Le "Auto" Salon

As promised, Blue Truck got some much needed pampering over the weekend. Since I am going to keep it, I figured I better start babying it. I took it over to Branson's Express Lube, my favorite place for maintenance stuff, and asked Ryan, the owner what I needed to do to get it ship shape.

Ryan Branson is a real stand up guy, by the way, and if you need an oil change or other small service, please visit his shop at 5651 Auburn Street, Bakersfield, CA (661) 872-2281.

Ryan's been looking after my cars for at least 6 years and has never tried to sell me something that I didn't need. He pulled up my truck's maintenance history and looked over what we've done in the last five years. Besides the oil change, he recommended we do a coolant flush since mine was brown and not the lime green it should be. He also suggested we service the transmission which entails replacing the fluids. 

I had him look everything else over and asked what else I could do for Blue Truck to keep it running safely. He suggested that in the next year I should also service my differentials (and I know what those are now) and the transfer case (the 4 wheel drive box thingy). He'll do those for me during Christmas break. He also suggested I get someone to change out my serpentine belt sometime this next year. I left Branson's $211 poorer, but feeling much more confident about Blue Truck's dependability. 

Ryan checking under Blue Truck's hood.

I still had one more stop to make though. I took Blue Truck over to the tire place and asked for a rotation and balance. To my surprise, Tire Guy said the tires I had bought last year still looked great, and I could easily wait on that job a bit longer. During Christmas break I'll take it back so that he can rotate and balance the tires as well as change out the serpentine belt. 

Blue Truck finished the weekend with a run through the car wash, a vacuum job, and a topped off fuel tank. I think Blue Truck is going to be just fine!

Blue Truck may be a bit senior, but it's clean, gassed up, and ready to roll!