Aaarg!

[Andrew]

Well...I'm driving home from work today and while I'm crossing the bridge I start to hear this sound, something like shaking a penny around in a coke can. As I head up the hill on the other side of the bridge the car starts to slow down and the noise starts to get worse so I start heading for the exit. After I get off the freeway onto 152nd it stalls and I coast to a stop at a red light. I try to start the car...nothing...it won't even turn over. I put my hazards on and hop out and there is smoke or steam pouring out from under the hood, and some kind of fluid draining out onto the ground, I think it's anti-freeze but I'm not a hundred percent sure. It's definitely not oil but it could be transmission fluid.

I'm thinking that it might be the tranny but it doesn't turn over...more likely I've seized the engine.

[sporkHSP]

... thats what happened when i broke my timing belt, exept for the fluid part. What color is the fluid? if its green, or a green/brown then its anti-freeze... then you cracked ur radiator and may have overheated the engine. if its transmission fluid, you may have seized the tranny and possibly the engine too.

[Andrew]

I couldn't tell what color it was, it was too dark, I'll check tommorow when I meet the tow truck. I hope the timing belt is OK, I had it changed a year ago when I bought it. How bad was the damage when the timing belt broke?

[Andrew]

Had it towed to a mechanic, it was the head gasket. He's sending out the head for inspection to see if it's OK.

[NXRacer]

sounds like what happend when i blew my motor. Good luck on it maing!

[Andrew]

I guess I'm all fresh outta luck, just found out today that it's gonna hafta be a new (used) engine. My mechanic found a used one with a hundred and sixty kilometers on it...good even compression in all cylinders. It's gonna cost me about 2G once the dust clears (whimper). If the rest of the car wasn't in such good shape I'd ditch it and look for an FI model.

[blazin3gen]

ahh man 2gs? find one on ebay man thats too much

[MrBen]

Well the 2g's must include removal of the old engine and installation of a new engine, plus the cost of the engine, right? Labor prices up north for us is high.. over 70.00 an hour. I was quoted 1,500 for the same thing on my car. UGH.

[Andrew]

The $2000 dollar price tag includes labour, the engine and a few miscellaneous parts (thermostat, timing belt) that I am having replaced on the new engine before it goes in the car...oh yeah, it also includes the 14.5% taxes that we gotta pay up here as well.

[Andrew]

Well 2Gs later I'm on the road again, just in time for Christmas Eve. Seems to be running fine and the annoying squeal I used to have is gone now.

[MrBen]

Does it feel any more powerful than it used to? Quieter? Smoother? How do ya like it?

[Andrew]

It doesn't feel a whole lot different, probably doesn't help that it's an automatic.

[Defiant[YD]]

shiet man, it must suck having the damn PST on top of the damn GST also.
stupid gov't said they were gonna get rid of the GST for a long ass time now.

[Andrew]

Not only did they make just under $300 bucks off my pain and suffering, they also did absolutely nothing to earn it! I don't mind paying my taxes when I know it's being spent properly but you just know at least half of it is being wasted on really stupid shit.

[Andrew]

About two weeks after getting the engine in my car replaced I head up to Safeway to buy some more diapers when my radio starts cutting in and out and then quits altogether, the car is still runnig OK however so I keep going until I get to Safeway. When I get there I pull into a parking stall and the car stalls dead, I try to restart it and it won't start.

I go into Safeway, borrow the phone and call a tow truck, they ask me what kind of car it is and all that so they can find it but I just just tell them to looked for the fat guy jumping up and down on the hood of a Honda sceaming obscenities...they find me no problem.

So I get it towed down to my mechanic and it's the alternator, I get that replaced with a rebuilt Bosch and he charges me for parts only cause he feels sorry for me because I just dropped an engine into it.

I take it home that night and notice that it grinds every time I turn right. I take it back the next day and they find that the dust shield on the wheel hub has just loosened off a bit so they tighten it up and send me on my way.

