The time has come for Helen to have her third member serviced. She is making a substantial amount of rumble when under heavy load/acceleration, the gear oil is black and looks somewhat thin, perhaps even a bit rusty, and the right wheel looks to be seeping from the seal into my fresh brake job. I am not especially pleased about this! Up until I saw the fluid seepage from the right brake drum, I was willing to try to change the fluid for fresh gear oil and see if that quieted things down. I bought the gasket and gear oil already! But with the seal being bad, it feels like more labor than I am willing to do myself just now in 100°+ heat with an inadequate service area. (Driveway and jack stands.) I do a lot of my own mechanical work but I am just not up for this right now with the heat. Also, this is my favorite car and daily driver, so I want it fixed *now* instead of six months from now when it cools down and I feel like working on cars again. So...
Where to take her? I had my former '79 Cad third member serviced at the Symes Cadillac agency and it ran about $1600, which included an axle, bearing and seal in the bargain. I would expect this car to run about the same, but since this is a Brand B, I was thinking of taking it to Thorson Buick, right across the street from Symes. Alternatively, I could take it to Guy Schmidt in Glendale, or a dealer in Van Nuys. I tend to want to take it to a Buick (or at least a GM) dealer because I think the small shops are cramped in their parking and storage, and I don't want them jockeying my huge boat around in a postage stamp sized parking lot. Also, I have had some of those smaller independent shops do work for me years ago and had some fairly horrible and expensive results. I don't mind paying a higher bill if I am well satisfied with the results. Since I have all GM vehicles, I'd like to have a relationship with a local agency anyway.