Riverview Park mechanic

Smyth Road, then south to Sheffield

From Riverview Park or the General campus, go east on Smyth Road, drop down to Russell Road, and follow it to Sheffield Road. Blackwell Street runs off Sheffield, and the shop is Unit 112, at 2595 Blackwell St, Ottawa, ON. It is about 4.5 km from the middle of Riverview Park and a little more from the hospital, eight or nine minutes in normal traffic.

Smyth Road gets busy around shift change at the hospitals, when the General and CHEO lots are emptying and filling at the same time. Give yourself a few extra minutes if you are leaving the campus in the morning.

Working around a hospital shift

A lot of people in Riverview Park work at the hospitals, and twelve hour shifts do not line up neatly with garage hours. The shop opens at 8am and runs until 5pm on weekdays, with the last drop off at 4pm. If you finish nights, you can drop the car on your way home, sleep, and pick it up before six.

Day shift is harder, since 7am starts come before the doors open.

Getting back to the campus after dropping off is a ride of around 5 km, so plan on a cab, a coworker or the bus. Booking works on your schedule at least. The booking page is open around the clock, so a slot can be picked on your break or after a late finish.

Cars that sit through a long shift

A car parked for twelve hours in an open lot in January is cold soaked all the way through. The battery has lost a good share of its cranking power and the oil is thick. That is when weak batteries and marginal starters show up first.

If yours cranks slowly at the end of a shift, a starting and charging test will tell you whether it is the battery, the alternator or a drain. When a warning light comes with it, car diagnostics start at $150 and include the scan, then testing until the actual failed part is named.

The check engine light on a short commute

Riverview Park to the hospital is barely a commute, and short drives in cold weather are where certain codes live. Thermostats stuck open, oxygen sensors that never reach temperature and evaporative system leaks all tend to show up on cars that rarely get warm.

A code points at a system, not a part, so the check engine light page explains how we get from code to cause. If the light is flashing, treat it as urgent. That usually means a misfire, and unburnt fuel can ruin a catalytic converter quickly.

Tires and oil when you are short on time

Seasonal tire change and installation is $60 for tires already on rims, and it is short enough to wait for in the waiting room on a day off. Short trip driving also counts as severe service in most owner’s manuals, so oil change and maintenance intervals may be shorter than you think.

Either way, book online when it suits you and note your shift pattern in the problem description, so the car can be planned around when you can actually get here.