30 BMWs and it was a Honda that broke down.

[Ryans323i]

Since nobody's posted it, I'll share the story.

After the parking garage daytime shoot, a few of us broke off to get some DQ ice cream. We park and immediately notice a distraught lady and her family. Being the car people that we are, we ask "What's wrong?". She explains she can't start her Honda Pilot, because her steering wheel was locked. (You know how after your remove your key and move your steering wheel it will lock in place? It's an anti-theft feature. And then when you're ready to start your car, you have to insert the key and jiggle the steering wheel to turn the key. Well her's wouldn't ever let the key turn.)

Well it just so happens that the few of us that broke off included Kristen (Kpro) who is a Honda Pro Service Tech. This lady couldn't have had a better passer by. So after informing the lady who Kristen is, Kris hops in the driver seat, yanks on the steering wheel this way and that way, lets the lady know it's her ignition switch and even rattles off the part number. Finally Kristen gets the Honda started. The lady is so surprised and wants to know how Kristen did it. She says she's got another day of vacation, things to do, yada yada. Kristen says, "Just drive straight home and don't turn the car off." The lady just doesn't get it, and begs to know how Kristen did it. Appeasing her, Kristen shuts the car off and tries again. It wasn't happening, the switch was just done.

Between Kristen, Rob (Sockethead), and my Kyle, a trunk full of tools and an hour later, they had the dash torn apart and the car hot wired. But due to the anti-theft feature, locked steering wheel, the car wasn't safe to drive. They convinced the lady to call a taxi and a tow truck. It was definitely a bummer for everyone.

The lady insisted on some sort of payment and they settled on letting her buy them ice cream.

There are two things to note here:

1: We had over 30 BMWs together, which so many people say are high maintenance and will break down, and it was a Honda Pilot (the brand most say is most reliable) that left a family stranded. It's not just the brand, but the maintenance. Take care of the car and it will take care of you. The lady admitted the ignition had been getting worse for months and they should have brought the other vehicle.

2: The whole time Kristen is trying to help these people, the husband kept coming over and giving dirty looks. Asking, "What is she doing to our car?". This is the sexiest bias that women often find in car clubs. Thanks so much for accepting Kristen and me, and making us feel so welcome. I know that I truly feel equal among all our members.

[M3TA5IN]

Just to add to your biased thing, which is true in most communities. I was bragging about you the whole time to people Ryan, kept telling everyone how you do all your work and get dirty just like everyone else.

[HokieZHP]

Just to add to your biased thing, which is true in most communities. I was bragging about you the whole time to people Ryan, kept telling everyone how you do all your work and get dirty just like everyone else.

I've been telling a few people that here at school and showing off her car. They all love it!

[cakM3]

...There are two things to note here:

1: We had over 30 BMWs together, which so many people say are high maintenance and will break down, and it was a Honda Pilot (the brand most say is most reliable) that left a family stranded. It's not just the brand, but the maintenance. Take care of the car and it will take care of you...

So true Ryan! :thumbsup


2: The whole time Kristen is trying to help these people, the husband kept coming over and giving dirty looks. Asking, "What is she doing to our car?". This is the sexiest bias that women often find in car clubs. Thanks so much for accepting Kristen and me, and making us feel so welcome. I know that I truly feel equal among all our members.

What you have done to Lucy Ryan is just impressive :thumbsup It shows just how much work you put into her and how much you love her! As for feeling equal among all of us....you set the standard...;) The pictures Casey has taken of Lucy really shows just how awesome she is :thumbsup

[Ryans323i]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments.

It's like the guy that rode up with his gf in the "4.0" Z4 at the garage shoot. He says to Kyle," Yo, I give your girl props if she really did do all this.". Kyle just walked away.

[jayjay_dee]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments.

It's like the guy that rode up with his gf in the "4.0" Z4 at the garage shoot. He says to Kyle," Yo, I give your girl props if she really did do all this.". Kyle just walked away.

