Last October 2007, I sent my car for a service at Fasfik Kepong. After 4 months of excessive car usage fighting the KL traffic jam plus the extra money from Google Adsense payout earlier, it’s time to get my car for a service treat. I drive my Proton Iswara car every single day. So it is crucial to get my car well maintained to avoid any complication in case if I my car broke down along my way to work.

One of the disadvantage of owning a second hand car is most of the important working parts of the car is used and requires replacement. This time, it was my car’s front shock absorber. I’ve heard of stories where people normally gets ripped off when they send their car to the workshop. I never encountered any of that problem simply because I know what parts are needed to be replaced (putting my diploma in automotive engineering practice of course). Apart from that, since I only use a stock standard car and the location of where I live, there will always be replacement parts available for me to shop around.

Here’s one tip if you want to slash your car maintenance’s cost, buy your car replacement parts at a local shop. Avoid asking your car’s workshop to buy it for unless it is really necessary. Also avoid buying parts at a well known accessories shop, their price are 10 to 25 percent higher than the local shop. I’ve been practicing this for years. One area famous of automotive replacement parts which apparently where I live is Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur. In my area alone, there are 4 - 6 shops selling automotive replacement parts.

Rows of Shop at Batu 5 Jln Ipoh

Because of the good experience at Fasfik Kepong last time, I went there again today for their excellent services.

Fasfik Kepong Branch

Before handing over my car keys to Fasfik personnel, an agreement is first made between the car owner and Fasfik about the price quoted. Once that is established, then the time of job is estimated and then executed:

My Proton Iswara being scrutinized

Replacing my old shock absorber

Installing my new car’s shock absorber

Job’s Done

Replacing the car’s shock absorber involves the removal of the wheel. Because of that, a re-alignment is needed:

My Proton Iswara on the Alignment Job

While doing the alignment, the mechanic noticed that my wheel camber alignment on my left side of the wheel is out of tune. He then suggested for me to install a camber nut for RM25 a piece. A new quotation was made and I agreed to it. The best part of Fasfik is they have a central online management system built using open source architecture called Fasfik Intelligent Management System. Check out their portal here.

Fasfik Intelligent Management System

Here’s the summary cost of my entire car service this time:

Tell me what do you think of the price above. Find out if Fasfik is available in your area here.

A new car service station chain is popping up in the Klang Valley. The name of the car service station is Fasfik. I first got to know them after passing by their branch on my way to my office. They also sent flyers to my house and they advertise on a local radio. As always, being a person who always want to try out promotions and bargain plus I just got my first salary for my new employment, I went around town and found out that the nearest Fasfik service station branch is at Kepong.

After asking the personnel and bargaining the price for a full set of tyres for my car, I managed to secure a standard Dunlop SP 490 TL 175/60/R13 tyre for RM104 a piece which include a free balancing and wheel alignment services. I then added a brake fluid change since they’ve offered a 50% discount on all services. My budget back then was below RM500. After agreeing on the price and services, I gave my car keys to the mechanics and hang around taking photos of my car being serviced:

My Stock Standard Proton Iswara Aeroback 1.3L

The Car Service Job Begins
My Proton Iswara Aeroback floating above the ground..

The Mechanic sucking my old brake fluid out

The suction tank that stores bad oil

My New Dunlop 175/70/R13 Tyre Set

The Fasfik boys doing their jobs..

My car undergoing wheel alignment tuning

The wheel alignment pit

My invoice and a free wheel alignment and balancing service coupon

My total cost for the car service was RM465 and I paid cash. I think Fasfik gave me a really good price. I recommend them if you want a fast, good and cheap service for your car.

Although I once become a member of a car club, I don’t think I am qualified to be a petrol head. I heard that a man’s first wife is their car, that’s not necessarily true. For me, a car is just a car. It’s a mode of transportation. You’ll know about how his car personality just by looking at his or her car or how much they spend on their car. Thanks to Fasfik mechanic (they spotted that my car is tilted on the driver’s side), my next car service would be changing my shock absorber. That would require my car to undergo a wheel re-alignment. Lucky for me, they gave a transferable coupon for a free wheel alignment service. I’ll definitely drop by their place again once I hunted down a pair of shock absorbers (again, a cheap and good one of course).

Several weekends ago, I decided it was time for me to change my left hand side car’s Constant Velocity (CV) joint. It’s been a while since I’ve noticed the clicking sound whenever I make a U-turn but I just ignored that. It costed me a few hundreds RM in repair for my car’s right hand CV joint last year because I’ve been telling myself that “it’s still okay for now and everything would be alright”. The cause of CV joint damages is most of the time because of the worn out or tear of the rubber that contains the grease. Visually inspecting my undercar components, it’s been several months already that the boot of the CV joint is torn. If I were just to replace the boot alone, it would have just cost me less than RM50 but only if the CV joint doesn’t make any funny sound. As for my CV joint, the sound is too obvious. Procrastinate just makes thing even worse but it is one tough habit that is not easy to get rid off.

