Further adventures of car doom.

[featherynscale]

Just got a call from the mechanic. They tell me that the noise I'm hearing is a combination of the general shittiness of the timing belt, and the general shittiness of the tires. They also had a list of other shit that they could take care of while they were in there, mostly maintenance stuff.

So I'm getting four new tires and some alignment work (needed!), and they're replacing the timing belt and the serpentine belts (needed). While they're in there, they're going to do the water pump, on the grounds that it should be replaced every 100000 miles and it's a bitch to get to, and replace the battery (should be done evey 75000 miles). (I'm at 160,000 miles, for reference, and have not replaced either of those things since I've owned the car.) This is going to run me about $1100. Which is just about the money that I got the other day from kittenpants for emergency funds. Easy come, easy go.

After this, I will apparently still need to replace the spark plugs and wires (which I'm pretty sure I can do), replace the air filter and fuel filter (I know I can do the air filter, and if I get a reference, I think I can do the fuel filter), drain and fill the transmission fluid, and generally clean out the fuel system. They wanted an additional $500 for all of this, which I graciously declined.

Broke again. :(

Comments

[project-becky.livejournal.com]

timing belts are always expensive:(

[liquidfun.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize, the transmission for my Jeep is currently scattered around a work bench ... I don't know how much cash getting it put together with new parts is going to set me back, but it may mean I go another summer with no top on the Jeep, keeping one eye out for storm clouds.

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

After this, I will apparently still need to replace the spark plugs and wires (which I'm pretty sure I can do), replace the air filter and fuel filter (I know I can do the air filter, and if I get a reference, I think I can do the fuel filter), drain and fill the transmission fluid, and generally clean out the fuel system.

All of those are fairly easy if you have the right tools and a decent repair manual. And the right tools are pretty basic, the only thing specific is that you'll want a spark plug socket, but that's cheap. The fuel filter can be hard to find, but a decent repair manual will usually tell you where it is on your car. (Unless you have one of the irritating models where the filter is IN the gas tank, which can suck.)

[crookedface.livejournal.com]

It's better to have the transmission flushed out instead of just draining it and then topping it off. Not all the fluid drains without being forced out. I think it runs $80 at Grease Monkey....