The 'Ol Gray Mare

No, I'm not talking about Jeanie - she's still a filly in my eyes; I'm talking about the Maxima...

In our state, automobiles must pass an annual safety (and in some localities an emissions) inspection.

A few months ago, a new Nissan dealership opened less than two miles away from the house. Jeanie and I were really excited, as the nearest dealer had been about a half-hour drive. Even though dealership service departments tend to be more expensive than independent garages, we have had fewer incidents of them trying to rip us off.

The dealership called to inform me that the car had failed the inspection. The reasons were a 1/2 burned out brake lamp in back, a burned out marker light in front, and a leaking master brake cylinder. I asked how much it would cost for them to make the repairs, and they told me that the master cylinder would run around $300.

Since the car is almost fourteen years old, has over 230,000 miles, and is our third car, I was reluctant to put that much money into repairing it. So, I told the dealership not to make the repairs.

While it was apparent that there was a little bit of leakage showing on the power brake booster, the leakage was so minor that I had never had to replace any brake fluid due to loss. It seemed like they were being quite picky about the inspection.

My next door neighbor - Dave - is incredibly handy. One of his many manly skills is automotive repair. The thought occurred to me that Dave might be able to replace the master brake cylinder for less than the dealership had quoted.

One of my (many) flaws is that I am extremely reluctant to ask for help. So, it was almost two months before I approached Dave and asked if he would be willing to help me with the replacement of the master cylinder. As usual, he indicated that he would be more than happy to help. Now, my idea of him helping was for him to do the work. Somehow, I guess I didn't fully convey that. Dave told me to go purchase a rebuilt master cylinder from a local auto-parts store, and let him know when I had it.

Last Saturday, I finally got around to popping over to the new Auto Zone which opened about a mile away. They didn't have one in stock, but told me that they could have one by 10:00 AM on the following day (Sunday).

Sure enough, they had it in on Sunday. The part cost $59 plus a $50 core charge. They told me that the core charge would be refunded when I brought the old master cylinder back to the store.

Around 11:00 AM, I went next door to seek out Dave's assistance. Dave explained that the installation of the master cylinder was fairly simple. I simply had to remove the four metal brake lines from the old cylinder, and then remove the two bolts that held the cylinder to the power brake booster. Before starting, I placed some disposable rags beneath the unit, sprayed it down with carb cleaner, and blew it off with compressed air. After I had the cylinder removed, I brought it over to Dave's garage, where he helped me remove the reservoir from the old cylinder and transfer it to the new one. I was surprised that the reservoir simply was press-fit onto the top of the cylinder. It literally popped of the old cylinder, and popped on the new one. Dave then showed me how to "bench bleed" the new cylinder. This basically entailed installing four temporary plugs which were included with the new cylinder, then feeding four lengths of plastic tubing (also included) from the plugs to the reservoir. We then filled the reservoir with new brake fluid and used a large screwdriver to depress the cylinder's piston to fill the chambers with fluid and pump out the air.

Once we had finished bench bleeding the new cylinder, I installed it back in the car and hooked back up the brake lines. Fortunately, I only got a very little air in the brake lines, so I didn't have to bleed the brakes. Dave told me that I would need to eventually bleed them, but that it wouldn't hurt to wait a little while.

It had been many years since I had done any major work on a car. The combination of having saved a bunch of money and of having had "done it myself" felt really good.

On Monday, I drove the car to the dealership so they could re-inspect it. It was late in the day, so they told me that they might not get to it until this morning. I told them that was fine, as Jeanie had followed me in the truck expecting that.

This morning, the dealership called to inform me that the car had once again failed inspection.

"What!?!" I exclaimed. "How could this be?" The car had not been driven since the last inspection, other than a quick test drive to check the brakes.

I was informed that the car had failed because of a cracked EGR vacuum line, old wiper blades, and a broken headlight adjuster.

Okay, I could accept the wiper blades, maybe even the vacuum line, but the headlight adjuster?

I asked how much it would cost to replace the headlight adjuster.

$500 was the reply!

"What!?!" I exclaimed. "How could this be?"

The service writer explained that the entire headlight and housing would have to be replaced.

I was quite pissed when I went to pick up the car this morning. I asked to be shown what was wrong with the adjuster. It was indeed broken, but, it wasn't broken when the last inspection was performed. I asked to speak with the service manager, and told him that the car had not been driven since the last inspection, and therefore, I could not see how the adjuster had broken in the interim. I told him that I believed that they had broken the adjuster, probably while checking the headlight alignment. He explained that they used a new headlight alignment device which never touched the headlight, and therefore they could not have broken it. He said that they part in question was plastic, and that sometimes they failed due to exposure to heat and cold.

I told the manager that I didn't feel that was the case, but he was unwilling to admit that they might have broken it.

I asked him to get my key so I could take the car elsewhere.

When I got the car home, I opened the hood to investigate the nature of the breakage. The adjuster was obviously broken. I decided to investigate a little further. Last year, I had to replace the other headlight assembly because the lens was cracked. Since I am a pack rat, I kept the old assembly. It occurred to me that maybe I could scavenge a part from the old assembly to repair the existing one.

Fortunately, since I had to replace the marker lamp on the front of the car, I knew how to remove the front quarter panel lamp assembly. This was important, since it had to be removed to allow me to remove the headlight assembly. After removing the front grill, I was able to remove the assembly. After disassembling the headlight assembly, I realized that I could indeed scavenge the nylon "nut" that was "broken." After replacing the nut, I was able to determine that it was not "broken" but instead was stripped! Nylon nuts don't strip themselves just sitting in the driveway!

I re-assembled the headlight assembly and re-installed it. I made a quick stop at the Auto Zone to get a new EGR vacuum hose and new wipers, and then headed back to the dealership.

The service manager was quite surprised when I walked back in the door. I fully expected that when I showed him the stripped nut, he would offer an apology. Instead, he simply complimented me on my resourcefulness in fixing the assembly and asked if I wished to get the car re-inspected.

Somehow, my head did not fly off my shoulders, and I said "yes." He told me that they would inspect it while I waited.

So, long story long... the car passed inspection, and I will never do business again with Southern States Nissan.

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Posted by David at April 08, 2003 08:38 PM