Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 00:58:41 -0500
Reply-To: Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Palmer <icecoldvw@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Great Toronto mechanic!
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Just wanted to throw in a recommendation for Central Motors in Toronto.
Werner saved my bacon.
I was driving from Winnipeg to Toronto along the north shore of Lake
Superior (many great campgrounds!) Lost a lot of power around Sault Ste
Marie, but didn't say anything so as not to alert the girlfriend (who swore
that if there was another problem, it would be the last trip. Grr.)
Had to go to Halifax for a conference in the middle of the vacation, and I
thought I had it all worked out. Dropped the van (85 Westfalia GL) off at
the VW dealer in Brampton on Sunday, and called on Monday. Turns out they
won't look at it because 'they don't have the parts or the manual.'
Wouldn't even do an oil change. So I lost four days, and had only two days
to get it fixed before leaving for home. No other VW dealer in the Toronto
area would touch it, except for Owasco which was backed up a week or so.
Doug Alcock helped me out with a few recommended mechanics in Toronto, and
Central Motors was the closest. Dropped in unannounced Friday morning, and
Werner had planned to leave early for the lake so didn't book any other
cars. Lucky for me, unlucky for him! He went through the motor with me,
measuring compression etc and showed me how to do a tune up (i'm not hugely
incompetent, just inexperienced and I really appreciated the lesson).
Things were mostly in order ( a little low compression in #2 cylinder). I
had mentioned I had a new exhaust system within the last year, except for
the catalytic convertor which I had understood got 'cleaned out' when I got
stuck on a previous holiday road trip. Turns out it wasn't, and when it was
removed it appeared to be about 3/4 blocked. A new catalytic convertor, and
I was on my way. Funny that the VW dealer in Winnipeg had just replaced the
muffler the day before the trip. I didn't realise you had to remove the
cat. as well. Coincidence?
A big thank you to Werner who did a great job and stuck around to help me
out. The van has never run better, and hopefully by this time next year my
girlfriend will have forgotten about the little incident . . .
I, however, have not forgotten the shabby treatment by VW dealers in
Toronto! What a bunch of hooey. Even Canadian Tire could've done the work.
For the record, the name of the garage is:
Central Motors (Werner Kesicki and Peter Lamprecht)
682 Gerrard Street East
Toronto ON M4M 1Y3
416.463.9901
416.463.5694
Jeff
85 Westfalia GL
Winnipeg
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