Ben the Weekend Mechanic!

Ben has been sooo busy these past couple of weekends, in between visits with family, all three of our cars have had one problem or another to deal with. When it rains... it pours... Right?! I can't even tell you what went wrong with each one... I'm getting them all confused now! I believe he had to replace the timing belt in the 4-runner and the water pump as well as the timing belt in the Stratus. Our neighbors are beginning to wonder if Ben has any other hobbies... or if he just like to hang out underneath the cars all the time! :) (by-the-way.. Thank you to Matt and Joe for helping Ben as well!)

Wait I know what your thinking... "Tristin- you said THREE cars...?" Well, it's a funny story...the Passat just started out just needed the oil changed before our trip to MT. Which Ben took care of no problem.... The next day as I was driving it to work and it was REAL jerky shifting gears. Ben added some more oil to it, thinking it needed more -now that it was flowing through the engine better. FOUR more Quarts later.... still the same problem! Now we were suspecting a plug somewhere in the engine....a previous problem we had to deal with this car before....VERY EXPENSIVE TO FIX!!!! NOOOO!!!!

SO.... Late into the night before we were planning on leaving, Ben has an epiphany! He realized that where he had removed the oil from previously lead right to the Transmission! Meaning that he had drained the TRANSMISSION FLUID and not the oil.... It's not his fault though- he does know what he's doing... Volkswagons are just soooo backwards from what he's used to working on. And when he picked up the new tranny fluid from the dealer the next day, they reassured him that the exact same thing happens ALL the time...especially at lube shops where soo called "professionals" are supposed to know what they're doing! Once we added the tranny fluid and flushed out 8 quarts of oil.... The car is running just Perfectly!!

I'm SOOO PROUD of my super mechanic! It has taken a lot of patience and elbow grease to get those cars going! Mason sure loved to "help" out daddy... I think he just thought they were giant TOYS. I loved seeing him laying under the car with you as you pointed out engine parts! That's something he'll always remember!!