I went to the old job today to have lunch with some of the guys and catch up on the latest gossip. Seems another dealer is trying to woo my friend away with promises of mo' money. Pretty tough to top the sweet deal he has so he will likely stay where he is. Transmission experts are scarce.

Teething problems with the new 6 cylinder diesel for Suburbans and light trucks. They're eating the crankshaft thrust bearing to the point the torque converter bolts are hitting the block. The fix is a new engine, which means removing the entire body from the frame, or just the cab on a pick up. Imagine your $70K+ truck needing an engine after 500 miles and the body will be coming off to do it. And it might happen again because the new engine is just like the old one, as far as anyone knows.

There are 5 of them there waiting for engines. You never know with these problems, sometimes you get a bunch of them and then no more after the first wave. Sometimes it goes on for years.