*sigh*

[rivka]

Took the Toyota in to the shop today. It's been running awfully rough, and the automatic transmission's been grumbling about shifting into high gear, and I need the state inspection done, and I haven't had the damned thing serviced in two years or more anyway - except for having to replace the starter last summer.

Shop just called, quoting me about $600 worth of charges. Fuck.

Tuneup, oil change, state inspection, all charges I expected. They don't think there's anything seriously wrong with the transmission, but they want me to take it to a transmission shop. (I didn't even know there were special shops for that, grr.) Replace both rear wheel cylinders, because they're leaking and that's a "fail" on the state inspection. $214.15. Replace the distributor cap rotor and wires because (I'm paraphrasing here) they're totally fucked, and do the same for the fuel filter. $220.95. They wanted to service the fuel system for an additional $75, but I asked them to hold off.

We need the car. We have the money. There's really nothing to argue about here. Except that I hate pouring all this money into my rusting 12 year old Toyota. I just have the feeling that the damned thing has passed the point where it was a worthy and economical car, and that we'll just be sliding downhill from one expensive repair to another from now on. When we move to the city, we'll ditch the Toyota and become a one-car family. But we just can't do that in deep suburbia.

Misha reminds me that we've been putting off preventive maintenance on the Toyota for two years. If we hadn't, I'm sure this bill would be more reasonable. And this car really has been unnaturally reliable in the 7 1/2 years that I've owned it. It's just... *sigh.*

And I left my Palm Pilot at home this morning. It's shaping up to be an ugly day.

Comments

[pixel.livejournal.com]

"Aside from the fact that the bill could have been seriously reduced by not paying a garage fo rthe labor and instead buying the parts and installing them youself(generic you here), that all seems pretty reasonable.
The rear wheel cylinders have rubber gaskets& such in them which degrade over time, plus they are in constant contact with brake fluid which is about the most corrisove fluid in a vehicle. If they are the originals then you've gotten way over the expected lifespan of them, by at least a factor of two.
The recommended replacement intervals for cap/rotor/plugs/wires/fuel filter/etc. is every two years/30,000 miles. So you're just about right on that if you had it done last time you had the car serviced, somewhat overdue if not.

If it makes you feel any better, I just sunk around $900 into The Cat in the last two months, and that was pretty much all just in parts with me doing 95% of the labor myself. And she still needs new lower ball joints, front sway bar loinks, and the transmission is acting up."

Re:

[rivka.livejournal.com]

*grin* Thanks, Pix. It's good to know people who know cars, given that for all we know they could probably get away with telling Misha and I that the Nimbus 2000 was busted.

It doesn't actually make me feel better to think about you having to sink huge amounts of money into The Cat, but I do feel better now that I have the opportunity to say "front sway bar loinks." Gosh, you always know the coolest catchphrases.