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Woe, Car! Woe! ...written Sep 24, 06:52 AM by Jeff
Yesterday we took the Passat in to have the flickering oil-pressure light checked. The Volkswagen specialist has warned us against ignoring the oil-pressure light, telling us horror stories about drivers who did so at their peril. The term they use is “imminent catastrophic engine failure.” Yikes.
It turns out that the problem is a known flaw with VWs of our vintage (ours is a 1999) and can be fixed… by tearing apart the engine and cleaning out the “sludge.” In the process of cleaning out said sludge, a number of parts are ruined and hence need to be replaced. And while we’re at it, we should probably replace the timing belt since it has to come off anyway. So, OK, I say to the guy over the phone who is leading up to my estimate, how much are we talking about here?
$3000.
I explain to Mr. Competent Repair Guy that I don’t have $3000 available and will thus need to take my imminent-catastrophically-destroyed-engine Passat home to wait until I have the funds with which to pay him. He warned me that I might not make it home. Or it could conceivably work just fine for another 10,000 miles. He couldn’t guarantee. I said thanks but that I was taking the car home.
It didn’t fail catastrophically. Or at all.
But, just to be safe, we’re leaving the Passat parked for a while. We’re going to get another mechanic (or two) to confirm the diagnosis (there is one highly recommended guy in our ward) and the estimate. If we can do it for cheaper, we will. But the $3000 estimate was about 55% parts: I don’t see the estimate dropping below $1600, unless if they’re able to salvage some of the parts along the way (which, obviously, won’t be knowable in the estimate). Still, the $1300 labor makes my insides hurt, and I hope to find a charitable soul to work for Really Cheap.
This isn’t that bad, actually. I was already planning on riding the bus to and from campus: sure, it’s 3x slower, but it also doesn’t use any gas, which is a big plus. And I only have to teach 2x per week, which means I really don’t have to go in very often. Otherwise, we’ll just operate as a nine-person, single-vehicle family; I’ll get to spend more time on my bike!
Just to help in the fundraising, I’ve made a couple of ads more prominent on the web page. Do take a minute to click on one, because every click helps. In the four-ish years that I’ve had ads on my websites, I’ve earned a grand total of $104. I know with your concerted help, we can cut that time in half. (That was an attempt to be funny; I’m trying to minimize the tackiness with humor.) Click away, friends. Every click helps.
I’ll keep you posted on the next news about the car: next time I hope it’s good (a lower estimate) and not final (catastrophic engine failure).
* * *
Get those 7 kids working and maybe they can help you out!
— Ellen Sep 25, 11:06 AM #