Lost Patience with My Car

We are nearing the half-way mark of The Nester's challenge. If you want to read about me Practicing Patience, then you will want to click here.

I own a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora. We bought it brand new, special ordered, and she arrived with only 3 miles on her when we took possession. This summer she turned over the 100,000 mile mark. She has been a good car and very little work has been done.

However....

Last January I started to find little blobs of grease on the garage floor. My oldest son, who is somewhat of a 'shade tree mechanic', replaced my CV joint boot (whatever the heck that is) and also put new brakes on. Then things went along quite smoothly.

For awhile....

This year I started the year off with putting two new tires on the front. They are a special size so they cost a LOT for just two tires.

Then at the end of August I noticed a puddle of something near the front right wheel. Turned out to be anti-freeze. Was concerned that might be a water pump (not that I know anything about that, but that is what I was told). Turns out that somehow, somewhere, at sometime, the cap on the coolant reservoir was smashed and no longer held a good seal. That meant that when the car got too hot, as it tends to do in August, all the coolant boils out of it. So a trip to the mechanic to get that fixed.

Recently, I started to hear a bit of groaning when turned the corner. Now I want you to know that I have never taken care of a car in my life. That is what husband's are for. Right? And mine took my car in regularly to have stuff done. Now all of this is up to me. And I hate it. I have no PATIENCE for any kind of car problems. After the groaning started I noticed drips of an oily like substance on the driveway. Opened up the hood (after a quick Google search  Thank goodness for the internet) and found that my power steering reservoir was almost empty. Easy enough! I went to the store and bought a bottle of fluid and poured it in and tightened the lid. Once again we are off and running.

Except....

I continued to notice the leak. So I poured in a bottle that contained a 'stop-leak' stuff. For all you ladies reading this, kiss your husband now if he is the one that takes care of your car. Go on....I'll wait.  

Okay, now that you are back...that didn't work. So I called the mechanic and he said bring it in.

That was last Thursday. I only own one car. And today it is Tuesday. They have found that the boot for the CV joint has split and sprayed so much 'black mooshy grease' (the mechanic's words, not mine) under the car that they had to wash, wash, wash before they could even locate the leak. Today they told me that they found the leak (a high pressure power steering hose) but they can't locate a part. So now he assures me that it will all be fixed tomorrow. FIVE days without a car. Inside a house with two teens who are very active and a husband with dementia. I am not sure how anyone can Practice Patience when this is going on.