OT - Oh dear lord my car :(

So is DIL up in my neck of the woods?

Tina

{{{hugs}}}

Where is that money tree when you need it?

That should have been FIL. Guess I was thinking Dad in law!

Tina

Yikes -sorry to hear it Kalera. I've BTDT with old cars. yuck.

Awwww, I know! Man oh man. The only machine I like right now is my sewing machine, and I never have time to use it!

-Kalera

I would be SO upset by that! In my case, the "noise" was only a "ball joint" (?) $185, and of course, the mufflerless, hole-ridden exhaust system, $315. We decided that the car will live on, based partly on the fact that car payments are more than just repairing the old thing, and of course since it's a Volvo it will go another 100,000 miles if we just take care of it! I used to budget $100 a month for car repairs, but... pregnancy and a new baby derailed us both! Now that she's almost a year old it's time to get back on track.

Of course, so far the car repairs have ballooned to $2400, and counting. We decided to go forward with $1400 in repairs this month and hope to do the rest next month somehow. The mechanic said that we can skate for months if we keep a *really* close eye on the transmission fluid and oil levels, but basically since it's so old all the seals are failing and the engine needs to be pulled out so the rear seals can be replaced. THEN, with regular maintenance, it will go another 20 years. Knock on wood!

Meanwhile, Moxley is ready to give up the feast-or-famine of freelance programming. He applied for a senior programmer position with one of his client firms!!! Wish us luck... I hate to see him lose his independence, but oh wow I would love to lose the uncertainty of whether we will be able to make our bills, month to month!

-Kalera

Please! Free room and board... and I'm a killer cook!

-Kalera

It so sucks! And I love my car, too. It's the second car I've ever owned, and sheer luxury compared to my first... which was hilarious. If only you could have seen it!

-Kalera

I never even thought of Craigslist! Or Freecycle. And just today I got an old junk fridge from craigslist... (I had grandiose plans of building my own kegerator, before Moxley informed me that the car ate the whole tax refund).

I am not abandoning my plans entirely. I will have to talk more about my kegerator epiphany!

-Kalera

Thank you! The suck thing for me is that we both work at home, and if it weren't for the fact that Juliet's school is in the ex's neighborhood, and Sam's preschool is downtown, we wouldn't need a car at all. I'm trying hard to convince my ex to buy into my hood. Not that I rally want him as a neighbor, but it would be so awesome for the kids to be going to school in their own neighborhood.

-Kalera

Oh, that SUCKS! I'm sorry! :(

-Kalera

Oh Sooz... you are so sweet! Now I know why I have had so many orders in the last couple of days... thank you! You are all SOOOO wonderful!

:) :) :)

-Kalera

My friend Gwyn was just telling me of a poll in which Americans were asked "Which machine in your life do you hate the most, but couldn't live without?"

CARS DID NOT MAKE THE LIST.

I don't understand... people said stuff like "TV", which of course they could live without, but not cars, which, if we could do without, would give us back so much of our time and money.

I love my car, but I hate having to have one.

-Kalera

Why does it have to be like that? Just when you think you're about to get ahead... DERAILED!

-Kalera

I did plant a LOT of trees this month... LOL!

-Kalera

Yes, and we were this close to scrapping it and buying a new car... but it's not like we can afford the payments either, LOL!

-Kalera

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 0:13:07 -0400, Kalera Stratton wrote (in message ):

You have to fix that, you don't want to jeopardize your safety, or that of your kids.

, and of course, the mufflerless, hole-ridden

Is that a whole exhaust, back from the manifold, or just the muffler and pipes? For $315, it should be the whole system, with a decent warranty. I go to a private muffler shop, not part of a chain. My style of driving causes all my cars to eat exhaust systems. I've replaced the exhaust in my cars every year and a half, in every car I've ever had. If you haven't already spent the cash, get a quote or two from a non-chain muffler place. Don't bother with the lifetime warranty if it costs anything extra - those have so many weasel clauses that they're practically useless.

Have them give you a quote on a stainless steel exhaust system while they're at it. Those last close to forever, but I've only found it worth the extra expense on Beulah.

We decided that the car will live on, based partly

That's about what I budget for repairs on Bob's car and Beulah. My bug is so seldom used, I don't have to spend much - well after I learned you can't leave a VW Beetle parked for seven months without starting it once in a while. Over the winter, all the fluids froze and the hoses and radiator were ruined. That was a quick $700 to put the car back on the road. It was the first money I've put into the car besides the oil pan. I hit a facsimile of the Grand Canyon in the form of a pothole, and knew I ruptured the oil pan. Not fun.

Is it the rear main seal? If so, they have to probably pull the engine to put that in place. If not, it is the upper seals, which are less expensive. If they have to pull the engine, have your mechanic check all the little pokey things that fail, so you won't have to pull the engine again. For instance, I had the guys replace my car's oil pump and rear main seal when they replaced the oil pan. It may have cost more initially, but those things eventually fail, and I don't want to pay for labor twice.

Where you live, your cars last a long time. Here in Massachusetts, the cars rust away before they get very old. If you plan to keep your Volvo for a while, ask the mechanic to give the car a thorough going over to warn you of impending expensive things. I took my mom's old Beemer for a check up, and for $50, the mechanic (not the one who would be doing the repairs) gave me a huge list of things that were going or gone, and a rough estimate of what each item would cost. After going through the list with Mom, she decided to buy a Nissan Maxima.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. Having nice, paid for, company benefits would be a wonderful thing, too.

Kathy N-V

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 0:15:30 -0400, Kalera Stratton wrote (in message ):

When Bob and I started dating, I was driving Rhonda Honda, a 1975 Honda Civic. (One of those really tiny ones, about half the size of today's Civics)

It had the worst manual transmission, and I could only start the car in third gear. The wiring was so bad that the lights and radio didn't work in the rain, and one of the fenders was held on with duct tape. The body was mostly rust held together with paint. But it did get over 40 MPG, and I used to pay only $3 to fill it up.

I replaced it with Wanda Honda, a 1992 Honda Civic. It was totally stripped, bottom of the line, but it felt like a Rolls Royce compared to the other car. OTOH, the first Honda cost me $300 and the second was exactly $10,000. But even I couldn't drive my kid around in the first Honda - it was just too dangerous.

Kathy N-V

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 0:30:06 -0400, Kalera Stratton wrote (in message ):

Well, there's also the fact that your beads are beautiful. I'd bet that had just a little to do with your sales. ;-)

Kathy N-V