Automobile repair.......Ugh!

“The scary thing is where I'll be dropping the car off, that wouldn't surprise me.”

“I'm sick of cars myself. I just dropped off mine to get a new air/fuel sensor and vent hose for the emissions system. I'd love to get away with not having to own a car. They are nothing but problems and cost a fortune to fix. I hate the fact that all cars are computerized now.”

“Had to replace a leafspring in the back of my van and did the job last night. Got to my buddies about 3:30pm yesterday...and got home at 12:30am last night. Had to replace both of them anyways, but ended up spending over 2hrs to remove ONE bolt because of how the bolts (and others that almost took 2 hrs also) rusted onto the inside of the spring bushings. My buddy has all the necessary tools we needed...except a cutoff torch.

We got the job done, >8 hours later........UGH!”

“I did leaf springs on my jeep last year & used a sawzall & 4" grinder to cut the bolts out. For weeks earlier, I was spraying them with WD40 & liquid wrench. I broke all the nuts/bolts loose with a 1/2 breaker bar & pipe. They ALL came apart & I thought I had it licked. A few bolts refused to come out & the bushions cushioned my hammer blows. Took me days.....”

“I am so POed at my truck!
Dang thing started leaking coolant a few days ago. I worked for hours trying to find the leak. I went over ever dang hose on that thing. I finially gave up and took it to the Chev dealer yesterday.

Big problems, but not with any hose.
The coolant was leaking thru the seals of my engine and into the oil.
I'll be writing a check for about $600 tomorrow.”

“yowtch.”

“ugh...thats horrid :(”

“My old van did that, the gasket went bad and the coolant leaked in and cracked the block. There was white smoke coming out of the exhaust. It ruined the engine.”

“Ouch.”

“Could be worse, like RichB said.”

“I'm using my old old minivan to get around today. That poor pile of crap hadn't been cranked in about six months. Had to work on it to use it today.

It's time to buy another car and get rid of the minivan.
What the he11 do y'all do with a car that needs way more repairs than what's it's worth?”

“Donate it to the Salvation Army.”

“skully - That's not a bad idea!”

“I did that with the Corsica when we bought the Jeep.”

“If it would be a pain to sell it I'd donate it.

SS you remember that Boys Ranch near where we began the Ocala 3 hike? Rodeheaver Boys Ranch?

They take repairable donated cars and trucks, teach the kids how to fix them and sell them to help keep the ranch going.”

“I feel your pain. My car goes in on Monday for an ignition control module recall and some minor things.”

“That's what you get for buying Chevrolet! :)”

“SS - If you're moving to Wisconsin, wait and get a used one up there. With all the salt and crap you'll have to deal with up there you don't want to buy a car here and take it up there. When your tour of duty is finished, unload it up there, and then buy a vehicle you want to keep when you come back from the land of salt.”

“I love that old jingle...

Get towed across the USA in your Chevrolet.”

“Funny the only vehicle I ever owned that I didn't have to get towed was my Chevy. The thing only failed to start once and that was because I forgot and left the head lights on all night.”

“Those new Avalanche styled Chevy 1500/2500 series pickups are just plain weird. Yeah SS, it's a terrible way to go through life, owning a truck that breaks down on you and is fugly too.”

“My 2002 Subaru had a gas line start leaking Monday morning. That was really bad. A $9 part.”

“...that cost $200 to install?”

“Final bill was $692.37 for my truck.
OUCH!”

“Stovey - Didn't you have that Salvation Army thread awhile ago? I'll be you can donate it to them. Might be a little hard jamming it in ones of those kettles, tho...”

“Mine cost $175, including the tow from my mom's house to the dealership. Not too bad.”

“You made out good treebait. I had the same problem StoveStomper had with my Subaru two months ago and it ended up costing me over $1200. I like the car, but the repair bills I've had for it have been killing me.”

“If you're going to donate your truck, do it quickly! Jan 1, the IRS rules change for vehicle donations. There was a recent interview on NPR about this change.

Currently you can deduct Blue Book value. Beginning Jan 1 you can only deduct what the not-for-profit gets out of the vehicle. If they use it you can claim Blue Book. If they sell it you can only deduct what the organization gets for it. The interviewee said if they turn it over to a "middle man" they might get $5.00 for it--that's what you get to deduct.”

“Ah yes, engine block plug replacement. That happened to my parents' aerostar twice. The second time, Dad dragged the thing to his machine shop and replaced the plugs himself. Or he had one of the employees do it, more like.”

“Not my truck, maybe my old piece of crap minivan.”

“Van broke down in Cadillac, MI this morning.....5 YEARS TO THE DAY I BROKE DOWN IN STATESVILLE, NC both times returning from a NYE trip.

Smelled rubber burning, then the power steering went out. I was stopped at a dead intersection so I ran the red light and pulled into the gas station across the street. Found my serpentine belt broken and wrapped around the pulleys.

