Stewart’s Automotive

What do you do when your vehicle breaks down in the middle of no-where, in the north woods of Minnesota? Well if you are anywhere near Walker, you’d best be calling Stewart’s!

I had the great misfortune of having my truck act up when I was at my friends Cabin on Leech Lake. I had arrived on Thursday evening.  Friday mid-morning I was planning to drive into town with Buddy to see the vet, but as I approached my truck, I was met with a sound as though the truck was already running.  I looked around the truck, jumped in to verify the keys were not in the ignition and sat dumbfounded for a second until realizing that, the truck itself wasn’t running, but the heater fan was running full blast in my truck.  Even though the dial was turned to “off”.  And I couldn’t turn it off.  There was no way to stop the fan from running.  In fact, it didn’t matter what switch or lever I moved, nothing changed.  And the air was not hot, or cold, just air. Oh my, it was probably on ever since I parked on Thursday—and running all night!  I tried to start the truck, but it wouldn’t turn over.  I tried several times, to no avail.

Well I had no internet reception. Phone was marginal at best.  I tried to call friends back home for advice, but got voicemail.  For now, I was stuck at the lake.

When Cindy and Clark arrived Saturday the sound was down to a clicking noise. Clark tried pulling fuses one by one to see which one would stop the fan.  None of them did.  Eventually the noise stopped–the truck died completely.  Battery was drained.

Cindy and I drove their fancy red truck to town to run errands on Tuesday and were referred to Stewart’s Automotive.   We stopped in just to give the place a look-see.

Now, they could have given us women a whole string of B. S. about what may or may not be the issue when we explained what was going on, but instead they gave us some sound advice of how to troubleshoot the situation, and assurance that they could come and get the truck if we can’t get it to them. What a rare treat to not feel taken advantage of right out of the gate!

Since Clark had already done the exact troubleshooting they suggested, it was a simple matter of getting cables on the battery, giving it a good jump and driving to their shop for service, which we did several days later. Turns out I needed a new Blower Motor Resistor and 7 pin Pigtail Connector, my unit was shot.  They were able to call in for parts to be delivered same day while we shopped in Walker, and had repairs done in a few hours for only $200.  And there was no “scary laundry list” of additional stuff for hundreds of dollars that I also have to have done.  Wow.

Stewart’s simply fixed the problem, and now my fan system for the heat and air seems to be working better than ever! I am grateful for the fast, superior no nonsense service I received at Stewart’s Automotive in Walker.  In addition to being all that, they were kind enough to let me sit in their waiting lounge and do some computer work using their WIFI.  That’s when I had the opportunity to talk with Troy, the owner, and discover our hunting backgrounds and “people circles” indeed crossed.   I highly recommend Stewart’s Automotive if you find yourself in need of a mechanic up north!

Talk to Troy and tell him PR the bowhunter from Minneapolis sent you.

You can read about all kinds of products, places and services I’ve found to be exceptionally great, or exceptionally not great under my “Whats New” blog category–I look forward to your comments!  And please feel free to share this post with others that would find value in learning about this information.