Honolulu, HI
On my way into town to work two month ago, painting a house in Makiki, my 1989 Toyota 4x4 Longbed pickup truck started making a squeeling sound under the hood. My first thought was "Oh, no. A fan belt is about to break". I knew that I couldn't just drive to the nearest Toyota service center because they would tell me I would need to make an appointment. So my next thought was, "Hey, maybe I should go to Lex Brodie's". So I drove straight to the Lex Brodie's on Queen street at 8 AM with my fingers crossed that they would be able to fix the problem. The service salesman, named Louis Ilac, came out to meet me and I told him what happened. We both looked under the hood and he immediately pointed out a fan belt that is about to break. While he was looking around, he noticed that my fan was wobbly and he said that that was not normal. He said "I think you need to replace your "fan clutch assembly". I told Luis that my father and Lex Brodie were friends back in the early 50's and that they played tennis together. I also told Louis that I have been buying my tires exclusively at the Queen's location since 1969 when I bought my first car, a 1963 used VW bug. As a 64 yr old guy who has owned more than 20 cars, the only place I bought my tires was at the Queens location of Lex Brodies. Louis and I went to his computer to see about the parts and the cost of replacing my "fan clutch assembly" and all of my fan belts. Louis offered me a complimentary rental car for the day which I accepted and it wasn't long before I was able to get to my job site. I got a phone call from Lois with an update that my radiator hoses were bad and since they had to take them off anyway, that it would be a good idea to replace them now, which I said "Go for it". Finally, around 4 PM, I got a call from Louis telling me my truck was finished. It was too late to pick up my truck, so I told him I'd come in the following morning. That morning, I asked Louis if he could add a safety check to the job and he said "Sure". Okay. Now here's the best part: As I drove away, there was a whirring sound I had never heard before. I've owned this truck for 11 years, and I'm hearing this weird sound. It turns out that that sound was the fan spinning. For the entire time I've had my truck, it had an over-heating problem and it would always over-heat if I got stuck in traffic. I've been to the Toyota service centers many, many times in the past and nobody at Toyota noticed that my "fan clutch assembly" was broken. Well, let me tell you about how happy I was to find out that that broken "fan clutch assembly" was what was causing the over-heating. Louis Ilac was the first person to spot the problem. Up to this moment, I had only visited Lex Brodie's for new tires, never for anything mechanical. But after my visit, with Louis' help, the only place I will be taking my truck for servicing is going to be the Lex Brodie's on Queens street, after talking to Louis Liac first.