It all started out around 4 months ago. With close to 125,000 miles on my car, it has needed many repairs recently:
Left Front CVJ Boot $150.00
Header Gasket: $1300.00
New Front Tires: $270.00 (incl balance, rotate, alignment)
Fuel pressure valve solenoid $160.00
Valve cover Gaskets: $200.00
Rear right wheel bearings $250.00
Transmission fluid filter and flush and fill: $150.00
All of the stuff done above was required and since it is cheaper than getting a new car, I figured I would do it all and keep the car.
The car also needs a new rear differential..... $1800.00...but I told Sunaru not to do it.
I was comfortable with getting all of the above done, except for the Header Gasket that requires engine removal. I told some friends and my wife that I wasn' t as concerned about the $ as I was about the possibility of the job creating other problems, most probably electrical problems. But last week I had it done along with the front right CVJ boot.
Guess what? I was right. After all the $$ I put in to the car I was rewarded with electrical problems after the header gasket job. At first I noticed a funny smell after driving the car. Then, occasionally the car was hard to start...I figured the battery was old and also needed replacement but put it off. Then after Sears replaced my front tires yesterday, the car would not start...the battery was dead and they had to jump the battery. I thought maybe they had left the llights or ignition on and since the battery was old, it drained.
Today, again the battery was dead and I jumped it with my wife's car this morning. It was ok all day after that. Then tonight it happened again and I got home from eating dinner at a local retaurant and tried to go out for gas. I then decided to drop it off at Subaru tonight and once again jumped the battery and began driving to Subaru in Wakefield at around 9 PM. I got about 2 miles and the car died. We pulled over and I noticed a bad "burning" smell and the battery was totally dead. I then suspected a battery line short, probably caused by the wires being burned due to placement close to a hot part of the engine or pinched by some thing heavy like the engine block
. I then decided not to try and recharge the battery for obvious reasons. We had the car towed to Subaru and filled out the "after hours" drop off form. Got home around 10:30 PM.
I am afraid that more than the battery may have been damaged by a short circuited battery power cable. Hopefully this is not the case but the next worry is to find the short or the "bad electrical connection". Will my car ever run again?????
Oh ya and while we were waiting for the tow truck, my dog jumped out of my wife's car and ran along Walnut Street, a busy street that is not safe for dogs, especially black ones at night. My wife was hysterical and was screaming at the dog to come to her. I told her to go back to the car since the tow truck had arrived. Luckily, I got the dog to come to me and secured her to her leash.....what a lousy night.
Dennis
....
