jdemoors

After almost 2 weeks in the shop, the mechanic had ordered a new computer to put into the vehicle convinced that it could be the only problem. After he got it in there and started to reprogram it, another guy he was working with decided to check the fuses again, and you won't believe what he found....an intermittent fuse. He had pulled all the fuses out a few times before and never saw a break. This last time, he pulled out this fuse (which was all solid yellow on one side...the side he had been looking at the other times), and looked on the other side and saw the long brown streak from where it was melting within itself.

This mechanic has been running his shop for over 30 years and said it was the first intermittent fuse he had ever seen. He wouldn't even let me take it with me. So, he let me take a picture...check it out.

Now the bigger kicker is how honest this mechanic is. He said he logged over 12 hours trying to figure out what was wrong with our Lexus, but said he would only charge us for 4 hours. Considering all the troubleshoooting he had done, to only charge us 4 hours at $80/hr...I felt lucky. Of course the fuse cost $0.68. ;-)

MidniteGX

The long and short of it is: the mech changed the computer and it still didn't work, so he checked the fuses and voila!

By rights, the fuse belongs to you as it belongs in the car you paid for. However, he made it sound like he paid for it by only charging you for 4 hours labor (which still seems pretty steep to me) and making it seem like he "bought" it from you.

Whatever the reasons, secret or not, at least you don't have to replace that starter! (hopefully!)