Major Contributor
charge trek XI- 'heinz and heinz'
so the truth is - minor bummer about being a gigging musician... it keeps me away from my e34 especially when it's cold... it does suck to play with sore hands but worse i'd stop getting gigs if i kept showing up with bloody knuckles.
so i took the car to a couple of places because i figured replacing the bat+/starter/altB+ cable assembly would be a pice of cake for an expert and i'd be out a couple hours and some battery cable.
they all basically said "leave it here one morning we'll look at it and let you know, it looks very very complicated" (yes, norbert too!)
one place was a funny waste of time - i'd never been there before but i had been recommended to this place "heinz and heinz" (apparently a father and son enterprise) by a guy i know who works mostly on ferraris and peugots who said to me "you find his garage and 90% of your problem is solved"
so after work one day last week i went driving around just north of jean-talon on marconi (for those of you familiar) but after a while mistakenly entering a VW vegetable oil conversion shop (COOL!) i still couldn't find it. i was going to give up but saw this guy just standing on the corner and asked him if he was familiar with the area... "un peu..." do you know a garage owned by a monsieur heinz? "oui oui..." he got totally excited and showed me to a tiny parking lot hidden behind a building with a couple e36s, an e34 and a whatever the mid-eighties 6 series is.
so at this point i kind of felt like i was in a movie... there was a tiny garage door and a little door for people... nothing was marked. at this point i believed i had found the magical e34 witch of the north ("heinz") and that i'd be home in a couple hours with brand new wiring connecting my alternator, starter and battery. i went in with my new friend and it was actually a pretty big garage... 5 bays anyway + lots of space. my friend took my up to this guy i assumed to be heinz who was working on the brakes of a young customer's e39, and started telling him excitedly that i had asked him to find his garage.
(me) 'sir...'
(heinz) looks at me disdainfully.... after a bit nods....
(me) 'zaven at pitstop on peel said you might be able to help me... i need some cables replaced on my '89 525i... the ones from the battery to the starter and alternator'
(heinz) 'so leave it here, this isn't a drive thru.'
seriously that's what he said.
so anyway i think i'll probably go back there some time, it's kind of cool in there.
4 Grand Master
"This isn't a drive thru"... LOL. That's too funny. He is right though... People expect them to fix their car now. Heck, even you admitted you thought you would be out in couple of hours and he knew you were expecting that... with his 'disdainfully look.'
Major Contributor
Originally Posted by Tiger
i don't know if that's a real word....
i understand where he is coming from - i wasn't totally expecting him to do that right then tho. it was just so alice in wonderland up to that point.
but he can't seriously expect me to hand over the keys and say 'great, just give me a call next week and i'll bring my empty credit card' , i had never been there before.
i dunno, i described a repair i needed done, i wasn't wasting his time and i was specific about it. he could have said 'come back tomorrow morning i'm busy' or 'that's a difficult repair, i need the car for a day' or 'i've never done that and i don't want to'.
i wouldn't blame him for not wanting to... look at all this stuff going in to that wire-guide/tubing thing. and look at how ugly that starter cable is.
4 Grand Master
Alot of time, Tim... people replace the ground battery cable... hardly on the positive battery cable.
Major Contributor
done already - i realize that - it's why i think my problem is so hard to diagnose, nobody thinks of the positive cable.
seriously, battery cables go bad here fast, i have seen it on so many cars.
look at the starter cable, the insulation is really messed up, you can see the bad wire coming through the tape 'job'. it's pretty sealed leading into that routing, but look at all the crud that seeps out regardless. i bet water is getting in there and rotting that connection... i might drill a hole to let it seep out but i'm kind of afraid to do that, i don't know what else is running through there besides the D+ wire and those other starter wires.
anyway, i'm not starting the job until i am confident i can finish it and have some kind of mount ready to put on there.
3 Grand Master
I get trade discount at my local motor factors. Yeah I've been in quite a few times but I put it down to the pissed off expression and the crap on my hands/face/clothes. It isnt an act. But I wouldnt dream of going in with a suit and tie
Major Contributor
i always have a pissed off expression and crap all over me, usually i'm hungry too and busting for a piss.I get trade discount at my local motor factors. Yeah I've been in quite a few times but I put it down to the pissed off expression and the crap on my hands/face/clothes. It isnt an act. But I wouldnt dream of going in with a suit and tie
3 Grand Master
Maybe its because you started the conversation with ' Sir...'. Thats a bit of a give away.
Major Contributor
actually it was 'monsieur' i was just making it easy for the onetongued masses
maybe next time i'll try 'bro' or 'bra'
Big, Big Time Poster
Is it to say that Mr. Heinz did'nt or could'nt help at all ? If so why not try with Mr. Schwartz and eat a good smoke meat waiting room for the job done
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