Day: December 1, 2015

You know, lately every time I want to go somewhere it’s always a pain in the ass.

Of course it’s not actually just because I’m trying to go somewhere. It’s that I’m trying to go somewhere and that requires that I get in the car.

A couple of weeks ago I needed brakes. OK I knew it had been a long time… Like NEVER! Since the brakes had been done. 7 years and 100,000 miles later isn’t all that bad.

Unfortunately that’s where the mechanic stopped in his diagnostics. Instead of throughly checking out the whole braking system, including the ABS system, the mechanic thought, “Customer reports squealing / howl, brake pads are near end of life, we’re done.”

No doubt the computer(s) said, “Yup, everything is good, no errors posted,” and because of the pressure to turn vehicles over in his service bay, the mechanic disregarded the rest of the customer report.

The howl only happens in the morning.
It only happens once right after the car is pulled out of the driveway.
The sound is more a howl than a squeal.

Sigh…

This morning the howl started then stopped. I went to my first stop then I’m heading to my next stop and there’s the howl again along with the distinct smell of something burning.

Okaaaayyy! NOT GOOD!

Cancel the rest of my day! Get the car repair place on the phone and tell them I need to get my car back in, and they need to put me in a rental. Thankfully, the repair place is pretty accommodating.

One flatbed tow truck ride later, I’m at the repair place handing them the keys to my car. They’re handing me the keys to a brand new 328i and I’m on my way again. Now lets see if I can pick up the pieces of my day and get something productive done.

I’ve discovered that I don’t like BMW automatic transmissions, they have a very weird shifting pattern, especially if you’re heading up a hill. On the plus side, I’ve got a nice ride for a few days.

I have a bad feeling that this is going to be another expensive repair.