Called AAA and had them tow me to an Advance Auto where I replaced the belt. When I started up the van I still heard an aweful squeel only to find the tensioner pulley had froze. Advance didn't have the tension arm but called another place that did...just next door was Auto Zone. Got the pulley and got it on and was on the road in....ummmm...almost 3 hours.

So the 9hr drive turned into a 12hr drive. And to add insult to injury, by the time I got to my exit on the OH turnpike I found the ticket had fallen down into a slot in my dashboard, so I had to take off a part of my dashboard to get the ticket out. Ugh!”

“It sounds terrible. Breaking down on the road after a trip is one of the worst things, especially when you are tired and want to get home.”

“I bought a winter sled a few weeks ago to convert into a hiking sled and it's a good thing I didn't remove it from my van yet because I had to use it to lay when I had to get under the vehicle.

It was raining and there was ice everywhere, and that darn sled kept me dry.”

“Many years ago when I was stationed at Ft Campbell, KY I blew engines three years in a row on the way home to NC for Christmas.Yes they were hoopties but at the time thats all I could afford.Even now it's still a big joke in my family.”

“Good thing you had that sled with you. It's bad enough breaking down, but in bad weather even worse.”

“I just hope it still runs this morning.”

“My transmission went out on the 2.5 hr drive to see my folks Friday morning. About halfway there it went out, but was drivable in 4th gear. Luckily, it was 4 lane almost the whole way home at that point. I'm in my dad's truck this week while $850 of transmission work is being done. Hurrah!”

“

BSO jails man for shooting his car

LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA – A man was jailed briefly over the weekend for shooting his broken-down car -- five times.

The owner of the shot Chrysler LeBaron John McGivney said the car has been giving him trouble for years and had "outlived its usefulness." He called the shooting "dumb" and worries he will be evicted. But he doesn't regret it.

"I think every guy in the universe has wanted to do it," McGivney told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "It was worth every damn minute in that jail."

Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Hugh Graf said McGivney, 64, walked out of his home at the Bougainvilla Isles Apartments, on the 4500 block of Bougainvilla Drive, clutching a loaded .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol in his hand around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 15th,

McGivney, Graf said, walked across the parking lot and up to his green 1994 LeBaron. He pointed the gun at the aging auto and calmly pumped five rounds into car's hood.

When George Haberkorn, the property's manager, asked what he was doing, McGivney replied, "I'm putting my car out of its misery, George." McGivney then put the pistol in his pocket and calmly walked back to his apartment.

Deputies were called. They set up a perimeter around the complex and ordered McGivney to come out of his apartment unarmed and with his hands up. He did. McGivney was charged with a firearms violation. He bonded out of jail the next day.

Graf said no injuries were reported – except to the car.
last edited: 4/20/05 12:30:02 PM”

“bigtime over reaction, but I guess these days you can't be too careful.

lol, they set up a perimeter! the cops were prolly thinking, "WTF"!!!”

“My brother did that to a previous car. Rural Michigan, so no big deal. Pretty darn funny.”

“I think it's pretty safe to say that many people have thought about doing that.

Most still living people probably think twice about firing at a metal object at close range though.”

“I worked with a guy who spent a few nights because he unloaded his shotgun into an old car of his. The neighbors must've freaked!”

“I can understand the man's actions. Hell, it was a Chrysler product. Get Out of Jail Pass everytime.”

“So Sass is at school all day and I decide to take the little one to have a donut for breakfast. We are pulling out and I hear some rubbing in my rear brakes, hoping it was a piece of debris I drove on. Realizing it wasnt we drove home and my plans quickly changed...

3 hours later my rear drums are turned and shoes and all hardware are replaced. I absolutely hate drum brakes. As I pulled the drums off small bits of rusted spring parts fell out, so much for copying one side with new parts and then copying again. They seem to work fine, a longer drive is in order to verify. $120 in parts, prolly saved $200-400 in labor at the mechanics...Time to go swimming!”

“yeah that sucks. My car has discs on all 4 wheels, which make the pads pretty easy and cheap to replace. You just gotta keep an eye on them and make sure they don't wear down too much and eat up the rotor. Those babys are like $90 a pop.”

“Rear drum brakes do suck. Fortunately the shoes don't need to be replaced as much as front disc brake pads.”

“Lumberzac, I replaced the master cylinder 4 years ago and redid the front completely...everything but lines. It was gravy. The rear brakes will prolly outlast the jeep...

Phantomsoul, too right about discs wearing our fast. They sure are easy though.”

“The front breaks always wear out faster than the back brakes regardless of which type they are. That's just basic physics; the front brakes have a much bigger load.

I check my pads about every 10,000 miles or so. Any that look low get replaced ASAP. Long live the rotors, because they're expensive to replace.”

“rotors for my jeep cost about $6 each more then having em turned. I like that. I will prolly do the front one more time before it dies...”

“Yuk...I HATE drum brakes...luckily my Jeep has 4 wheel disk brakes....prolly the easiest brakes I've ever changed....Last time I changed mine I did all four wheeels (including new rotors) in like an hr. I think!”