[speaker001:] The last auto repair I had was I have a nineteen eighty-four Nissan truck [smack] I had a [throat clearing] tune up done and I had, I had the brakes done on it and then, the reason I did that was because I don't have a scope and it has eight spark plugs and it's hard to, to get get at them and plus the time on them. I just don't have time any more. Uh, [smack] as far as maintenance tasks that I do myself, [NOISE] I, I usually change the oil and wash the air filter and I, I had an occasion to change, to have to change the battery once, but, the brakes, I was really surprised that the brakes [throat clearing]. I wanted, I do have the background. I know what needs to be done and I know that the oil needs, should be changed very regularly and all of the bearings and the lube, lubrication system needs to be lubricated and [inhaling] so I, I stay on top of that [throat clearing] but I [throat clearing] I wanted my front wheels, I wanted the bearings packed and they wanted something like fifteen dollars, uh, a front or something like that or maybe it was thirty dollars to do it
[speaker002:] Just to pack the bearings?
[speaker001:] just to pack the bearings, but what I found is that they had a brake job and they, I had them, the other thing I let them do some times is that I let them go through and let them tell me what, let them do the diagnostics. That's free, okay. And then I can decide whether I want them to do it or whether I can do it, see.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And they told me that my, my brake pads were gosh, you know, seventy percent still good, you know, but still it was cheaper in the long run and uh, so I just got the the brakes done and I thought that was a good deal. And plus
[speaker002:] Right. And they repacked the wheel bearings.
[speaker001:] and they re-, repacked the the wheel bearings. Yeah but, uh, I've, I've had considerable experience. I'm, you might say I'm, uh, uh, good back yard mechanic and I, you know, I took auto shop in high school, it's been a while back, but I, I still have a pretty good feel for it, but [smack] one thing I didn't know is that when I was messing around with cars and stuff and most of the cars, I, I had bigger cars and the brakes go out fairly rapidly on those and what I was surprised at is that on my little Nissan I bought the truck with about sixty thousand, I have almost one hundred and ten, so I drove on those brake pads for, uh, you know, forty-five thousand miles and there was hardly any wear to them. So those small little trucks and cars like that, they just the longevity of the brake pads is really good.
[speaker002:] You know, they've gotten to the point that where they don't weigh very much and the the
[speaker001:] Exa-,
[speaker002:] surface materials on the pads is so good.
[speaker001:] Exactly, so I, you know, I just did it anyway. I like to, I like to stay up on it. You know, like I just kind of stay up on it and then if you go and like, just about any point, any you know point in time [swallowing] and pull my dip stick and pull it out and look at the oil, the oil is you might say, uh, a white golden brown. You know, it's not dirty. I, I, I keep it that way because that's, that is the key to the longevity.
[speaker002:] Right. Well
[speaker001:] So, so how,
[speaker002:] it sounds like you've had some good experiences with that
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, and my experiences have been kind of contrary to that.
[speaker001:] Oh, oh.
[speaker002:] Uh, I, I get a little more involved in the maintenance of my car and, uh
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and in fact I have an eighty-seven Mustang with a three O two in it
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that I've, uh, beefed up a little bit
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] and one of the things that I did was to change the pulley system on it to use under drive pulleys so that the engine doesn't have to turn the accessories and can use more of the power to the rear wheels
[speaker001:] Uh-huh [very faint].
[speaker002:] uh, the only catch was the first set of under drive pulleys that I put on it were, uh, not even cast aluminum. They were just pressed aluminum.
[speaker001:] You're talking about the vibration dampener?
[speaker002:] Well, there's three, there's three pulleys that you change. You change the crank pulley
[speaker001:] That's the vibration dampener, yeah.
[speaker002:] the alternator pulley and, uh, the water pump pulley.
[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] So, when I changed those over, I put on these, these pressed aluminum things
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] and, uh, probably about four months ago the water pump decided to go out.
[speaker001:] Uh, oh.
[speaker002:] So in the process of seizing, the belt spun on the pulley and wore
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] through the water pump pulley almost all the way.
[speaker001:] Uh, oh.
[speaker002:] But not far enough to notice.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] So, I was on my way to work one day and, uh, the water pump pulley split laterally in half.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] So there was half a water pump pulley still attached to the water pump and the other half was kind of dangling off the end of the crank
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and uh, I,