camaro tales, part ii (death by stereo)

okay, i think it’s safe to finally write this one…

…i almost did it close to a month ago but my girl benita stopped me, saying i should ride things out for a month and make sure all was clear.

i’m pretty sure now all is clear…at least here’s to hoping. you might recall i had done a bit about having some car trouble. fried the battery new years eve (concensus was it was it’s time to go anyway) and i had to buy a $30 headlight switch (which was returned due to automotive rule number thirteen, “thou shalt not trust electrical parts from autozone”) – although it turns out such was not the case as i commented a/c delco (i.e. general motors factory) parts were the way to go and worked brilliantly…

…for about a week. then *POOF* – darkness on my way to work at 6:14am one monday morning (back when i had a job to go to) and i had to wait out the sunrise at a convenience store that stocks rockstar punch in the twenty-four ounce can just for me and has marginal breakfast tacos served by a really cute little mexican girl…

(the good two outweigh the marginal tacos)

so then i had to turn to the “professionals”. it’s put in quotes for a reason…the guys i went to, recommended by a good friend, were total thieves in a way. i only give them that “in a way” credit because…

1. they did diagnose the problem, give me the wiring diagrams, and were so cocky THEY would get to fix it they left the part unattached and just laid out behind the dash where i found it in less than five seconds.

2. they charged me $90 for said diagnosis, then lied to me about where the part was (god bless the interenet for an accurate location) and wanted to charge me $450 for the part as it was only available from the dealership (that part was true, ‘cept the part was fine) and another $250 for the labor, for a total of $700.

my non-professional ass fixed it in the parking lot of my buddy bobby’s auto parts store for $5 in twenty minutes…shaving $695 off the “professional” estimate.

(hence the quotes)

the problem? about a year ago i finally replaced my cd changer and the guy who sold it to me (off eBay) had a monsoon cassette deck he was looking to unload and threw it in for an extra $10. as half the lights on my cd deck were burned out, i took it so i could hook up my iPod (or notebook) to the stereo to listen to music. i figure, i have a cd changer in the trunk – who needs it in the dash?

but here was the problem…the cd player was just a hair smaller than the tape deck – or at least the amp heat sink was. so, over the last year said larger heat sink had slowly rubbed through the wiring going to a module in the headlight system, causing a short and frying the switch. wrap that bad bitch in electrical tape, drop it down behind the a/c module just to be double safe, and all seems to be in the clear a month later…

…again, for $695 below the $700 estimate – and that $5 was for a roll of automotive-grad electrical tape.

fuck the pros – figure your shit out yourself. $185 in parts (since i burned out the first switch) and $95 in diagnostic fees and i fix it for $5 in twenty minutes? yeah, i think i need to learn how to read a wiring diagram and motherfuck them…

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  • the redhead Feb 7, 2009 @ 3:41

    a new career for you possibly???