Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Greenville, Iowa

Count me in! Our '07 Mazda CX-7 has cost us a lot of money. At 65,000 miles our air conditioner froze (locked up) and caught fire, the variable timing actuator broke when the timing chain stretched, a fusable link fried and a bill for over $6800 was just the beginning. Our dealer kept the car for over 2 months. They called me into the service manager to see the crystalized oil in the engines valves. (I felt like I was getting bad news from the doctor) Mazda, admitted that the A/C had issues and offered to replace the A/C but told us they would not pay for anything else...citing poor maintenance because we had not used Mazda dealerships for oil changes. At 7000 miles I reported blue smoke coming from my exhaust. The dealer said it was nothing to worry about. Now I find that "blue smoke" is indicative of a bad turbo. After two months in the shop my wife and I pick up the car and we are told all is well. We drove 200 miles and noticed a severe oil leak. The only place open was a WalMart and I had them look for a leak and change the oil. The mechanic told us that they found, what appeared to be, some kind of absorbent padding shoved up above and around the oil pan. They topped us off with oil but refused to change the filter for fear of liability. We had the car towed back to our dealer in Greenville, SC. Apparently, the dealer forgot to mention that the top half of the engine was not re-assembled properly and engine failure was eminent. They charged us an additional $2k for repairs and sent us on our way. The engine light remained on and the dealer could, or would, not explain why. The engine now burns oil badly, however there is no smoke coming from the exhaust. It rattles like a diesel truck occasionally. Now they tell me that we need a new engine and turbo. The cost? $10,000. We need to sue.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Bill Mitchell, VP of GM styling at the time, although born in Cleveland, grew up in my little hometown of Greenville, PA and was known to return on occasion.

I'm enjoying your sales story about the Pilot. FWIW, my sister bought the 2011 EX-L with Nav. last month. She said that her Honda dealership in Greenville, NC had plenty to choose from on their lot. She and my BIL now own two Pilots and one Accord. They do love a Honda. Hopefully, you'll find one that you like. Richard

By the way, you can also get control knobs at auto parts stores. My 2000 Century had a knob break, took it to a local store and visually matched to one of theirs, works fine, looks 90% like the original.

I use old Little Caesar's boxes as a drip protectors when I change oil. The drain pan goes on the open box, and it makes it easy to move the pan by grabbing the box instead of the drain pan. The box won't blow like newspapers, won't soak through, throws away more cleanly...it's just a very handy tool all around.