::Say Anything. Like, "my car is FUCKED!"
5:13 p.m. - 2005-05-31
There was the update (go back one if you haven't read it). I did that already. Now I'm kinda pissed off, kinda down, and kind of really kind of hopeless-feeling. So I'm gonna vent.
My car, is fucked. AGAIN. Last time I said it was her last chance. I wasn't kidding. Now the distributor is full of oil which is getting into the electronics and fucking with the spark plugs so it isn't getting power all the time. Which explains the little chugging thing it started last weekend when I drove it home. Naturally, I figured it was the fuel filter, because on my way from Coppell to head home, I let the fuel get really low, and it started the chugging thing after that. Bottom-of-the-tank gunk will clog the hell out of a filter. Natural assumption, right? Change the fuel filter, it gets better.
Well, I took it in today, to the dealership that fixed my oil leaks (for a cool $800, that I didn't really have but had to, because the car was broken) a while back. At this point, I really didn't trust anyone else around here looking at her. And she wasn't really safe to make the journey home in that condition, so the ball fell to Toyota of Plano. I took it in, told them what I thought was wrong, asked them to chenge the filter and check it out. Fine, right?
They called me back about an hour ago. Said the distributor is filled with oil, the spark plugs are fucked, and covered in oil, the brakes need replacing, the fuel filter is dirty (that one I knew) but replacing it won't fix the problem. They need to replace all sorts of other stuff, totaling about $2000 altogether in repairs. Cut to my jaw dropping and me saying to this guy, we'll call him Scott, "No fucking way. Um...can I call you back?"
So I call my mom, the master of my affairs car-wise, even though I'm an adult and should be independent. But I'm still a college kid scraping by paycheck to paycheck. I get by without the monthly help from the 'rents, but I don't make enough to get myself out of situations like car repair. Anyway, she tells me she'll call the guy at the dealership and make sure they're not just trying to take me for a very expensive ride.
Turns out they weren't. The distributor is indeed fucked. And since neither I nor my parents want to fix the hunk of junk that is Prudence yet again...they're not fixing it. They're charging me fifty bucks to tell me what's wrong, and I'm gonna go pick her up in a little while. I've been instructed not to drive on highways, not to get too far away from home, not to drive any more than I have to, and to just...wait it out.
Maybe my parents will come get my car and get it fixed with a salvage distributor in Muskogee. Maybe I'll have to chance driving the car back to Muskogee and bring mom's car back here to get me through until something happens. Who knows? But for now, I'm limping. I'm pissed off. And I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Two years ago before my dad lost his job this would have been fine. Okay, maybe not *fine* in the sense that it would have been no problem to get a new car...but fine in the sense that it wouldn't completely break us of anything we have. But now...I have no idea. We're broke with no money-filled end in sight. We have more than our share of problems with everything from custody battles to unemployment and car wrecks (not me...my sister. Not her fault, but the car's pretty bashed. naturally she's devastated because she LOVES that car.) And I have NO IDEA what's gonna happen next.
This should be interesting...
By the way, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for the erratic capitalization. I'm still getting used to this whole laptop keyboard thing again.
