SVX Back from Switzerland YEAH!

Well, I got back home yesterday after picking up my car on Monday. Had a terrific drive home in my "good as new" SVX. You wouldn't believe all the work that was done to the car. New head gaskets, shaved heads, replaced just about all the other gaskets, too. New spark plugs, complete new brakes in front, new pads and callipers in the back plus rotors polished, changed just about every hose and belt there is, new water pump, knock sensor, all fluids, filters done, you name it, it got inspected and probably had something done to it.

To top it all off, the new apprentice mechanic spent two days washing and cleaning every inch of the car, including conditioning the leather interior! I'm in heaven!

I learned a few interesting facts while in Switzerland. First off, my car isn't Claret or Barcelona Red. It is Mica Ruby! Seems that the colours made available here in Europe were different from the USA colour choices. Secondly, yes I have glass headlights, not plastic. (I checked since I couldn't answer when asked before)

I also found out that the idiot who installed my new rad didn't have the proper hose, so he cut a hose and spliced it with a little plastic insert joining piece. Yikes! My Swiss mechanic says that should be only done as a temporary fix and is NOT a proper repair at all!

I had my digital camera along and thought you might appreciate a little tour of the facilities in Switzerland. I also want to put in a plug for my favourite mechanics in the world: Mr. Egelhofer, Mr. Schneider, and the whole team. From now on baby gets inspected by them at least once a year.


Wolfgang Egelhofer - owner/master mechanic ..... U. Schneider - head mechanic


nice big facilities


view looking out of garage - note the Swiss cows with bells! (and the SVX too)


We're looking real pretty, shiny and polished. All ready for winter (those are our winter rims without the caps)
The silver SVX owner comes from Zurich for his servicing. (about 1.5 hr drive)



what a Subaru garage should look like <grin>


he's got one for sale ... hmmmm....

And that's my tour. Now perhaps you see why I trust these guys and made the long trip to Switzerland to get everything fixed properly. Seems like my car really wasn't properly serviced for the last three years.


check out my bad brakes! Yikes!
We ordered new ones from Bremsa www.bremsa.ch

I actually passed a full mandatory inspection just last November with no faults found and no repairs required. No way these brakes got so bad in only 9 months! So from now on I won't trust the inspections at all, and just treat it as another tax on the car.


the bad head gasket (but we replaced both)

Well... that's the limit for images, so I won't bother with more pics of partially shredded belts and other horrors that were found. I still can't believe that so much could go wrong in just three years. Especially when we thought that we were doing proper regular maintenance. I should have been suspicious when our maintenance costs went down after our move to Germany, but we thought we were just lucky. Oh, well... live and learn.

Now I'm off for a little drive <big huge grin!>