Diverting Course from Lake Powell to Lake Roosevelt!

Yes, ours was blue, and like every single '72 Vega, the aluminum block engine toasted itself at precisely 40,000 miles. On the Pennsylvania Turnpike. That was the start of our long and satisfactory run of Subarus!

dotnmarty":1gou097p said:
chevrolet-vega-4.jpg


1972 Vega
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It would have been the Labor Day weekend plus one week, if all that had been wrong was what they found first. ECM and wiring harness. Then when that didn't work, they had to drill further down, and found a second wiring harness underneath everything else. Then, finally, when they had it running, they found a third wiring harness. ABS and tail lights (a different cause, it got toasted when the tailpipe fell off and toasted it, in a completely different location). The deal is. Each time they found something new, they had to order it from Sacremento, and each part ordered on a Friday arrived the following Thursday. The dealer service was not the problem, but the time for parts to come from Nissan is just unreasonable, they evidently have never heard of overnight delivery. To be fair, these are NOT parts that are routinely stocked locally anywhere because normally they last the life of the vehicle. But yes, I do not doubt that if this had been a Ford, Dodge, Chev or GMC, it would have taken anywhere near this long.

20dauntless":2mjpxuhq said:
I'd be afraid to buy a Nissan with service times like that.
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Jim, you are SO right. We are lucky that (A) we were fairly close to home, and (2) that Jim and Laurie were traveling with us and we could haul the boat around with their Tundra. I cannot imagine being down 5 weeks, alone, in the middle of the country...yes, there IS a diesel pickup in our future, post-retirement post-retirement or maybe sooner!

JamesTXSD":3gbkxsyy said:
Sorry to hear about the time and troubles. Probably not a good time to say how that $$ would have been a nice down payment on a diesel pickup. :cry: Every conveyance is going to take some $$ to maintain, but this is a BIG bite. And five weeks? Goodness - what if you had been on a cross-country trip, a long ways from home? Hope it's all smooth sailing from here.

Best wishes,
Jim
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Our Vega was red and it only lasted about 35,000. Died on the Preston Hill/I-90 coming home. Last car I ever bought from Hugo Loveland (Since deceased) Chevrolet in NB. Actually, I think that was the last GM I bought from anyone.
 
All the talk about Vegas, I forgot to post the important item: Titan and boat arrived safely in Fall City about 9:00 p.m. last night. Truck seems to be its old self. No turn signals or brake lights on trailer, but I assume we can get that tracked down, it is almost certainly on the socket on the Titan, as we had Gary Estes do new lights and wiring on the trailer just before we took off for Powell, what now seems like ages ago...
 
Pat you have the patience of JOB what an ordeal sell both trucks and buy the diesel that will do a better job then either trucks you presently have . Hope to see you down here in Florida one of these days . Take care Jim
 
Pat,
To give perspective to your recent breakdown. On our way home from the summer cruise in the Broughtons we had a problem with our Ford F450 diesel. Yes it was in Yakima, and we went to Valley Ford. I called ahead on thursday evening, just as they were closing. They said they would look at it first thing the next morning. We got there at 7:30 AM, they diagnosed a blown intercooler and a bad injector on #4. They sent a driver to Ellensburg for a part they didn't have. We waited thru the day and they had it fixed and we drove away by 5:00 PM. Financial damages were $2300.00, mostly for parts. The delay in Yakima was just shy of 24 hours.

Buy American!!! Ford, GM, Dodge.

Brent
 
Discovery":s4undqw3 said:
Pat,

Buy American!!! Ford, GM, Dodge.

Brent
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While I had proposed that earlier, Starcraft Tom countered with an
appropriate argument that many foreign cars are assembled and even designed in America. I wonder, though, where are the parts made? Do those downsteam factories help get the part sooner as well as creating more jobs here? And what about the steel that the car is made from? Where is that from? And finally, where do the profits go? I'm really not sure, but, with the economy the way it is, I'd like to know just what, if anything, makes a difference. Thanks.
 
dotnmarty":1q005o61 said:
Discovery":1q005o61 said:
Pat,

Buy American!!! Ford, GM, Dodge.

Brent
Click to expand...

While I had proposed that earlier, Starcraft Tom countered with an
appropriate argument that many foreign cars are assembled and even designed in America. I wonder, though, where are the parts made? Do those downsteam factories help get the part sooner as well as creating more jobs here? And what about the steel that the car is made from? Where is that from? And finally, where do the profits go? I'm really not sure, but, with the economy the way it is, I'd like to know just what, if anything, makes a difference. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Marty-

I can't be definitive or authoritative, but the GM plant in Fremont, Ca, where I taught was closed down because of declining sales, then re-opened as a NUMI (New United Motor Incorporated) plant, a joint venture with Toyota, assembling Toyotas. (It has since closed!)

The motors, transmissions, rear ends, instrument clusters, and wiring harnesses were brought in from Japan, and the bodies, seats, interiors, and other easy to make parts were made here in the U.S., where the final assembly and painting were done. That's kind of logical, since they have the factories to build those components set up in Japan, and the rest can be made right here with equipment that was already existing in the former GM plant. It was touted as a win-win situation for GM and Toyota, but I believe slow sales eliminated the need for the assembly plant in the U.S. It may also have gotten where it was also no longer cost-effective. I don't know where the steel came from...... So there are several unanswered questions, .....

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Brent, Valley Nissan is just two buildings away from Valley Ford, and our boat was actually parked in the Valley Ford lot on the north side of the lot. So you now have a mental image of where we were for four days!

I am sure the Nissan service folks would have driven to E'burg, and we would have driven to Seattle in a rental car, if the parts were to be had! Our problem was (A) not commonly replaced parts, and (2) the broken delivery system getting them from Sacramento to the local dealer.

But yes, it will be a Ford, Dodge or GM diesel the next time we buy a truck!
 
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