darn it, more car problems

[DebsSisterFlo]

About two months ago I had to have the front lower ball joints replaced, no biggy. Well I can hear a thumping that sounds like a tire and the car wiggles enough that I can feel it. My husband rotated the tires this morning and the front passenger side tire is wore down to the wires on the inside. I called my repair guy and I was able to bring it right in today, I just got home. There is a bolt rubbing a groove into the ball joint so that's got to be replaced at no charge to me. When they were lowering the car I heard him say to stop, here the motor is sitting crooked and it was bouncing while it was being lowered. So now I have to pay about $200 to have the motor mount replaced, and I'm going to have to get new tires put on it this weekend, man I wanted to put that off til late this fall when the snow was threatening... dang. I worked 7 12-hour days the last two weeks and there goes all that overtime. Darn it, just when I thought I was getting ahead and was able to put some money in savings... argh.
Well, it's still better than having to make car payments every month!

[Twitterbait]

You could always do it yourself... i changed a ball joint and a tie rod end for a date once... and she loved it (she was a classy gal too). Cars are fun to fix.

[Black71gp]

ya cars are funn.. untill you do it all the time..lol... no more of that for me... maintence on cars if fun

[DebsSisterFlo]

eh, the guy fixing my car is someone I've known for oh, 15 years now. He's fixed my cars that whole time too so it's nice to get my car fixed by someone whom I know is not going to take advantage! My husband could do it, he knows how to do all that stuff, but again, it's easier letting our friend do it. Plus we don't want to mess with a motor mount, we don't have a car lift!

[Phishnoob]

Yep you need a couple of jacks, a pickle fork to get the old ball joint off, stuff to get the old bolts loose and a bit of know how. Good thing you have someone you can trust and if he earns a fair wage and uses the right parts without short cuts you are probably ahead of the game.

[Loverotties]

It always feel when you got extra money,something breaks!I know how you feel!

[VWD]

Well it looks like you are saying the balljoints are not the problem, It's the motor mounts or mount. Get that taken care of as soon as you can Jessica, For one , If one is bad and not fixed it will put extra wear on the good one and cause it to go. Which You may want to change anywayat the same time. Then if the engine is leaning it can demage other things. As far as the Tires , If You have wires showing on an other or inner edge You need to have your alignment checked .

I agree with fun as a hobby but not when You do it all the time, I find no enjoyment working on cars. Them days are over for me.

[DebsSisterFlo]

Thanks for the replies.
Back when you were able to work on cars it was fun, I used to help my grandpa and I learned quite a bit. Nowadays, heck, it's a battle just to change the oil yourself anymore!
Yep, the motor mount is being changed. We brought her back on friday and just left her there (yes my car is a she, she's purple with of all things a pink pinstripe! gah!) They're changing the motor mount, the joint, and he ordered a full set of tires to change them right away too. I'll see how it handles, and if I still feel that thump/wiggle or hear it she's going in for an alignment ASAP.
Oh, and yes, as Perry said, I do trust this guy, he's been a good family friend and he's always taken good care of my car. Just wish he'd shave the bill a little for an old friend!!!

[CJohn]

I think my car has a sensor that detects money.
It's called the check-engine light.
Everytime it breaks I scream "YEAH" you worked all week!
Spent $4000 on the last repair, the light came back on after a week.
"CHECK ENGINE? THERE"S NOTHING LEFT TO CHECK!
They should name that light "REPLACE ENGINE " light.
I finally fixed it myself, with a 1" peice of black tape.
It covers the light very well.
When its finally paid off, I'm going back to the dealer and ask them if they'll finance $29,000 worth of repair parts for me.
People say "great paint", and I say "Its NOT paint, its 12 thick coats of wax"
So now it needs new Apocolyptic converters, the old ones failed to burn the car to the ground, so I have to get new ones.
Have you ever made an emergency fan belt out of a snake?...skip it then.
My car is a 2000 model, I think that's 50 in dog years.
I'm losing interest in cars; I think I'll spend my money on Dental work; its less intrusive.
Want to buy a car? It runs likes its being towed behind a truck.

Have fun, good night,

C

[tsoperator]

Originally Posted by CJohn

I think my car has a sensor that detects money.
It's called the check-engine light.
Everytime it breaks I scream "YEAH" you worked all week!
Spent $4000 on the last repair, the light came back on after a week.
"CHECK ENGINE? THERE"S NOTHING LEFT TO CHECK!
They should name that light "REPLACE ENGINE " light.
I finally fixed it myself, with a 1" peice of black tape.
It covers the light very well.
When its finally paid off, I'm going back to the dealer and ask them if they'll finance $29,000 worth of repair parts for me.
People say "great paint", and I say "Its NOT paint, its 12 thick coats of wax"
So now it needs new Apocolyptic converters, the old ones failed to burn the car to the ground, so I have to get new ones.
Have you ever made an emergency fan belt out of a snake?...skip it then.
My car is a 2000 model, I think that's 50 in dog years.
I'm losing interest in cars; I think I'll spend my money on Dental work; its less intrusive.
Want to buy a car? It runs likes its being towed behind a truck.

Have fun, good night,

C

tell us how you really feel...

[Twitterbait]

rotflmao

[DebsSisterFlo]

OMG! CJohn you're hysterical!

[CJohn]

LOL,

Yeah, so now they're selling ORP meters for the aquarium....
That's basically an oxygen sensor? .So potentially, my fish tank could end up with a "check ORP light" right?..NOT going to happen...

I'll stick to timing the fish's respiration rate. I'm having nightmares about "check engine Lights" anyway. One on the fish tank, one on the refrigerator, one on my ink pen! And every time I would try to write something, the ink would start skipping ....

"Your car is equipped with a non-optional highly sophisticated diagnostic computer"

"what does it do?"

"Well nobody knows, its the first thing to break, and nobody knows how to work on it...but we'll tinker with it for $100 an hour."

Now I REALLY need THAT kind of reliability in my aquarium.....
I want a fish tank I can work on at home.

I think its all satellite controlled anyway. Sales get a bit slow, "throw the switch Harry", and thousands of "engine lights"come on around the world.

I"m trying to make fun of the topic: I swear I'm not a pessimist. I really do think of a glass as half full, overflowing actually...with a leak and a crack, and a blaring "engine light"

OK let's see if I can figure out how to complete my profile and pics; this should be amusing... Because if the sun was out I would be swimming. LOL

Charles

[DebsSisterFlo]

hehehehehe... well my hubby has a 2000 Cavalier that has a chronic check engine light. Our guy that we trust says it's an emissions sensor and that there are oodles of them on cars. So we do the easy thing and get a new gas cap (that can cause it a lot) and then reset the light. It was great for a few months and now the light is back on. No car problems whatsoever, so we just unplug the battery overnight and in the morning the light is off! It's scary when your car is smarter than you are, or thinks it is.
The problem with those computers, and yes they're great, but the lights don't come on until something is wrong NOW. My dad had a high end Explorer and he was driving out of state. Suddenly on the highway all the lights went on and the truck went off. Well, that was useful! I was raised old school and prefer a vehicle with actual guages on the dash, since I'm a girl who actually watches her dash!

[Doug1]

It never ceases to amaze me that they build these hi tech puter systems to run cars, and when something like check engine light cimes on, it's like $75 to plug a cord from the diagnostic machine and they still cant tell specifically whats wrong