Shaking it up in Lancaster, Pa

Great drive down to Lancaster to visit my family, for what I think is for a good while. An eight hour drive that went without a hitch.. until. Until, the Check Engine reared its ugly head in the final hour of the trip. What is it this time? Only Micha knows. And since Micha cannot speak yet, back to a mechanic it goes.

I find a mechanic nearby, coming recommended by my mom, who gets her VW serviced there. But what happened while in the care of PA Auto Services is anyone's guess. The good news is he got the Check Engine light to go off, and did a cylinder test in which he found that they were working great. However, he did notice I had a broken headlight, a cracked bushing in my upper engine mount, and a cracked serpentine belt. To complicate matters, there was an incredible shaking sound that vibrated the entire cabin when I drove it off. Yet another new problem for the 16-year-old Volvo.

At this point, I'd say, let's turn this ship around and see what PA Auto has to say about it. But I sort of burned the bridge, scoffing at a $200 bill that included a $60 oil change and some general poking around the engine. In any case, I could only assume the shaking was due to the cracked bushing that PA Auto had discovered.

The bushing for the upper engine mount

The Volvo Mechanic in Massachusetts

The sputtering has stopped, but to alleviate any further concern, I decided to leave it with the mechanic at a reputable Volvo dealership in Wrenthem. He chalks up the issue to a bottom engine mount that had broken, forcing the engine to literally jump when I accelerate, therefore causing the wires to literally pop out of the spark plugs. Post labor, the car runs beautifully, and sounds much quieter than it used to.

In the mean time, we spend some time in Cape Cod, enjoying sunsets, beach hikes, and impromptu beach beers.

Sputtered to Massachusetts

At around 4pm Friday, we finally left our apartment in Brooklyn and got on the BQE, heading north for Massachusetts to say goodbye to Kristina's family. Unfortunately, I was getting some really bad sputtering coming from cylinder 2, so I had to pull off in the Bronx somewhere around Pelham Bay. What followed was a hunt for an available mechanic at the end of a Friday workday. I first stopped at one of those corporate mechanics, who told me there was a Volvo guy just two blocks away. I sputtered back on the road, and found a group of guys working on an old Porsche. The owner then gave me directions to a mechanic literally called the Volvo Guy. As I sputtered back on the road, I sputtered upon Lance's auto shop. What happened next warranted a 5-star Yelp review:

I'm on my way out of NYC when my car starts sputtering and losing power. It's 6pm on a Friday so most shops are closed. I pull up to this shop after getting a recommendation that there was a good Volvo mechanic nearby. I talked to Lance and another mechanic who told me where the Volvo guy was. But then Lance says his mechanic will take a look, that he's the "Swede from Jamaica" and can fix a Volvo. After testing a couple things -- including an electrical test which my joke of a mechanic in Brooklyn would never do -- he tells me to take it for a test drive. The sputtering is gone and I end up driving it all the way to Boston that night.

This mechanic, I wish I knew his name, is sitting down drinking a beer when I get back from the test drive. He won't take any of my money, and probably didn't tell me what he did because it was some little thing I messed up during my home tuneup. Take your cars to this scrappy, honest shop with years of experience hidden away off Boston Road. You'll be glad you did.

No idea what happened here, but it was one for the books. We drove to Massachusetts without a problem. 

Here's Micha

Micha is an aqua 1998 Volvo V70 turbo. It has a lot of heart, but has a great deal of miles on her -- over 197,000. As Micha's handler, I have convinced my girlfriend to take a roadtrip with Micha as our sublet in Los Angeles doesn't start until July. We'll be taking the car to the Badlands, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Moab, the Grand Canyon, and finally to the City of Angels. In between, we'll stay with family and friends wherever we can. To up the stakes, we're selling off most of what we own and putting the rest in the back of the Volvo. It should make for an interesting adventure.

The car had to live through an especially brutal winter in NYC, but for some reason, I think she is up to the challenge.

 

Leading up to the trip, I gave Micha a tuneup to try to remedy a pesky check engine light. Here, we replace the spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor, and ignition coil. I also got a driver's side control arm replaced by a shop. At this stage, I am still getting a check engine light, but the car is running nicely.