My mother is going home on 10/10/12 from Vista Manor Nursing Home. Since I have a two door Honda Accord which was inconvenient for my parents to get in and out of my car. Tom and I decided to get a smog check the Toyota Corolla which has four doors.
Tuesday 10/9/12 I called the Valero gas station on North Capitol Ave. which was the closest place to get a smog check. The mechanic told me the price is $46, and I can bring it to his shop now. Then Tom told me "Why you don’t give the mechanic more information about my car, so he will remember when he see you," I called him back and ask for an appointment. He told me he is busy today I should come in this Saturday; I told him I just call you a minute ago. “Why you tell me different story? “ he said “If you come now I will smog check for you.” I drove it to the Valero gas station and I showed the paper work and he told me my car is more than 10 years old I need to get a smog test-only. I called Tom and told me I need to smog test my car instead of smog check.
I drove it to the place where I smog test my Honda, the Discount Smog Center on Berryessa Rd. I told me this car is for my parents, but I did not drive it for more than 10 years, and the gasoline was 10 years old. He took my papers and started working on my car. When he was done he told me my car failed, but he can retest within 30 days for me. At first he wanted to charge me $45 dollars, but I talked down the price to $40. I called Tom and drove the Corolla home.
Tom needed to go to the Jury Service at Hall of Justice W. Hedding St. Before Tom left the house, he told me to call the mechanic at K & E Auto Repair (the owner's name is Ed Lee) which my brother told me he took his CRV for repairs. I called Ed on the phone and told him that I am Pablo sister and I have a 1991 Toyota Corolla car and I need him to check to see what is the problem. Since I failed the smog test, he told me I can bring it down after lunch at 2:00 p.m. By the time 1:30 p.m. I called Ed again and told him that my car register was expired. If I came down at around 2 it will be busy hour and I may run into the police. He told me why don't I go to the DMV and get a temporary paper to drive this car.
Before I went down to the DMV, I called the office at 1-800-777-0133. The waiting time was long, so I just left my name and phone number have the customer service to return my call. DMV customer service called me back about 40 minutes later. I asked her if I wanted to change from a non operated vehicle to a operated vehicle, what do I need to do. She told me that I need to pay for the registration fee $99 and I will get 1 day to go to the smog test place to get the smog certification. I told her what if my vehicle was not going to pass the test. What should I do then, she told me that I need to pay additional $50 to have a 60 days time limit for me to bring it back to the repair shop to fix it.
Tom called me at around 4:00 p.m. and told me to call K & E Auto Repair again to see what time they close, but no one answered the phone so I hanged up the phone and calls back Tom and told him Ed may already have left for the day. Tom got home at 4:45 and told me to call Ed's shop again. This time Ed answered the phone, but told me all of his workers are going home at 5:00 p.m, so I should bring the car down tomorrow. I told Ed that can I come down now and you can take a look at the car. He told me that I can leave the car in his shop overnight, and he will have his workers look at the car for me. But I told him that I need to know what's wrong with the car ASAP. "You know how to fix car, you can help me look at the car," I said. He said he knows, he's been fixing car for more than 30 years. I told him I will come down now. We got there and started telling to him why we need it to fix it right away, because my mother is going to be out of the hospital soon, I need this car to pick her up. But Ed kept telling us this car was too old and is a waste of our time and money to fix it. Tom tried to have him take a look for us, but he kept saying that it will take a lot of his time to find out what wrong with your car and that it was not worth it, so you should sell it to somebody. He thought my car could be worth over a thousand or more. Tom told Ed that this old car should be easy to fix not like the new car. Also this car has a very low mileage and is in good condition. I thought if I sell this car I can not buy it back for a thousand. Tom ask Ed if he had a machine that can hook up to our car and see what wrong with it. Ed said I could not help you now since all of my workers are gone for the day and my machine was broken so there was no way I could check it for you. He also told Tom that you told me it was easy, so why don't you fix it yourself. He refused to help me to fix my car.
We both left the shop and looked for a different auto repair shop. We found one on the other side, the auto shop's name is Reliand Repair. We walked in and talked to one of the guys, who's was name Sinh and Tom told him the problem with our car. Sinh told us that he will take a look of our car, but his shop is closed for the day. We need to leave it overnight and he asked me for my name, address and my phone number. Before he took the not passed smog test paper,Sinh also told us the dionostic was going to cost $45. Tom gave him the car key and we left the shop and went back to home.
The next day in the late afternoon at around 4:00 p.m, Sinh called my cell phone and told me he was only able to check on the XXXX. Since my gasoline was so old, he suggested we needed to pump out the old gasoline and put in the new one before he is able to get a better test on the Catalytic Converter and Oxygen Sensor.
I told him Tom and I will come down to his shop before 6:00 p.m., but he told me his shop closed at 5:30 p.m. I told him why don't he leave my car outside the shop, so we can pick it up. He told me "OK"
he will leave the key in the glove department for me to pick up. I said "thanks" and hanged up the phone and called Tom and told him what happened, he told me back he was on the way home. When Tom got home we went together and picked up the Toyota Corolla, and since the Corolla backlight was burnt out, we went to the O'Reilly Auto Parts to buy the backlight; 2 bulbs for $4.99. After that Tom put in the bulbs and we went back home.
When Tom got home, he started to order the Catalytic Converter and Oxygen Sensor from the internet. Before the parts arrived at our house, Tom had Lawrence removed the Catalytic Converter from the car. Tom also needed to borrow a Strut Spring Compressor from AutoZone to help him replace a broken spring top cushion on the right front side of the car. We went to the AutoZone and we were lucky enough to find a set to borrow. When the parts arrived on the next day (Saturday 10/13/12) afternoon, Tom took a look at the new Catalytic Converter. It looks different than the old one. Tom had to return the new one and buy another one. Tom found out that AutoZone had Catalytic Converter which was cheaper and match our car. So he order it right away. Since we have to wait for the another part. Tom asked Lawrence to take out the old Oxygen Sensor out as well. Tom found that the 2nd Catalytic Converter fit right into the Corolla perfectly, though it was difficult for Lawrence and Tom to install into the Corolla. Before the tire spring could be replaced, Lawrence had to take the front right tire of the Corolla out, as well as the brake pad to take the old spring out. When the tire spring top cushion arrived, Tom and Lawrence was able to put that into the Corolla perfectly, but it was difficult to hold the spring up before being able to tighten the screws in. The Oxygen Sensor was easy to put in because it only needed to be slid in and the two screws on the bottom of the sensor tightened. When that was done, Lawrence just replaced the tire into the Corolla and it was ready to be tested for the smog test again.
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