Auto Woes

Just before I went to Jersey, I got my oil changed with a “buy one, get one free” deal. Since I drove a LOT this summer, I knew I should have gotten another oil change while I was out there, but I was trying to make it till I got back for my free one. Last week, I finally looked at the mileage and noticed that I was two or three thousand miles overdue for the oil change… Oops! So I was hoping that that was the cause of the smell I noticed a couple days ago. So I decided to just go ahead and get my oil changed here in Columbus, even though it wouldn’t be free, and see if that helped anything.

Unfortunately… after I got the oil change, I still smelled it. And then I could tell that it was coming from the rear, passenger-side wheel. But since I had an appointment with our wedding photographer, I drove on it anyway, an hour down to Chillicothe. Then I stopped at the shop when I got back into town. I took it to the Valvoline Express Care near where Derek lives, on his recommendation. I was very nervous as I waited for them to look at it, wondering why I’d brought my car to an oil change place for a brake or tire issue of some sort. But they took great care of me! They took off the rear tires and found that the passenger-side caliper was stuck. And the brake pad was basically gone. And the rotor was ruined from the heat of all the rubbing. So they got the parts and all stayed late to replace those things, for $421.66.

Unfortunately… the tire still wasn’t spinning freely as it should have once all of that was done. They checked a couple of other things and concluded that the master cylinder needed to be replaced as well. Of course, by this time, they’d already been “closed” for an hour and couldn’t get the part right then anyway. So they ordered it, and it was supposed to be delivered the next morning, this morning, at 7:30 a.m. The owner of the shop drove me back to Derek’s place (with a gun in the back of the car, by the way,) and I was planning to have Derek drop me back off here this morning on his way to work, which he did. The main brake specialist mechanic guy also agreed to come in for a few hours on his day off to put in the new master cylinder, which he now has. For another $240.19.

Unfortunately… the tire was still only spinning at about 80% of what it should. They kept scratching their heads as to why, when they found out some pin things on the new caliper were slightly longer than the old ones, which was causing the tension. Anyway, that was an easy fix.

Unfortunately… they could still hear some sort of noise coming from that tire when they test drove it. I couldn’t hear it over the constant noise of my roof rack, but they’re apparently trained to hear these sorts of things. Apparently, the noise is the bearing, because apparently the grease in there is broken down from all the heat before and now isn’t lubricating the bearing as it should. Or something like that. So apparently it needs to be replaced too. Not right away – I might have a couple weeks or months even before the wheel finally falls off – but it will need to be taken care of relatively soon. For another $250 or so.

Yep, so there ya go. Almost $1000 later, I should be good as new. Of course, I really could have used that money for wedding stuff, or to pay off some debt, or to buy a new water heater which I still haven’t done… Yeah. Ah, well. Such is life! Grrr…