The Correct Way to Have a break Down

[ol' yeller]

On my trip to the BCA nationals in Colorado Springs I had a problem on the first day with the rear differential about 500 miles from home. Dave, Kevin, Jason and the gang at Blue Lakes Auto Repair were exactly the kind of shop you hope to find when your old car is giving you fits away from home. Their shop was immaculate, and their workmanship was exceptional and the cost was very fair. How many shops allow you to go back in the shop and talk to the mechanics while they are working on your car? Dave not only allowed it, but he encouraged it. They tracked down 44 year old Buick parts and got my car back on the road quickly. A testiment to their work would be we ran my '65 Skylark after the repair, for 15 hours straight at 75+ MPH stopping only for gas and restrooms until we arrived at the show at 1:30 AM on Saturday. If you live near Twin Falls Idaho, or you have the misfortune to breakdown there, rest assurred Blue Lakes Auto Repair will treat you right.

[michel88]

Greg, I am glad that your Skylark broke down in the right place. Blue Lakes Auto Repair sounds like a great garage. Those guys were good mechanics and nice to know people will still help old car people out.

I had a '65 Skylark 2 door hardtop that I drove for many years as a daily driver to work every day. It was Midnight Blue and a very sharp car. Wish I still had it.

[JohnD1956]

Oh man, how long were you broken down? And what went wrong with the rear end? Sounds like you really found a great place but how did that happen. We'd love to hear the details of this adventure.

[ol' yeller]

As we left Washington we were pulling out of a rest stop in reverse and heard a loud clunking noise from under the car. As it was loaded with stuff for our trip it was riding low and it was difficult to see underneath but the U Joints appeared fine. I had the rear end rebuilt and had a Posi and 355 gears installed a couple of years ago. There was probably less than 3,000 miles on the repair. As the noise went away going forward, we decided to press on. During numerous rest stops the noise was still there upon backing but sometimes it wasn't apparent. When we arrived in Idaho the clanging noise began appearing upon decelleration on freway off ramps. We stopped for the night in Twin Falls and over dinner we decided to have it looked at in the morning.

The first shop we went to put the car up on the lift and without pulling the diff cover inspected all the driveline components for looseness or slack. He concluded the problem was most likely in the rear end, probably the idler gears but they didn't have the time that day to tear into it. They were the ones who recommended Blue Lakes Automotive. They even called them for us to make sure they had the time to work on the car that day.

Upon our arrival, they took the car for a drive, checked the driveline and then put it up on a lift and pulled the diff cover. I was very relieved not to find chunks of metal fall out. The gears looked fine with no wear or damage. They then decided to do a pattern check of the gears. That is where the problem surfaced. You could see where at times the gears were barely meshing. The clunking noise was the gears skipping teeth as the car decellerated. The original shop didn't set the gear lash correctly and it took these few miles for the problem to appear. They had to find the correct, new crush washers, a cover seal and a new pinion seal to put it all back together. They found all the parts except for the pinion seal. With my approval, they reused the old one after they installed a new spring in it as the old one was damaged when they removed it. I have had no leaking issues yet even after the remainder of our trip and the return home, about 3,000 miles overall, over 2,000 on the repair. My travel buddy contacted Dave, Kevin and Jason upon the completion of our trip and they were delighted to hear we completed the trip with no further difficulties.

Their shop was immaculate and they even loaned us the shop car (an 83 Mercedes diesel) to go sightsee rather than hang around the waiting room while they were trying to locate the parts. The first thing we did was hit the local WalMart and return with donuts for the shop. They were so well recieved, we bought even better ones the next morning but told (just kidding)Jason that he couldn't have any until the car was done. We discovered Jason stayed late the prior evening getting te car ready for the parts in the morning. He also called his Mom to come down and look at Ol' Yeller as she had bought a '65 Skylark back when they were brand new. He arrived the next morning a couple of hours early, which the owner told us was practically unheard of, to get a head start on the repair. They got us on the road by 9:30 AM. We arrived in Colorado Springs at 1:30 AM Saturday morning.

Edited July 18, 2009 by ol' yeller (see edit history)

[Bill Stoneberg]

Isn't it nice to know there are still serious mechanics who know cars around as opposed to the glorified parts changers that we run into a lot of the times.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Warms a persons heart, doesnt it.

[stealthbob]

An old car bringing out "Old Time Values"....

Nice

[ol' yeller]

Here's what I found encouraging in my little dilemma. First, being over 700 miles from home, I could have been charged up the old wazoo for the work, especially considering the need to get on the road to make our destination on time. The total bill was $422 including tax parts and labor. Very reasonable considering how the shop had to scramble to find 44 year old Buick parts. The shop wasn't exactly sitting idle waiting for us to come along, they were very busy and yet still made us feel very welcome.

Secondly, the first shop had the integrity to tell us they couldn't accomodate us and our timetable BEFORE they tore the car apart. They then called around unbeknownst to us to find a shop that was willing to accomodate us. Blue Lakes Automotive looked like they just opened yesterday given the cleanliness of the shop and waiting room. During our wait we found out talking to other customers that they had been coming there for over 3 years.

I don't think that the crew at Blue Lakes did what they did because I had an old car. It is a work ethic that permeates through their entire shop, on every car they work on, old or new. I DO believe that they did enjoy working on Ol' Yeller. In fact, when Jason, the mechanic, finished the repair, he came into the waiting room to tell us he was through. He then looked out the front shop window and discovered Kevin, the shop forman, test driving Ol' Yeller, checking his work. Jason said, "He always does that when I finish a nice car." When Kevin returned, he had that same goofy grin all us car guys get after driving a great old car. He said, "That is a VERY nice car". The main reason for my posting here is to encourage anyone who has the need in Twin Falls, Idaho, you can't go wrong with the guys at Blue Lakes Automotive.

[JohnD1956]

Wow, what a story. Not much worse than finding you need a repair 600+ miles away from home. But you wound up in a great place with guys who cared about you and your car. Thanks for providing the details. This would make a good story for the Bugle and those who will never see this on line version. I hope you submit one to Pete.