102,284 mile service

because it involves a timing belt, from a dollar point-of-view, this is the big one.

i called prestige last month, hoping to get a free rental on my belt change before i hit 100K miles, but ran out of time ... the price they quoted then was $1350 for the timing belt alone ... but it was clear in the conversation that the price had some flexibility to it ...

so before i went in, i negotiated ... according to the manual, i was supposed to change plugs back in august, but hadn't gotten around to it yet ... my brother and i did these at 60K miles and he was appalled by how hard the job was ... so maybe i can get that thrown in as well.

for $1400 they did my timing belt, replaced the spark plugs, did a radiator flush (first one! -- only needs it every 100K miles) and did an oil change.  it's not cheap (especially considering that all my dealer services to this point have been $1750), but i feel good about the discount, remembering that i want to keep this work at a chrysler dealer and considering the alternatives.

i'm also completely caught up with my car now (and it'll be another five years before i have to hit this hard again).

my service advisor asked about the engine mounts ... when i told him they'd never been replaced, he was surprised, so he had the crew look them over as well (he wrote "CUST STATES THERE IS A VIBRATION WHEN IDLING," which i definitely did not, but they have to write something in order to look it over).  yet, when they inspected it, it was fine.

"someone must have changed 'em sometime."

maybe.  but i drive a car pretty soft.  i don't excessively speed.  i don't jackrabbit start.  i don't corner hard anyway, but especially not in a cruiser (which has way more understeer than i'm comfortable with).  i'm infamous for coasting to a stop ... so maybe it's just the way i drive.

$1413

this is by far the biggest charge i've ever had against this car ... it'd be nice to not beat that record.

(i asked for my used spark plugs back to examine the ignition characteristics on them.  the replacement boxes they were in were Champion with a two year warranty -- regardless of mileage ... i'm using this as a green light to back off changing if i get more than 30K miles in the next two years.)