Routine Maintenance (albeit painful)

I'm no expert on cars, though I do play one on TV, but I was floored by how much it cost to have my spark plugs replaced. It was around $480, with four hours of labor, and my first thought was, how hard is it to unscrew 4 plugs? This all started about 5 months ago when I was talking to an automotive expert, the Amazing PR man, and he put the fear of god into me by saying that when plugs have been left in a car for too long, they can become fused to the engine block and if someone tries to unscrew them and they break, then you're looking at a major engine repair. Yikes, suddenly I was sweating over my spark plugs, something I've never, in all my years of owning a car, even thought about.

This was aggravated by the fact that my car has over 170,000 miles and I've never had the plugs even removed. I recently learned, 170K miles later, that they recommend changing the plugs at 100, 000 miles, and here I was, 70,000 miles late. On the other hand, I'm not one to religiously adhere to manufacturers/dealers recommendations. Sometimes it seems like overkill, not to mention expensive. And, the plugs were working, the car drove fine.

So this is how my neurotic mind began to work - while it's true the car was running fine, what if a problem did arise, and they needed to check the plugs and broke one off in the engine? Then I'd be screwed. Plus, I figured it wasn't a bad idea to change them, and at the very least, see if they could be removed. Was this something I could do myself? What if I broke the darn things off? The Amazing PR Man told me that some mechanics will make you sign a waiver absolving them of any damage to your engine if they break the plug, adding to my neurosis. Why don't you just break my other leg?

I decided that at 170K miles, it was time to just have the plugs replaced. I asked our trusty mechanic, Meuniers, if there was concern about the plugs breaking, and they said they didn't think so. They did, however, say that they would adjust the valves, and then check some sort of belt, a timing belt, perhaps. I said fine, just do what you have to do. I guess the engine needs to be cold, as well, due to expansion of the valves, which wouldn't be a problem with the temps hovering around -20 degrees. So I took the car over around 7:00AM, whereby the left it outside for two hours to cool it off, and it was done by 1:00. When I got the bill, I nearly fainted - $480. I completely trust Meuniers, it was just way more than I anticipated, and I'm not a fan of surprises when it comes to money.

I guess it took awhile to adjust the valves, and they ended up replacing the belt. The plugs cost about $30 each, they're some sort of iridium spark plug, but it's really the labor that kills you: four hours to change spark plugs. Needless to say I was really bummed, but nearly as bummed as I was when mom tore me a knew A-hole over the bill. My ignorance of the situation was no defense, so I had to bend over and take it like a man.

On a bright note, the car does run better, and I'm not going to worry about those spark plugs for another 100K, if not longer.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Kool Cats Photography for the pic.