Metal isn't supposed to be poking up through the hood.....

[dalesql]

Joyous day of car troubles, 2006 edition. Driving up to NESFA after work today, I was rolling down the big hill on route 2 when I notice that the car is making new noises when the left front wheel is hitting any little irregularity in the road. Hmmm... turn off the radio and listen closer, yup, left front wheel.... and something is pushing up the metal of the hood of the car in synchrony with these clunks.

Oh shit.... Reaching the bottom of the hill, I pull over into the bowling alley there and park. Pop the hood and I see the rod that normally is bolted to the frame coming up from the wheel is now poking up and is steadily working it's way up into the hood of the car. This is going to be expensive..... I have a picture, but LJ doesn't allow pictures with free accounts.

Going into the bowling alley, the nice counterman allows me to look at his yellow pages directory. looking under automobiles, none of them mention that they work on volvos. As I'm starting to call the tow truck, I realize that I'm probably a couple hundred bucks to tow the car all the way to my repair shop. Hmmmm.... Well if I drive slow, and avoid all the potholes, hooopfullly I'll be okay.

With fingers crossed I drive homeward. about 20 miles per hour, in rush hour traffic. So many dirty looks and tailgaters I collect, even when they could easily pass me with trivial delays. *sighs* After a long, rather nerve-wracking drive I get to my mechanic's shop. He's closed for the day, of course. So I left it there and walked the rest of the way home.
Tomorrow, I walk back and see what he has to say, besides 'boat payment'. Ghu knows if I'll be able to go to work tomorrow. The usual suspects for borrowing a car ( My parents) are in canada and have their one remaining car with them. Hopefully the mechanic has an available loaner car. *crosses fingers.*

Comments

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

I'd wondered where you were. Tony said that you're running con suite, and I am to poke you about helping out with it, so consider yourself poked.

And photowise, photobucket.com is a free site for putting up pictures. Works just fine, and even though I have a paid account, I prefer to use PB to post pics to my journal most of the time.

Car troubles, continued.

[dalesql.livejournal.com]

Well, my mechanic has loaner cars, but, they are all reserved for folks who have appointments today. Mechanic is down one worker today, so he wasn't sure he'd be able to even get it up on the lift today to do the diagnostic and order parts. But he has hopes that it will be fixed tomorrow. *crosses fingers*

Called my brother, and he is able to loan me his car today, as his wife is taking the motorcycle to work today. So today is covered, and if the weather is nice enough for motorcycles, tomorrow too. Hopefully my car will be repaired by then.

Lets natter about con suite sometime. When is a good time for you? Got the day off tomorrow? If it's rainy, I'm going to be stuck at home all day.

Re: Car troubles, resolved.

[dalesql.livejournal.com]

Good news on the car front. Mechanic had a cancellation of an appointment, so he was able to complete the repair today. Picked it up a little while ago and returned my brother's car to him. YaY! I am car enabled again. Even better, since the prior owner had recently replaced the struts, he didn't have to replace those as well, so I only got whacked for 1.5 weeks of pay, rather than the three weeks of pay I was expecting.
I guess I won't be stuck at home poking jedilora tomorrow, I'll have to be at work instead. Some other time perhaps? *grins*