Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Yea...Not The Golden Chariot I Expected

So that new car I was so thrilled with? Well, still runs great, still comfy, still better than walking in the Michigan winter, but...

I took it to my favorite mechanic to see what the deal was with the conspicuous lack of ANY heat and lethargic temperature gauge. It seems it wasn't just a simple thermostat, it was the heater core. Someone bypassed it, apparently to avoid replacing it. I went online and found a part at a place just down the road for a mere $33. Unfortunately, to get it installed is $370 or so in labor. The entire dashboard needs to be removed to get to the damned thing. UGH!

I could just try and bundle up and tough it out through the next 2-3 months, but in this kind of cold I'd have to institute a "no breathing" rule in my car. The windshield gets fogged up quickly and simply freezes. After about 3 minutes of driving I can see absolutely nothing.

On the one hand, I could feel pissed, ripped-off and pine about it. On the other, given I offered $500 below their asking price, I could say I'm still coming out $100 ahead for a pretty damned nice little car. We have to go over our finances and figure out where the rest of the money is going before I make a decision on when to do the repair. I'm hoping I can find a local grease monkey willing to do it on the cheap, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope there.

My "GREAT DEAL" is turning into a "pretty darned good deal". Let's hope it just hovers at that.

1 comment:

My Synaptic Mistirings said...

By-passed heater core, eh? Jenni had that happen to her to. Her dad helped her finance an '88 Chevy Corsica and when she had problems w/ it, she took it to a local grease monkey, and he told them the actual problem. she was not happy. Apparently, the car had belonged to a local nun and when she had problems herself, they just bypassed it as she didn't use it during the 7 cold months of the Michigan year.