![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Car Ate My Brain
Apr. 19th, 2006 10:31 amRight. So.
My eight-year-old vehicle, first year of its model line, had been giving me some age-related grief lately. Specificly, as of last August or so (but possibly earlier), the little temperature light on the dashboard would blink at me (after chiming in a particularly whiny fashion).
After confirming that this had nothing to do with oil levels, I found out that it does this when the radiator fluid levels have gotten low. So I topped them off. This worked for about a month. (Lather, Rinse, Repeat.)
About a month ago, I had a few more age-related and poor-maintenance-related issues explode, and that was when (after replacing some tubing) I was informed that the radiator fluid level problem was not a leaky tube. It was a cracked radiator. I couldn't afford to replace it then (with the gold-plated estimate I got), so I continued with the top-off pseudo-maintenance.
The week before last, the dashboard started chiming again, mere days after a top-off. When I checked on the fluid levels, the reservoir for the radiator was chock-full (which is bad; there's supposed to be half-a-reservoir's worth of space for thermal expansion). I bought some radiator-leak-stop gunk from the car-parts store, but its instructions claimed that the gunk pellets had to be poured directly into the radiator. I don't have direct access to the radiator. I have access to the reservoir, but I shuddered at the notion of what the gunk pellets would do to the tubing that connects the reservoir to the radiator, so I gave up on that.
Strapped for cash, I contacted our local reliable mechanic for a non-gold-plated estimate. He took the car in, fixed some other stuff while he was in there (as I said: eight-year-old car), and then gave me an estimate which was just about the same as the one I got from my dealer. The reason why I can't get at the radiator is because I have a transversely-mounted engine. This means that to replace the radiator, they had to take the front bumper off my car. This made me feel better about my dealer, but anxiety over cash flow pretty much deadened me to the world for the last few weeks.
After all is said and done (and it is now), my family is coasting along in tightened-belt mode. We'll get thru this.
The mechanic doesn't like my model of car, but he did admit that it is otherwise in good shape. Except, of course, for the front brakes, which need replacing (as do the expensive front brake rotors). However, that really can wait another month.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tamidon is glad that she doesn't have to drive me to work and back anymore.
My eight-year-old vehicle, first year of its model line, had been giving me some age-related grief lately. Specificly, as of last August or so (but possibly earlier), the little temperature light on the dashboard would blink at me (after chiming in a particularly whiny fashion).
After confirming that this had nothing to do with oil levels, I found out that it does this when the radiator fluid levels have gotten low. So I topped them off. This worked for about a month. (Lather, Rinse, Repeat.)
About a month ago, I had a few more age-related and poor-maintenance-related issues explode, and that was when (after replacing some tubing) I was informed that the radiator fluid level problem was not a leaky tube. It was a cracked radiator. I couldn't afford to replace it then (with the gold-plated estimate I got), so I continued with the top-off pseudo-maintenance.
The week before last, the dashboard started chiming again, mere days after a top-off. When I checked on the fluid levels, the reservoir for the radiator was chock-full (which is bad; there's supposed to be half-a-reservoir's worth of space for thermal expansion). I bought some radiator-leak-stop gunk from the car-parts store, but its instructions claimed that the gunk pellets had to be poured directly into the radiator. I don't have direct access to the radiator. I have access to the reservoir, but I shuddered at the notion of what the gunk pellets would do to the tubing that connects the reservoir to the radiator, so I gave up on that.
Strapped for cash, I contacted our local reliable mechanic for a non-gold-plated estimate. He took the car in, fixed some other stuff while he was in there (as I said: eight-year-old car), and then gave me an estimate which was just about the same as the one I got from my dealer. The reason why I can't get at the radiator is because I have a transversely-mounted engine. This means that to replace the radiator, they had to take the front bumper off my car. This made me feel better about my dealer, but anxiety over cash flow pretty much deadened me to the world for the last few weeks.
After all is said and done (and it is now), my family is coasting along in tightened-belt mode. We'll get thru this.
The mechanic doesn't like my model of car, but he did admit that it is otherwise in good shape. Except, of course, for the front brakes, which need replacing (as do the expensive front brake rotors). However, that really can wait another month.
tamidon is glad that she doesn't have to drive me to work and back anymore.
