fix my car

On the list-of-doom was “Replace battery terminals” or something of the sort. Which I finally did, but only because my battery went flat and I had to buy a new one anyway, might as well get rid of the terminal-thingies too.

They were kind of green (ok they were REALLY green) and parts of them fell off whenever I had to get a jump, which happened far more than I like of late. But I think those parts that fell off were some stuff that was sort of growing on it anyway, so nothing important.

The point is, I have a brand new battery and nice shiny CLEAN connector-things. I didn’t get to go the mechanic this time, the man of the house did it, which I was dissapointed in as I love the face the mechanic makes when I finally replace something he has been hinting at forever. Hinting being, “If you don’t replace that you are going to seriously regret it.”

Like that time he took my spark plugs out and poked them and they crumbled away. He says, “That’s not good.” and I just wave my hands in the air and say, “Well fix it, how was I supposed to know!” Or the time he said, “If you drive to Florida on this tire I never want to see you again. Sign this, it states I warned you about this tire.” (I replaced the tire and hour later, by the way. AND the tire guy screwed my licence plate on properly. It had been dangling by one screw)

And just so you don’t get the idea I let my car fall into this state, it CAME THIS WAY. I am just playing catch-up as fast as I can. I can change a tire, and even check and replace all sorts of fluids. I just don’t want to. And if he will do it for $30, he might as well. We are both happy.

I wonder if I can get a discount? Something along the lines of “Spend $500 dollars, get an oil change for free!”. I should ask about that.

“Your transmission might be going bad.”

What can I do but cry at this news. He wants to do whatever it is he does (he explains it in detail, but my mind was going ‘Are’t transmissions $2,000?!?’ and I kind of zoned him out).

I was so proud of myself. I showed up with $500 dollars of oh-glee-it’s-tax-time money and told him to do the most important to the least important within my budget. Then I casually mention that lately (meaning for the past two months or so) my car has been making this odd sound (which I gladly attempt to mimic, much to the amusement of the mechanics in the building) and shivering violently when I step on the gas too hard.

He hands my money back and tells me I might want to save it until he determines if I am going to be keeping my car or not. I mean, a new transmission will cost nearly as much as my lil ol’ used car did in the first place!

So he does that magical thing mechanics do, while I wring my hands in the glassed in waiting area, and lo and behold, my car stops shuddering everytime I accelerate too hard!

I love my mechanic! In a purely platonic way, though I thought about getting him candy or something. I mean, with all the emotional ups and downs in our reletionship (as well as the fact he tolerates me cooing to my car and calling it ‘Baby’ with an almost straight face) I think he deserves SOMETHING.

So, as it stands, my car is doing pretty good. I still have a list of things that should/need to be done, courtesy of my awesome mechanic, but nothing too major. I think. I don’t know what a ‘master cylinder’ is, but it cost $170 and is going to have to wait. How important can it be? Don’t answer that.

They were real nice, but had bad news. While my car will run, they want to see me over and over again for the $1,116 worth of repairs my car is going to need to be in anything close to top condition. Whew. They explained to me (and my friend, as I feel that it is good to have a mechanically inclined person along when trying a new mechanic) everything my car needed and what order it needed it in. They recommended a few things to get done today, worked with me to get these repairs within my budget, even directed me to a reasonably priced auto parts store to get the parts myself so it would be cheapest. All in all, a truly great experience, if not for the painful shot to my wallet.

But my car is tuned, tire rotated, one replaced, fluids checked and changed, they even inspected my brakes for free and told me the light keeps coming on cause I haven’t replaced the brake fluid in far, far, far too long. Yeah, I should have thought of that. Got it fixed now though. I am actually looking forward to going back next time, which says alot for them.

Because my car needs a few cosmetic things that I knew I could pull and put on. I have always loved junkyards, but that is something else. I also needed both side mirrors, just the glass. So I call around, but most places won’t let me take just the glass, they say whole mirror or nothing. Blast. I find one that will though, and head out! They have the car I am looking for, both mirrors, the little plastic piece that screws on the lock, and a passenger side sun visor. Yes!

I ask the guy how much for all of it and he says I can’t have just the glass, I have to take the whole mirrors. What?!? But I JUST CALLED and asked this. He just shrugs. Fine, how much. $80. Whew, more than I was willing to spend, but no biggie. I can order a glass kit just as easily, but since I am here might as well get the sun visor and plastic cap right? How much for just those? $40. FORTY DOLLARS? To go, remove it myself, used sun visor, put it on myself, and it doesn’t even match? Never mind. I would have paid ten and still felt it wasn’t that great a deal. I mean, it is a junkyard, I wasn’t looking for engine parts, and I have done that before and paid less. It was a sun visor and a little platic thingy. Crazy. So I just left.

Later today, however, I am going to be going to get a tune up for the car, oil change, tires rotated, ect ect. But I am still boggling over $40 for a sun visor.