It all started so innocently, so properly and for all the right reasons. It was just supposed to be an oil change, two new tires and, "Oh yeah, there's a little leak up front. I don't know if it's a hose or what. See if you can fix that." It wasn't a challenge. I just knew that I was leaking a little coolant because I had suddenly started seeing a little spot in the driveway under my car and it was antifreeze, not oil.
It's a 99 Chevy Malibu, and it's been a pretty good car for the most part. I like the way it feels on the inside, with plenty of room for everyone who rides in it, front seat or back. I got the V6 so I can get some good passing speed when I'm on the highway. We got it in 2000 after it came out of a car rental fleet in Oklahoma. It ran perfectly for the next two years, and then it went into a ditch in the middle of a Minnesota winter and lost the back bumper and dinged up the front one. Those things were fixed by insurance and we went on with our lives.
Every mechanic says it is fine, but ever since that night when the ditch appeared where road was supposed to be, the ride has been slightly different. It's as though the car is slightly crippled or arthritic, maybe. No one can find out why, but there's a creak/rattle in the front right that wasn't there before the ditch incident (hereafter to be referred to as the ditch-ident) and which is not there all the time. It only really makes itself known when you're running the A/C or the heat. After the compressor has run for a bit, it seems to make a rattling noise when you go around corners or over a bump. Nothing I haven't been able to live with, but it still preys on your thoughts that something is not quite right with the car and you never fully trust it after that.
After dropping the car off this morning for the routine maintenance, I went home and did my usual morning stuff. After a couple of hours my wife called to see if the car was ready so we could get back to our normal routine with both of us mobile and independent. That's when the routine got all shook up.
The little leak? It's called a water pump. And some gasket and as long as we have the top of the engine off, the spark plug wires are cracking and the serpentine belt needs replacing .... how much? "Well, we'll have to look and total ... the water pump business is going to run $957, plus tax. Then there's the tires and the oil change, which are already done, and the other parts and labor." We still don't know; it won't be done until tomorrow. It'll be somewhere between $1500 and 2-grand. As my wife reminded me today: This is why we have a savings account.
Plus, think about how much we haven't paid in car payments in the last 5 years, which is when we refinanced the house and rolled some loans together and consolidated our debt. So it'll be like having a new car. Almost. Parts of it will be new, in any case. And maybe I'll be able to put some faith in it again. I'll be happy if the rattle is gone.
The funny part? (Yes, if you look hard enough there's always a funny part.) The funny part is that the last thing I told them when I dropped it off was that my wife had just reminded me that we won't have this car for another 100,000 miles, so don't get the most expensive tires. With that much money dropped into it, maybe we WILL have it for another 100,000 miles!
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