Well, I made it just over a week!

Yeah, so remember last week when I took my car back to the shop to have the CV joint re-replaced? I mentioned that my goal was to go the rest of the year without having to go back to the shop. Well, I was off to a good start! Last Sunday, my check engine light came on again! It had just been on like the whole time I was out of town for Thanksgiving, but went off the day before I took it to the shop so they couldn't look at it. When it came on again, I decided to give them a call and have the dealership check it out. The call went something like this:

Receptionist at the Dealership: Nissan service.
Only Mark: Hi, my name is Mark [Last name]. I don't know if you remember, but I had my Maxima in there last week and you commented on how often I'm up there. I told you my goal was to get through the end of the year before I had to come back.
Receptionist: Uh huh?
Only Mark: Yeah, well uhh, I need to make another appointment! haha
Receptionist: Hahaha! Okay, when do you want to bring it...

It would appear that my frequent customer status is starting to pay off though! I had made my appointment for Saturday morning but then later found out that I was going to have to do something I'd hoped to do on Friday. So Friday morning I called and told them I couldn't make it at that time and offered to bring it later on Saturday. My service advisor said they wouldn't have enough time, as they close early on Saturdays. He also added "I'd say bring it next week, but didn't you tell me you were leaving town next week too?" I was so impressed he remembered! He told me to bring it in that afternoon (same day service...no appointment? Word up!).

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to take it in that afternoon b/c my bosses had made an appointment to get their car looked at for the head light/windshield wiper issue and I was going to be their ride to and from their dealership. Of course their car had so many issues, they almost just left it there and bought a Hummer. Since they were considering buying the new truck (which they later decided to hold off on for now) the salesman let them take it to drive around for the day. Now that we had a car, I could drop mine off to be fixed!

Turns out, the rear O2 sensor went bad in my car. I don't know exactly what this does, but it has something to do with the air-fuel ratio or maybe the something about my exhaust and emissions. Anyway, whatever it was it was also covered under my warranty and the actually had the part in stock for once, so they were able to fix it that day for, as usual, no charge! I definitely think I go there too much, though, because when I call there I recognize everyone by their voice on the phone! haha

When I went to pick it up, Dave, my service advisor, told me that I definitely picked the right warranty when I was buying them. Apparently some people get ones that are very comprehensive, but have a deductible, so like they'd have to pay $50 or so each time they brought it in, even if the work was covered! I would've had to take out a second mortgage buy now if I had to pay a deductible every time! I did laugh and tell Dave that after all this work under warranty, the dealership about had more invested in the car than I did and asked him if they'd rather just buy me out soon! haha

I'm hesitant to say it, but NOW my goal is to make it the REST of the year without a visit to the dealership! (20 days!) Say a prayer for me!

PS - While writing this post, I noticed online that, not only does this seem to be a fairly common problem for Maximas (and actually making 75k miles before it happened seems to be pretty good) but that the repair work would probably have cost me around $300-$400 to get done with out the warranty! My $1100 warranty purchase which was added onto the financed price of the car has now given me well over $6,000 worth of repairs. Yikes!