Yup, i heard her too, "4.0 Z4".... and i was like scratching my head... but she was quick enough to correct herself, hahaha...

[static667]

I've been bragging on you for a while, Ryan. Even more so since the meet. I'm all like,
"Check out this car."

They're like: "That's pretty hot."

Then I'm all like: "Yeah? This chick did it all herself."

They come back with: "No shit?"

And I'm like: "No shit."

Sent via Tapatalk 2 on my hacked Fascinate.

[M3TA5IN]

:rofl

[Ryans323i]

:rofl

I didn't do it all by myself. I had the help of 2 important people; Kyle (my Kyle) and Eddie Bell (a professional painter, who sprayed the color and clear coats).

[cakM3]

Ryan,

I think what Kyle did is the classic move because he has class. As bad as it sounds, people like that aren't worth your time. Lucy was a big hit at the meet and rightly so. You put in so much work and it shows. I'm still impressed by all that both you and Kyle did :thumbsup There are a few members here, including you, who I look to when I'm working on either my ///M or ZHP. You guys/gals inspire me to improve on my cars, hence the name Kaizen (from the tuner shop I use for my suspension) being placed on both of my rides. :)

I'll be down in July with my ///M when Rob and Kristen have set dates for their meet. Can't wait to see all of you guys at the Jersey shore...:)

- it's your vision that had transformed Lucy into what she is now and she's beautiful :)

[danewilson77]

I saw that Kristen and Ryan were working on it. I was sooo concerned, I bought a medium Heath Blizzard, and commenced to eating it....the entire time thinking to myself....if they can't get it, neither can I.

Love you gals.

Sent from a Thunderbolt

[C Withers Media]

I got in the Honda initially to help and then Kristen walked around the corner......I just sheepishly got out of the car, like, uhhhhhh im sure she can handle this better than me.

[danewilson77]

I got in the Honda initially to help and then Kristen walked around the corner......I just sheepishly got out of the car, like, uhhhhhh im sure she can handle this better than me.

Nice.

Sent from a Thunderbolt

[jayjay_dee]

I'll be down in July with my ///M when Rob and Kristen have set dates for their meet. Can't wait to see all of you guys at the Jersey shore...:)

count me in too...

and to add, my zhp was just a regular car compared to Lucy and Kristen's souped up 135... all this time i thought my ZHP was special :rofl

you girls are bad...

[Oli77]

Just an awesome group right here.

[cakM3]

Just an awesome group right here.

I concur :thumbsup

[johnrando]

Definitely. After eating my ice cream, I sauntered over about half way through and told the lady she was in the best hands ever. That was my contribution, no way was I going to add to the knowledge that was there. :)

[Au2bahn]

In project management world. Kaizen=continuous improvement.


Ryan,

I think what Kyle did is the classic move because he has class. As bad as it sounds, people like that aren't worth your time. Lucy was a big hit at the meet and rightly so. You put in so much work and it shows. I'm still impressed by all that both you and Kyle did :thumbsup There are a few members here, including you, who I look to when I'm working on either my ///M or ZHP. You guys/gals inspire me to improve on my cars, hence the name Kaizen (from the tuner shop I use for my suspension) being placed on both of my rides. :)

I'll be down in July with my ///M when Rob and Kristen have set dates for their meet. Can't wait to see all of you guys at the Jersey shore...:)

- it's your vision that had transformed Lucy into what she is now and she's beautiful :)



Sent from my DROID RAZR

[Marcus-SanDiego]

I simply walked over, told the lady that Kristen was on the job, and let her know that she could not be in better hands.

I then resumed eating my ice cream.

[Rovert]

That's why she's a K-pro and not a K-am! Leave it up to the pro and keep the amateurs back!

[iZHP]

I missed this. Sounds like you guys took great care of her. And you diagnosed the car for free!


-Sent via iPhone 4S

[DasMechaniKer]

Huge props to Kristen for having such a knowledge-base. She and I felt like crap afterwards since they were stuck at DQ. Hindsight is 20/20 and Kristen was blaming herself for shutting the car off but who would have known that it wasn't going to start back up again even if we tried for an hour and a half :(.

