Getting Buffy serviced is not simple.

Tony spent a few hours phone and various service chats with dealerships and independent garages trying to find a place that can accommodate the weight of the vehicle on the hoist – she is about 6,500 lb, and the height of the vehicle once elevated on the hoist – she is 9′.5″ on the ground.

• The dealership in Aurora can hold the weight, but don’t have the height – so if you’re heavy , you have to be short.
• The dealerships in Stouffville and Newmarket can’t do the weight, but have the height, so tall and skinny only.  None of these options are helpful for our tall, heavy girl.
• There are a few dealerships that can accommodate the height and weight, but all are a bit too far to travel to just for an oil change.
• We do have a garage down the road from us that could do it, but their hoist is broken and they are waiting for a bearing to fix it.  We leave in a couple of weeks so we have to keep looking.

This makes us wonder how our warranty may be affected by an inability to find a garage that can deal with this size van. Will this be an issue in the future if we need more than an oil change done?  There are a lot of commercial vans around, why is it so hard to find a place to service them?

Well, if the dealerships can’t do it, Mr. Lube can.  Most of Mr. Lube’s locations have a pit and the van won’t need to go on a hoist at all.  We had some concerns about warranty, but their work and filters are fully recognized for warranty purposes.

So we did some pre-Christmas gift unwrapping and removed the brown tarp that shrouded the van in the past few weeks.  She was very shiny and eager to go.

A quick inspection revealed a hole in the tarp that may have been the work of a desperate, cold mouse, but we couldn’t find any evidence for mice anywhere inside the van or in the engine.  We did notice that the coolant was very low – may be a reason for  concern since there are some reports about leaking hoses because of the way the the under hood generator was installed – note to keep an eye on it.  The coach batteries did not come on at first, but after a short warm up seem to be just fine.   Looks like all systems are go.

Since no appointment is necessary with Mr. Lube we just drove to the nearest location one evening and were pleasantly surprised to find out that we are the only customers with no waiting at all.

We were immediately swarmed by 4 guys with wrenches and they went to work right away, some peeking under the hood and fiddling with the fluids, and some with grease pans underneath.  Bonus!  Tony was allowed to go down to the pit and inspect the under carriage.  Everything looks solid and dry.

This went very well and we would recommend it, especially if you are having difficulty finding a place that can take this size van.  They were quick and efficient, the price is reasonable, and we are now ready for our next 6000 km or thereabout.  No problem, we’re on it.  Leaving soon!

The talented Seong from the Carado $ Sunlight Owners Facebook group started a Google map where everyone can add locations that can service our vans.  Feel free to check it out and add to it!

BY THE NUMBERS:

• Time: about 20 minutes
• Cost: CAD $88

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