Cars Suck

I took my car to the shop this morning to get two new tires put on the front. While it was there I asked him to change the oil, as well as to see why the check engine light was on, and why the ABS light was on.

I hate taking my car to the shop.

He put two new tires on. No problems there. But he couldn't change the oil, because when he tried to pull the oil plug, it just spun and spun. It could be a stripped nut, or it could be the weld inside the oil pan has gone bad. He will have to pull the oil pan to tell, and if it turns out to be the weld, he'll have to put a new one on. A new oil pan, that is.

The check engine light only needed a fuse, which he replaced. However, a fuse was replaced for that reason last year, and the light came back on. He said if it blows again, then he'll have to diagnose why the fuse keeps blowing. It could be a part in the motor of the radiator fan, or it could be something leaking in the fuel exhaust (those are the codes it put up when he checked why the light was on). If the light comes back on, that'll have to be diagnosed and fixed, or it won't pass inspection (it's due in December).

He couldn't communicate with the ABS system at all. I'm not sure what that means, other than that I don't have anti-lock brakes. But this is an amber warning light, he said, and it won't keep it from passing inspection. And my brakes work fine, so I'm not worrying about that at all. This is the first car I've ever had with anti-lock brakes anyway. I'm used to not having them.

Then he showed me just one more thing. The spring in the rear tire well of the driver's side was rusted through, and part had broken off. That needs to be fixed before it'll pass inspection.

Sigh.

Cars suck.

So, basically, in the month in which I will be paying this car off (woo!), I'll be sinking about $600-700 into it to fix the things that need to be fixed so it'll pass inspection (and so that my oil can be changed, which right now it can't).

It makes me long for the day when I'll be far enough ahead financially to just trade my cars in when they get high in mileage. Now I'll be payment free, but thanks to the age of the car, the mileage on it, and to the salty roads here in New York in the winter, I'll have to pay more and more for repairs every year. Oh well. At least right now I can afford what needs to be done, thankfully. Still, I'm kind of looking forward to the day when my credit cards are paid off, and I'll be able to drive a brand new (or at least not very old) car off a lot somewhere. Yes, it'll mean I have payments again, but it seems to be either payments or lots of repairs, so whatever.

Oh, and happy first day of Nablopomo! I hope you don't mind listening to me babble for 30 days straight. Plus 31 more days if (when) I sign up to post every day in December, too.