RE: Who Works on Their Car?
I've always done my own work but Monday night on the way to work the Dakota died at a stop sign 2 blocks away from work. No restart just some sputtering. Well I figure it's gonna be fuel related and I'm having visions of dropping the fuel tank I had JUST FILLED to replace the fuel pump after having it towed to my driveway. Not a pleasant thought. So I go through the key on-off, on-off, on to pull the codes from the odometer display expecting a code that will clue me into where to start............Pdone. No codes at all? WHAAAAAA? Next morning I head down to the gas station I had just filled up at to read the owner the riot act about water in his tanks and he hands me the computer readout which he had just taken that morning that gives the water content in the tanks.......0.000 water level. Now what? Crank sensor? Cam sensor? Fuel pump? Oh yeah....... no codes........I'm screwed!
So I admit defeat and have it towed to a local shop, Napa certified. ASE certified, family run for over 50 years. Well it wasn't cheap but I would've had no clue where to begin without spending a couple of days trying to figure out a plan of attack and then I could've been wrong and wasted time and possibly money for nothing. In hind sight the only thing I would've done differently is at least check for fuel rail pressure. That would have told me something but the last 2 weeks have been quite stressful with work and a serious illness in the family so my mind is going about 10 different directions at once. Maybe I was just overloaded mentally and could have figured it out on my own if I had gotten my mind to slow down a little.
The only other time I had someone work on one of my vehicles was several winters ago after I had broken my back and my wife's car came due for an oil change. The following spring at it's next service interval I got under it as usual to change the oil and ended up having to drive the oil filter off with a hammer and large punch. I just don't trust anybody else doing work on my vehicles.