Automobile repair.......Ugh!

“H#$p...Get a Landcruiser and you'll never look back :P”

“I've gotta take my car into the shop sometime in the next few weeks to get the vandalism repaired. Cost me $500 and the insurance company around $2000. Pics of the vandalism in my profile.”

“UP, 4 wheel disc sounds wonderful! I need to check Sass' breaks soon, she has a cherokee too though hers is newer then mine so maybe they changed the brake setup. I also need to replace her thermostat housing gasket and since it'll be easy access I am gonna do the stat too. Then I need to find her pesky A/C leak. I ran the dye through with no luck. I will buy some fluorescent dye that shows up under a "black light" and find the leak after dark sometime soon.

Dub, sorry about the vandalism. That sucks!

WSdavies, I have wanted a land rover for years but prolly wont due to the fuel economy. I dont mind the 19mpg in my cherokee since its 12 years old and paid for. But no way in a newer car. I like em though...”

“My explorer is in the shop, again. Last week it was the body shop to repair the back end. Turbohike thought that he'd see how far he could push the telephone pole outside of the garage. It didn't move. Today, it's getting a new ball joint, then back to the body shop to have the rear lock fixed. Arrrrg !”

“I have this deal with my mechanic. He doesn't appraise the public domain, I don't open the hood of my car. Seems to be working.”

“For a highly technical description of what just happened to my car, check out my latest post on the Sierra Rendezvous thread....”

“LOL bowlderman, that was a very detailed description. Sounds expensive, good luck!”

“AAAarrrrrrg !
sorry about that. After the body repairs, I just picked up the explorer Monday night from getting a new ball joint, then last night, it wouldn't start! Looks like a new starter is needed! Maybe it's time to get a horse for transportation!”

“Front brakes w/ rotors ---> $200
Rear brakes w/ drums ---> $175

They never put enough meat on these parts to turn them anymore. Pi$$e$ me off!

New gas tank, installed ---> $375

No car payments ---> priceless!”

“Automobiles = money pit!”

“Life = Money pit!”

“I will be doing a gas tank soon, never done one yet. It oughtta be interesting. I agree about the lack of car payments. I would love to have a car without rust one day. But I realize thats not gonna happen. My goal now is to see how long my jeep will last.”

“Just move south, birch.”

“No car and house payments are a beautiful thing! My '87 Cavalier has over 300,000 miles and still has the original clutch!

I just had to have a new feul pump put in. Cost about $300. I used to be able to do all the work on my cars myself until this Lyme Disease hit me.”

“My gas tank ('98 Lumina) was $180 labor and $195 parts. I do a lot of repairs myself, but I paid them for the labor, this time because (for now) I can work all the overtime I want.

Ever hear of rustproofing with that Texaco product? It stays in a wax-like state (flexible). Works very, very well.”

“The only rustproofinf stuff I have used is by NAPA, not the best IMO.

I thought about paying for the tank to be done, but cant. Since its for our 85 VW brick mechanics seem to think I need to pay more. Which is odd cause its an easy job. I will be putting a used one in. An OEM tank is almost $400,used it $125.”

“My 97 wrangler's gas tank had a leak at the fill plate. Pulled the tank out and sealed it put it back in about 2 hrs(had to wait for sealer to dry). Also my wife's astro vans fuel pump broke also pull tank out replace pump and put it back about 1 hour. So my advise to you is to go ahead and try it you self.”

“on the way out of town yesterday, i had to have my serpentine belt replaced

today, as i tried again to make it to michigan, i got almost to south bend but my car overheated and i found out its either a head gasket or a cracked head. mechanic says it would be cheaper just to replace the damn engine FUUUUUUUVCK!

so thats why my lame ass is sitting here posting on a friday nite? whats your friggin excuse?”

“My friggin' excuse? I'm married with kids! Need I say more?

Seriously, sorry about the vehicle problems. But, what the hell is a serpentine belt? Did it lose its buckle?
hahahahahahahahahahaa”

“My excuse is I'm married and I had knee surgery so I can't hike. Also, I'm a nerd.”

“work”

“what the hell is a serpentine belt?

i dont know, but it fcking hissed at me when i opened the hood”

“Did you ever think that you may have picked up a cobra along the way? I would buy a flute, learn to play it, and smoke that little bastard out!
last edited: 7/30/05 12:02:52 AM”

“I wish "i'm married" was an excuse for my husband to be at home :(”

“ruh roh. trouble in paradise”

“Damn! That was a thread stopper! Miss O, hope things are better than that! You just got married, girl!”

“$499

I haven't had a car for a month, now finally after about a month's paycheck I have a car again :D but i'm short $500 this sucks...”

“His job keeps him on the road”

“I see! I apologize if I miscontrued your post...”

“it's ok. we've only seen each other for a week since we got back from the honeymoon and we've been married for over a month now.”

“sorry if i messed up some serious discussion. And I'm sorry Mrs Opie, sometimes it's a question of... stuff or somethin, it's how things work out sometimes.

and i'm just pissed about my car situation lately, I should tell that story sometime... it sucked.”