The real people to blame in situations exactly like this are the vehicle owners. I've seen numerous people drive a vehicle around that has a symptom that is going to bite them in the butt if not addressed. They say:"Yeah I heard that noise, so I turned up my radio." This is extremely ignorant and what leaves people on the side of the road.

Now there are times when you'll get that fluke of nature head gasket blow or dead battery. I mean....there are times that you're just gonna break down and there was no warning sign.

We were all thinkin that this problem just began for this family when they were on their vacation. The Honda Pilot lady stated that she was having a real hard time starting it as of late. It wasn't until a few moments later that she said, and I quote: "I knew we shouldn't have taken this car on our vacation. It's been getting harder and harder to start! We should have taken the other car!"

Don't be that person! We were going to leave Lucy at home for this trip since we couldn't find a spare wheel for it! Luckily we found one a few weeks prior.

[kpro]

I felt so terrible I couldn't get it started again :( Kyle and I were in that car sweating our a$$es off trying to get it to start again. My fingers were raw for hours, lol. I hope that they made it home ok, and Kyle is right, they should have had it addressed as soon as it started giving them trouble.

[cakM3]

What get's me Kyle and Kristen is that they knew they were having issues with their Honda and had another car. Why would they drive any sort of distance on a family vacation with a car they know is having problems is beyond me. As they say.... let the stupid be punished. This is the case here unfortunately...:facepalm

[DasMechaniKer]

Yeps....all we can do is hope that they learned from this. And possibly that lady gave her husband a good chewin' cause he was quite an arse!!

[Sockethead]

Yeps....all we can do is hope that they learned from this. And possibly that lady gave her husband a good chewin' cause he was quite an arse!!
Yea he was an ass. I couldn't believe he was acting like that. His wife was totally cool and appreciative... He had no clue how lucky he was...

[danewilson77]

Give me the low down on what this guy did.

[DasMechaniKer]

Well Kristen, Rob, Ryan, and Myself were lookin at the Honda. The lady is like "What's wrong? It's been hard to start, I don't know what to do!" She was the usual damsel in distress. Talking about how they shouldn't have taken the car on the trip and whatnot.

Kristen is like "Da Ta Da Da, I am Honda Woman!! Make way for my Honda fixin' skillz!!"

The second Kpro sits in the drivers seat, the husband barks up. "I don't think we should let these people mess with our car. What are they doing? Do they know what they are doing?"

At this point John R, Marcus, Rob, and Ryan are all like "This girl knows her Honda stuff. There couldn't be a better person working on this whip!"

Kristen was going to work on the car and I says to the guy..."Why don't you take yourself and your kids over to the mini-golf course down yonder and take their minds off things. They look stressed."

He was on his way over and Kristen got the Honda started soon after. Kpro's recommendation is to get in the car and high-tail it back home!

It was a triumphant moment indeed BUT this lady is like. "Woe is me, woe is me. We're not supposed to leave until tomorrow! Can you show me how you started it?"

And I'm tellin' ya Kpro tried for like an hour, and I tried for like 60 minutes. That sucker was D-U-N DONE! Couldn't get it started to save our lives, and we were dyin' out there in the DQ parking lot. There was nothing we could do.

WELL...guy comes back from a lil' putt putt and first thing this bastich says is: "Well why did you turn it off anyway?" Like it was Kpro's fault they were stuck high and dry. Kpro got on her celly and got a line on a tow truck, rental car, and a Honda dealership to tow the car to so it could get fixed on Monday. Unfortunate that it happened on a weekend but none of the Honda dealerships in the area were open for vehicle service.

The lady is nothing but appreciative, she even bought us some ice creams! That hubby though, he was an arse! I think it was one of those, "If I can't be the man no one can!!" moments. Which fortunately makes you look like lesser of a man then when you started.