WAIT! There's more! A week ago today I'm merging onto the freeway and a dump truck fails to notice me and runs into my rear passenger door. I'm so freaking mad that when I get out the car I'm fit to be tied and the truck driver starts looking around like he's trying to find a place to run so I scream at him for a bit and then tell him to get his truck off my car. While he's removing his truck from my car I try to compose myself by punching a couple of dents in the hood of the car and then we both hop into our vehicles and drive away.

I have never had such a bad run of luck in my life. Hope that's the last of it for awhile!

As for the car, it will need a new rear driver's side door and some bodywork around the wheel well.

[nswst8]

At least you are okay. The car can be fixed. But I would suggest you becoming more of a DIY to save more bucks.
LOL
NSWST8

[Andrew]

In the past I've done a lot of work myself but I just haven't got the time, I'm lucky if I get a half hour to myself. I can't wait to fix things myself, I need the car almost all the time.

I have a 3yr old that follows me wherever I go, I can't even go to the bathroom without him standing outside, hammering on the door and demanding to be let in. I love it but it really cuts into your free time. I also have a 5 mo old giirl who cries if she isn't being held and a wife who needs a break once in awhile.

So you see my dilema, I think things will start to get better when our girl is about a year old, they're so much more independant and easier to handle by then.

[Andrew]

Andrew's Believe It! Or Not!

Last Friday I park my car on the street as usual and walk the short distance to my townhouse. Over the weekend we take my son Struan and our daughter, Piper to a birthday party on Saturday and then to a family brunch on Sunday. We use her car (a 96 Accord LX). Sunday night I head out to my car to go pick up a case of beer and go over to visit my buddy...I open the door of the car and think to myself "Geez, it sure is a mess, time to clean it out" and then it registers...the mess consists of my ashtray, a bit of loose change and the contents of my glove compartment. I've been robbed! The effing cornholes smashed one of my little filler windows on the back passenger side of the car...boy was I pissed.

I also notice that the city is putting up no parking signs all over the place! You bet your but I've already contacted city hall to find out how to get them taken back down!

But wait! There's more!

Last night my wife takes my little girl Piper to the Health Clinic to get her 6mo. shots and she gets a flat tire. I drive down to work with her car so that I can drop it off to get two new tires put on it. On my way back I stop to pick up a new bulb for the headlight and then head back to the shop.

When I get back to the shop I put the new bulb in, turn the lights on to see if it works and then I walk around to the other side open the door and unload all the garbage that she leaves in the car. I close the door and walk away.

Four hours later I head out to the car to go home and discover that I've locked my keys in the car...@#$%*@#$&*...I try to unlock it using a homemade jack bar...it doesn't work...I phone a tow truck and get them to open it for me.

Great! I hop into the car and it won't start! @#$&#$*&

Not only did I lock my keys in the car I forget to turn the lights off and the battery is as dead as roadkill.

Not only am I unlucky...I'm also quite obviously mentally challenged!

I had to laugh...it was either that or cry.

[Vanilla Sky]

man, that luck is worse than mine... personally, i would have busted the window (not) or used the ole coathanger trick, or the screwdriver trick, or the get-another-key-made-so-it-doesn't-happen-again trick, or the one i use, the got 12 other keys to this damned thing...

hope your luck gets better, though

[lightbulblxi]

shit man, hope things get better with the cars!

[Andrew]

I plan on getting a spare key and putting it in my wallet.

[BITESIZE]

I plan on getting a spare key and putting it in my wallet.

I have one in my wallet as we speak.

[Andrew]

To my car! How the hell did you get a key to my car! LOL

[Andrew]

Holy shit! Just checked out the 400 pics you have of your hatch on you cardomaine website...sweet!

[BITESIZE]

Holy shit! Just checked out the 400 pics you have of your hatch on you cardomaine website...sweet!

Oh shiz,,, there are more on cardomain that i just didn't put up for the viewers to see..... I have 104 pictures to be precise.