Zebulon Montgomery Pike Trail to the sources of the Mississippi 1805 — 1806

Day 3: August 13th, 2002 Pittsburgh (Dropping Car at Mechanic)

I drop my car at the Chevy garage in Wexford around half past eight. I also meet Jay with whom I arranged the appointment via email. He seems to be a real nice guy. But he is not the one at the service desk but another employee. This guy looks pretty much bored. I show him the printout of my emails with Jay and he types everything in his computer. I only have to sign the work order and that’s it.

I hope that there is not too much broken with my transmission. Helen thought that I might just need some transmission oil. But we will see what the guys at the garage will say. They wanted to come back to me during the day. When I try to give them my phone number I have a problem. I forgot to take the number with me and I don’t know it by memory. I promise to come back when Helen picks me up later.

She arrives after half an hour. I get a business card from here and can tell the guys the phone number to reach me. Now I have to wait. Helen is so nice to take me back home. I use the opportunity to write private and company emails. We are currently in a critical project phase in my company and I agreed to check emails.

Just past noon the garage calls me. They have only found some minor stuff at inspection like lights and something little on my suspension. The oil leak is really the rear main seal. But the main issue is that I will need a new transmission! This should cost around $2500 — $3000!

Now I need time to think. After I managed to get over the first shock I check the yellow pages for specialised transmission shops. I find a promising one near Butler, not too far away. I call them and ask if they have time to do a transmission rebuild now. The guy said, they will try and I shall call him when I know at which time I am able to drop the car. He doesn’t want to give me any quote before he had seen the transmission.

With this news I call my Chevy dealer and tell them that they shall not change the transmission and also not the rear main seal. The transmission shop has to pull the transmission and can then change the seal. All the other repairs shall be around $500. Even that is a lot if you consider that the main repair is not included. The car should be ready tomorrow.

With this news I make an appointment with the transmission shop Transdrive for Wednesday or Thursday. Now I can only wait. I use the time to prepare for my trail. I am also not able to do shopping, because I have no car. Also Helen is very busy and I don’t want to bother her with all my shopping needs.

I go to bed around 11pm with mixed feelings. Let’s see what they say tomorrow with my transmission…