I am 150% for sure that IF Kpro had left the Honda running they would have gone back to the hotel and shut the car off like all was well and would have been stranded there instead of at DQ. So lookin' back on it I don't feel it was a mistake shutting the car back off.

Don't feel bad about that Kristen! That family was destined to learn a hard lesson about vehicle maintenance on that hot Saturday afternoon.

[danewilson77]

Thanks Kyle. Makes perfect sense.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[C Withers Media]

If it makes anything better, I took a huge dump at that DQ and had to lock the door from the inside to prevent further use.

[Rovert]

Casey....TMI! :(

[Johnmadd]

Well Kristen, Rob, Ryan, and Myself were lookin at the Honda. The lady is like "What's wrong? It's been hard to start, I don't know what to do!" She was the usual damsel in distress. Talking about how they shouldn't have taken the car on the trip and whatnot.

Kristen is like "Da Ta Da Da, I am Honda Woman!! Make way for my Honda fixin' skillz!!"

The second Kpro sits in the drivers seat, the husband barks up. "I don't think we should let these people mess with our car. What are they doing? Do they know what they are doing?"

At this point John R, Marcus, Rob, and Ryan are all like "This girl knows her Honda stuff. There couldn't be a better person working on this whip!"

Kristen was going to work on the car and I says to the guy..."Why don't you take yourself and your kids over to the mini-golf course down yonder and take their minds off things. They look stressed."

He was on his way over and Kristen got the Honda started soon after. Kpro's recommendation is to get in the car and high-tail it back home!

It was a triumphant moment indeed BUT this lady is like. "Woe is me, woe is me. We're not supposed to leave until tomorrow! Can you show me how you started it?"

And I'm tellin' ya Kpro tried for like an hour, and I tried for like 60 minutes. That sucker was D-U-N DONE! Couldn't get it started to save our lives, and we were dyin' out there in the DQ parking lot. There was nothing we could do.

WELL...guy comes back from a lil' putt putt and first thing this bastich says is: "Well why did you turn it off anyway?" Like it was Kpro's fault they were stuck high and dry. Kpro got on her celly and got a line on a tow truck, rental car, and a Honda dealership to tow the car to so it could get fixed on Monday. Unfortunate that it happened on a weekend but none of the Honda dealerships in the area were open for vehicle service.

The lady is nothing but appreciative, she even bought us some ice creams! That hubby though, he was an arse! I think it was one of those, "If I can't be the man no one can!!" moments. Which fortunately makes you look like lesser of a man then when you started.

I am 150% for sure that IF Kpro had left the Honda running they would have gone back to the hotel and shut the car off like all was well and would have been stranded there instead of at DQ. So lookin' back on it I don't feel it was a mistake shutting the car back off.

Don't feel bad about that Kristen! That family was destined to learn a hard lesson about vehicle maintenance on that hot Saturday afternoon.


Thanks Kyle. Makes perfect sense.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2


If it makes anything better, I took a huge dump at that DQ and had to lock the door from the inside to prevent further use.

Great story guys, especially the dumping. :thumbsup

[Rovert]

Do not encourage that man!!

[Johnmadd]

Do not encourage that man!!

Poop!

[Johnmadd]

^my classiest post to date.

[Sockethead]

If it makes anything better, I took a huge dump at that DQ and had to lock the door from the inside to prevent further use.

It would of been much better if the next person in the bathroom was her husband...:thumbup

[Rovert]

What if Casey stays at your house Rob? LOL

[Sockethead]

What if Casey stays at your house Rob? LOL

Remember, we have that '50's tile lined bathroom with tile even on the ceiling... NP.. that bathroom could contain a nuclear explosion :headbang

[Rovert]

Casey is former military. He can handle explosions. They don't even faze him. LOL.

[kpro]

OMG!!! Can't quit laughing! That 50's bathroom can handle ANYTHING...I'm sure of it.

...we took care of diagnosing the womans Pilot and did half of the labor, so hopefully the Honda place didn't charge her for that. Kyle is right though, Mr. husband was an ass.

[johnrando]

How's the new gig so far Kris?