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

Day 4: August 14th, 2002 Pittsburgh (Car to Transmission Shop)

My Chevy dealer calls me in the morning. The car will be ready around noon. Therefore I make an appointment with Transdrive around 1—2pm. I pick up my car around noon and drive immediately on to Butler to Transdrive. There I tell them what my transmission problem is. They tell me that they want to check the transmission first to see what’s going on. They will let me know as soon as they figured it out. Then I can decide what to do.

I say goodbye and wait for Helen outside. I use the time to check out the used cars in the lot. But there is nothing in my price range. Hopefully these guys are able to safe my transmission. After half an hour of waiting (I almost got a sunburn) Helen arrives. We drive back to her house on nice little backroads.

After we arrived there I take a deeper look on my bill. The prices are pretty high. Just for changing the lights they charged $75! And the only issue with my fog lights is, that the connectors are a bit corroded and sometimes do not make contact! And for checking the automatic and the rear main seal they also charge $70!

But now I have to wait and see what’s really going on with my transmission. I use the time to check company emails and prepare my trail further. Suddenly I realize that there is no oil change on the bill. I double check and see: They have not changed the engine oil!

I go to bed around half past ten. Let’s see what the transmission shop will tell me tomorrow. If they really have to rebuild the transmission I let them put in some better parts. Good for me that I already did some research on my transmission to know the weak points…