake shoe. However, the stupid emergency brake light is still on.
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