Recent content by CJH

They "ought to light", but they don't!

I would consider the Ford Mustang. Get the GT because it would be less likely to stall when the student drops the clutch!

I find Hondas to be exciting too! Especially the new Civic Si and the S2000! You can get good fuel economy and still have a car that is fun to drive and turns heads.

I have never used the other brands mentioned, but I have found NuFinish to last a long time.

How can it be good to ignore the low cost retailer with the most efficient distribution system, or the highest quality and most reliable cars in the world?

This is the last post for me on this subject. It was an unusual situation that lead me to take part to this shop. I called today to make an appointment for state inspection of 2 cars and the owner happened to answer the phone. He told me he was very glad to hear from me. I could tell he was...

A lot of you mentioned the warranty issue..and that is exactly what the shop told me. It seemed so obvious to me there would be no warranty that I thought the shop was just using this as an excuse. The Autozone pump was a new unit with a lifetime warranty (probably labor not covered) - I don't...

Bret, Not saying I am going to do this (haven't decided yet), but if the shop loses the servicing of a customer with 4 vehicles over a decision like this, is this helping or hindering them keeping the doors open? If they are being paid for what the labor that they perform, how does that prevent...

Thanks all for the comments. Just for the record, Autozone had several water pumps for my vehicle. I picked the best one they had which was a new unit. I would never expect the shop to warrant a unit I had bought (how could they?), or to cover the labor if the unit was bad. I just figured...I am...

Boxcartommmie22, Why do you say that? It is pretty well recognized that Toyota and Honda make the best quality and most reliable cars in the world. Pick up the Consumer Reports auto issue and you can see the proof. What brands do you think are better?

Thanks for all the comments. I think it is pretty obvious that a customer supplied part would not be warranted by the shop...in fact, I can only remember once of a shop giving me parts warranty repair on anything and I have been driving for 35 years. The auto parts stores offer lifetime...

Both Honda and Toyota are very relaible cars. Styling is personal, but I think Honda has a big edge. Toyota had some nicely styled cars in the past (Supra, MR2, Celica) but they seem to have phased them all out. Honda has the S2000, Civic Si and a very sporty 2 door version of the Accord. Toyota...

I bought a water pump for my Chevy Tahoe at AutoZone. I knew you needed a special tool that supposedly you can get at Autozone. They gave me the wrong tool. Anyway, at that point, I was out of time and decided to have a local independent shop do the job. I called for an apt, and dropped the car...

Thanks Ray. Explosion was not my concern. I had the apparantly incorrect misunderstanding that Dexcool and traditional antifreeze were not compatible mixtures. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

I had a local shop put a new water pump on my 1998 Tahoe today. My wife picked it up. When I looked at the receipt, I see they put 1 gallon of DexCool in, and the cooling system has regular green antifreeze in it. I know this is a BIG no-no! The car has only been driven about 5 miles since the...