“Crash, The same thing happened to my 1988 Astro van. It overheated one day when the gasket failed cracking the block so I had to replace the engine. It only had 72,000 miles on it and I had to make the decision to either junk it or fix it. The new engine still ran well when I sold it at 120,000 miles. After that I bought a Toyota because I heard they were more reliable, well so far I don't believe it since it has had many problems too. Cars suck in every way shape and form and are nothing, but a money pit. If I lived in a warmer climate or public transportation was better I'd just ride my motorcycle and bicycle to get where I needed to go and not deal with the aggravation of a car. The new ones are even worse and cost even more to fix. Now with all the emissions crap on them and emissions testing it costs even more to keep them on the road. Even worse they are thinking about raising license fees by a big margin because of terrorism to have a more secure license. Think about how much money you could save if you didn't need a car.”

“Guess who's vehicle's fuel pump went out on him tonight?

Did I mention the pump is in the gas tank?”

“That sucks. Does that mean you have to buy the new pump and gas tank as one unit or can you get it out of the tank somehow?”

“They are easy to swap out but getting to them can be a beast. Thing is they like to fail right after you fill up the damn tank.”

“Just the pump, RichB. Unfortunately, I (we...a friend and I) are going to drop the tank tommorow night and swap out the pump.

Hope everything goes smoothly.”

“Good luck with it. It sounds like a pain, but good thing that you can do the work yourself and save some money.”

“ohhh goody. While driving home from looking at a job on sat, my car decided 4 out 5 speeds was adequate. Then it decided I really didnt need any speeds and that sitting and idling on the shoulder of the highway would be fine. So after a $133 tow (had to have a flat bed, its 4w drive) its home, but as a bonus I get to pay for a second tow to the trans shop. I almost hope the car is DOA, its 12 years old and I'd love a newer car, though not the payment. Gonna be a fun day waiting...No work though...small silver lining.”

“Ugh! I'm having work done here in the Bryson City, NC, area. A second windshield has arrived (the first was defective) and people will be here from Murphy tomorrow to install it. Yesterday I received new sunshading on two door windows. Next Monday they will start to paint the top and do a few other tasks. Such is life.

Good luck, birch.”

“NS, thanks. Unfortunately luck wasnt on my side. Something in my 5th gear set up broke, its sits in a pressed fitting which when it broke expanded and jammed the shift lever. So the entire trans was torn down and will be repaired for the hefty sum of $1250, plus another 200 for a U joint (which I would normally do, but cold season is here and I have no garage) add in the 133 for towing and I am broke....oh well. The old blue warhorse will live to fight another day.”

“Sad, birch. My new windshield did not fit. It was the wrong one. Someone entered the wrong number. This windshield was for pre-94. My vehicle was made in '94 according to a door post tag, but is officially a '95. We now need another to be shipped from Jacksonville, FL, and for the installers to make a trip from Murphy to Bryson City, NC. Roof painting on the car starts next Monday.”

“I must have missed something. Did nowslimmer get in an accident in NC?”

“skiracer - It's hurricane damage from last year. I need to have receipts for repairs or return money from an SBA Loan.”

“That's a bummer, birch. I'm keeping my fingers crosed that I can squeeze a few more miles out of mine before I have to bite the car payment bullet, but my transmission has had a few hiccups lately too.

Hope you managed to land the side job...it'll at least help pay for the repairs.”

“svengolly, yep I got the job so that'll help. I also will get paid for an a/c and furnace install that I will finish in a few days.

I have it back and it drives really well, the clutch feels different. That will take some getting used to. I need to do a "U" joint asap since I cancelled that part to save some money. Now I have to bum a garage from someone.
last edited: 10/19/05 5:10:02 AM”

“NS, I hope you get the window done soon, those kinda mistakes are frustrating.”

“Of the 31 cars that earned the top rating, only two were from U.S.-based manufacturers -- the remaining 29 vehicles were from Japanese automakers, and none represented European brands. Almost half of the top 31 -- 15 vehicles -- were manufactured by Toyota.

Of the vehicles with the worst reliability, 22 were from U.S.-based manufacturers, 20 from European brands, four from Japanese makers and two from South Korean companies.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/10/26/cr_most_reliable/index.html”

“I don't take all these reviews and surveys to be the bottom line about anything. With so much outsourcing and globalization going on it's pretty much the luck of the draw as what what you will get as far as reliability is concerned. Parts and preassembled units can come from just about anywhere in the world these days and if you wind up on the receiving end of some bad parts you'll have problems no matter what you buy. Honda had problems with oil leaks from gaskets made in China. Toyota casts its engine blocks in Korea and everybody can read about their sludged up engine problems on the 2.2 liter and V-6 engines. My feeling is check quality for yourself when you go shopping and just buy what you like and can afford. Cars are so complex these days anything can go wrong and the average rate for problems on new cars is almost 2 problems for every car sold, so it's more likely than not that you will have some initial quality problem.

I bought a Toyota thinking that they were so trouble free, but guess what, it's had more initial quality problems than my last two Chevys combined.

I look at these surveys like backpacking gear reviews from magazines and I don't put too much faith in them.”

“Hopefully I will be wrapping up the last few loose ends with my cherokee today, new "U" joints up front and a front end brake job since its been 25k and the front end will be pulled apart anyway. That will complete all the repairs needed, cant wait. I brought the oxy/acetylene torches home just in case.”

“Ugh is right. Did everything we had hoped for and had to do the front wheel bearings and assemblies. Everything I can imagine that needs doin' is done...I hope.”