I really like not having a car payment. But the trade-off for me is driving a 10-year-old Durango with 133k miles. This morning ol' blue refused to go. So instead I made the five house trek down the street to borrow the momandadmobile -- aka the communal car. Lucky for me Kimberly had just returned it the night before and it was clean!
However, I couldn't stand having an unfixed vehicle so I slipped out of work early and headed home for the frustration of car repair. Spark plugs seemed like a reasonable start. After all, they've never been changed. Seemed like a good call. The gap was twice what it should be on all eight and the post was almost completely gone. Problem solved? The car started, but doesn't seem to run a whole lot better.
While I had it in the garage I decided to change the oil (my last trip to Jiffy Lube cost me over $60! What happened to the $20 oil change?!) This resulted in oil running down my sleeve as I tried to remove the oil filter from it's hidden position.
Now I know that changing the oil won't make the engine run any better but it made me feel good nonetheless. Cars these days are so hard to work on. Everything is electronically controlled. You can't just get in and make a mechanical fix.
So, I don't expect ol' blue to run much better tomorrow. I'm hoping that he'll hold out until Spring when I can trade him in on a slightly less old car. After all, warm weather hides a lot of car ills.
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2 comments:
You shouldn't feel too bad. My lowest mileage car has 130,000 miles on it. Like you I don't really like working on cars, but I hate to take them to a mechanic and practically pay for the car again. I probably spend too much of my time trying to keep all of ours running. And just wait until you have a whole crew of drivers that don't take care of the vehicles. So much for my whining. I'm glad that Mom and Dad have kept the communal car. What would we all do without it?
Well, ya know, that little red car runs really well. And if you were to, oh, I don't know, sell the Durango and buy another little car that a teenage girl would have no problem driving you could drive that little red car. I think a lot of problems could be solved...hint hint. ;)
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