Monday, July 2, 2012

Defeated by an '07 Accord.

I had thought Canada Day (yesterday) would have been a triumphant day where my car repairs were completed and I found myself a little ahead of the game. Instead of suffering some $5k in auto repairs, I'd have about 1/2 that spent and take solace in the fact that a little hard work is worth it.

Let us say, that did not come to fruition. Though we tried. And tried. Then tried again. For 14 hours. In 40 degree heat (that's like 100 F).

In the end, my axle was seized into my hub, and despite the manual stating you could "tap it with a plastic hammer", no amount of sledge hammering and lubricant budged the thing. And it was the single piece to the puzzle that we could not solve. It NEEDS to come off. And it won't. Even today, desperate, we tried again, and to no avail. It is seized.

Which leads to only 1 solution. Take it to the dealership. And pray THEY can unseize that axle. Apparently it happens often enough, but there is a chance it's so seized they have to replace the whole axle.

So I, being the non-gambler I am, gambled and lost. I now have a few hundred dollars in parts I can't use, since the dealership will only do repairs using parts from their garage. I also have a very large bill awaiting me for them repairing the things that need fixing, and possibly an even LARGER bill if that axle is totally stuck.

I also had jumped the gun and ordered my new car tires, which will be in 2 weekends from now. So I need these repairs completed before I get the tires on, so I need to get my car into the shop this week.

*sigh*

Unfortunately, it has reached the point where cancelled riding lessons and not showing aren't going to make the dent that I need. I'm going to have to tap into our well-fund, which was supposed to be the very vital step to moving the pony home next year. : ( And the first major project on our land in prep for Spring's build. The only benefit here is that I should have enough squirreled away for that project to not wind up with any loans or debt from this.

I've no choice. Unfortunately, I need a car. To get to the barn, to do things, to go to work. Yes, even the city bus isn't a good option, as I have to transfer buses in a very bad area of town, where there have been a fair number of murders. Not really worth the risk.

Of course, I've considered it a few times, but there's still the costs associated with the bus, the time lost during all the transfers (it's about an hour for me from home to work), the fact I can't grab groceries on my way home (we buy too much for a quick hop off the bus), I'd have to borrow the BF's truck to go to the barn at higher mileage and in the end, I'd STILL have to pay for the repairs. So I'd just be putting off the inevitable.

Likewise, to trading it in for a different vehicle. Either new problems or I'd be stalling for more problems later on. Plus, between the property payments and the tractor payments, I don't have room for any more payments.

Needless to say, I'm bummed. All we did manage was the filters (which needed it) and some new windshield wipers. Yippee. And inspected the timing belt.

I'm more then a little bummed. Yesterday was insanely hot when we worked on my car, and I feel like I not only wasted the day, but wasted everyone else's day too. We even managed to get one more dent in the car in the process. Even today we sweated and wasted time trying to get that axle off again.

We also discovered a bunch of screws missing on the front flap of my car, which explains why I could hear it flipping in the wind as I drove. So glad it didn't break off. Not impressed. So we moved a bunch of screws around to it's held well enough until I buy more. Lovely.

Did I mention I also managed to burn my arm on the mechanics light we were using? Yup. Lovely "T" shaped scar on my arm, blistering too. Matches the one just below it where I burned myself on the metal shards from drilling out my horse trailer roof. Will scar too, as it appears nice and deep.

And so, the weather also stinks. For my American friends, with the humidex, it's 102 F here. With no wind. Absolutely disgusting. I haven't even gone to see the horse, as I'm certain neither of us would feel like any type of riding. And to ride would probably cause severe heat exhaustion anyway.

So he's been sitting out in a field, wearing his fly mask and likely trying not to fry to crisp. He's probably sunburned his nose again. Hopefully his fly mask hasn't rubbed anywhere, and he's as happy as one can expect.

It looks like the rest of summer for us, will be "fun" riding. Right through the fall. Seems ironic. Wish sometimes we could foresee the future, as I wouldn't have invested so much into showing in the first place. Guess that's just how the dice rolls sometimes.

Wish us luck tomorrow when I call up the dealership and get my car in (today's a holiday for us). I'd just like things to finish up at the $5k mark, call this headache over and get back to not worrying about car problems. And maybe the heat can drop too. Gonna be riding LATE in the evening at this rate.

Stay cool my friends.

2 comments:

  1. :-( So sorry. My car was just in the shop too, thankfully for a lot less money than that.

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  2. Just sucks...spending $$$ on vehicles is not fun. Some of us Americans are sweating it out also - we have been in the high 90's-100's for 7 days now with no end in sight, in Indiana. Hang in there!

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