No-wheels blues

Local Content - Staff Blogs

Written by production

Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:25

By Jamie Rieger When you back your car out of the driveway and see a large puddle of dark liquid sitting underneath, you know it is not a good thing. Leaking oil means the car has to go into the shop for some repairs and you know it will not be a cheap job. Driving an older vehicle means these kinds of repairs are going to be increasingly frequent as parts simply wear out. But, when I saw the pooled oil sitting where my car just was recently, it was enough to knot my stomach. I had been so careful with maintenance for this vehicle that it seemed a little odd that this would be happening. However, I had been driving on some ugly, rutted roads recently and initially thought I had done some damage to the undercarriage. After having the car towed to the garage, I was left worrying about what was wrong with the car and how much it was going to cost. The garage where I took the car was busy and could not look at the car immediately, so the worries just kept piling up, leaving me a wreck for a day or two. When the call came after the mechanic had a chance to look things over, the worrying was subsided a bit. The timing cover gasket had lived its life and needed to be replaced. He quoted me the price for the part and that it would take 5.5 hours to fix. Okay, that sounded a little better than what I had been anticipating. Being without a vehicle for a couple of days was enough to drive me up the wall. You never know how much you will miss something and how much you take things for granted until it is taken away from you. It amazes me how much I rely on a vehicle, even for the simplest of tasks. Luckily, I have a mechanic who is extremely efficient and I was not without a vehicle for more than a few days. In fact, when I got the car back, it was running far better than it did prior to the gasket giving out. The car is purring like a kitten now, but I am on a close look-out for the next puddle of oil or other fluid that has no business leaking out. It's an old car, so I know it's just a matter of time until the next repair job.