Being a bootstrapper, I hunted for several shops to get the best deal for my repair. I was tempted to do it on my own but of course I was short on tools plus my car mechanic skillset has been rusted for so many years. The only thing I have is the knowledge on how to minimize costs and repairs. So, in order to prolong your car’s CV joint this what I am going to share:

1. Avoid making very sharp U-turn so often; this is because you’ll make your CV joint rubber boot to stretch in and out excessively and will make it torn off quickly.
2. Try and avoid small and tight parking spaces where you need to turn your wheel from end to end.
3. Check your undercar at least once a month and take into consideration every smudge of grease on your wheel.

Here’s a snapshot of how my mechanic removed my car’s broken CV joint. If I’m not mistaken, this is my fourth CV joint that I’ve replaced eversince I’ve been driving my own car.

The cost of the repair was RM130 for a brand new CV joint. It’s not an original part but hey, original parts doesn’t mean that it is really original. A car manufacturer have thousands of vendors working for them, they just kind of assemble them together and for aftermarket products, they just make the packaging use their own brand. As long as it works, I don’t see the trouble of using some other brand but of course don’t get a cheap imitation product or you’ll just endangering yourself.

I haven’t made my wheel alignment yet after replacing the new CV joint. I guess I’ll wait for my tyres to worn out and then proceed with a tyre alignment. Oh no…more procrastination..

By the way, check out this girl mechanic who got trouble removing her car’s CV joint. I stumbled upon this trouble with my former car and my mechanic had to cut his way through using a grinder. It’s not an easy job but somebody has to do it.

Based on the my experience from the above topic, the most substantial benefit you’ll get when you drive with your air-conditioning off is:

It saves your fuel!

Driving with your car air-conditioner off saves like 25% of your fuel. This is fairly true when driving through the traffic jam or lower speed driving such as driving in the city area where you need to stop and go often. Why is that? The main components that makes the air-conditioner works is called a compressor. It is a moving part and moving parts will always experience wear and tear.

Another benefit would be, you save money by not having to often pay for the air conditioning maintenance. A refill of a R-134 gas is RM50++. For the R-12 gas is just RM15 but it’s not ozone friendly. I don’t think it does make a different when these gaseous are released. It is bound going to happen anyway when things break down. However, before you go for the cheaper option, make sure that the components can accept the R-12 or you’ll end up damaging it even more.

3 weeks ago, after my last car air conditioning service which was 15 months ago, I spent my new job’s second paycheck (my first paycheck was worth 3 days but it is still a paycheck of course) to repair my car’s air conditioned. I can’t believe I’ve been driving around in a hot car all these while. This time, I didn’t sent my car to the shop I sent last year. Got a few snapshots while waiting for the repair job.

The above image is when the mechanic want to clear out all the air conditioner gas. Talk about saving the environment huh? For a full service, the condenser inside the dashboard compartment needs to be removed and cleaned. Normally all the dust is collected there.

After soaking the condenser inside some liquid chemical bowl and blow dry it, the mechanic then re-assembled the component. If this component has signs of puncture, it will puncture your wallet so a piece of advice, make sure your mechanic don’t fool you by this trick.

The repair job took almost 2 hours to finish. In the end, the cost of repair was just RM250 although the compressor is now creating a squeaking noise. I should have got the air conditioning repaired earlier with that kind of money if only I wasn’t so stingy. I don’t really care about the noise as long as I’m cool. The belt is causing the noise because the compressor is now worn out and at anytime it can get jammed, that was what my mechanic said. A new compressor would cost around RM1000 while a reconditioned one is only RM300++. I’ll take the latter because I like to keep my cost down but in the mean time, I’ll give the sick compressor a hard time.

The visit to the mechanic wasn’t so bad. I met an attractive young lady as you can see in the picture above. No, not that chinese lady who’s on the phone, the girl who is sms’ing beside my car. She was installing a new set of speakers for her dad’s black Nissan Sentra. Apparently she lives in my neighbourhood and his dad owns an office nearby. She was complaining about the car’s high fuel consumption. At least my waiting moment kind of got interested, unfortunately I didn’t get her number which I should have done. Oh well, I can always fabricate a ‘bump into’, after all she lives in my neighbourhood, right?

My next paycheck would be spent for my torn CV joint cover which will only cost me RM15 if I bought it directly from a spare part shop. Where I live, it’s like the heaven of spare parts from what other mechanics has told me. The only thing that I have to bear is the labour charge which might reach RM60++. Another thing would be to change my front tyres and to do the wheel alignment. Altogether, I have a budget of RM300 for that, I hope I don’t exceed that amount.

Well, who said owning is car is easy.. ;-)