Daddy LOVES his Caddie

After months of silence, the first new blog post of the summer is about the Cadillac..again. I truly love my car, even though it is older, it still looks really good. The Catera is low slung, has a cool looking front front end, if I pop the moon roof the cars profile oozes sophisticated sportiness.
I try very hard to take care of my car, the oil get changed religiously, I recently hand washed and waxed the thing under the tree in the backyard. I want the car to last and to continue running well, making my long commutes like spending time in my living room swaddled in soft leather luxury.

While driving to work not long ago, I noticed the "check engine" light was on. Just for perspective, I have owned many high mileage cars, so the "check engine" light typically does not intimidate me. I once drove a Cavalier (loved that old car) for four years with the check engine light on. Hell, if it went off is when I would get nervous. Mostly this light is just a means of getting you into the dealership so they can sell you some obscure part that costs too much, oh and while you are there why not spend hundreds of dollars on other maintenance items that happen to need fixed too.

This time however, I was not content to just let it pass, I couldn't stand seeing the light on the dash, a constant reminder that my beloved Cadillac might be sick. As I drove I carefully tuned into the vehicles performance. I turned off the radio and the A/C and listened for anything out of the ordinary. I put the car through some different driving conditions to determine if anything was out of place. As it turns out there were no obvious differences in the way the car behaved. Just the glowing reminder that something might be wrong.

Later the same day, as I drove home from work, I called the Cadillac dealer in my town to inquire about getting the light checked out. The next day I drove into the service bay at the dealership to have the mysterious light analyzed.

Now, the Cadillac dealership service bay isn't like the Chevy or Saturn service areas. This place looked like the workshop for a NASCAR drivers car. Clean, modern, the staff were extremely friendly and professional. In the past I have had negative feelings about all things dealer, especially the service department but this time I was impressed. I was Mr. Freshour, and I felt that my car would get the finest service available from these clean and professional service people.

The paper work was done in moments and I was ushered into a service lounge. The lounge featured high end leather seating, a large flat panel television and deep cold air conditioning. I settled into a chair and picked up a very recent copy of GQ while I awaited the prognosis on my car. The test was supposed to take an hour but only 30 minutes later the very nice service man sat down next to me with a computer print out that contained the diagnosis. He explained what needed to happen and why, he also pointed out the long term consequences of ignoring the light.
I agreed and an hour later I was back on the road. The repair was a vacuum pump that had gotten old and no longer worked to spec. There were also some hoses that had dry rotted and no longer held air.

I do not understand everything about a cars vacuum system, I know on older models the compression from the cylinders created vacuum pressure and this was harnessed to advance the timing as well as a host of other vital functions, but newer cars are all "fly by wire" with electronics controlling most of a vehicles operations. I also know that larger cars rely on vacuum assist to enhance vehicle performance. Sure enough, the slightly anemic air conditioning was blowing robustly again, I had more break pedal, and the car idled more smoothly. All small and subtle things, but I was happy. Mostly, I was glad the light was no longer advertising the fact I had to go to the dealer and spend money.

The repair was not cheap, but I did get a 10% discount for being a first time customer. I got an oil change punch card, so every 5th oil change is free. I also gained a trust for the service department, I would not go anywhere else now. I will pay a bit extra for the Cadillac service, all because these people have not forgotten that the customer is king.