Jun 242004
 

I’m just not feeling very mechanically lucky these days…

http://elainemiller.com/blog/archives/000066.html

-Elaine

 Posted by at 4:58 pm

  4 Responses to “Ouch, My Van.”

  1. So just yesterday I picked up my car after some much needed repairs. Repairs that had been waiting some 4 months for a financial windfall or desperation to take over. So original quote was 2200$…GAH!!! so sweet friend at work says take it to my guy…so off to her guy I go…oh note no finacial windfall…desperation kicked in big time. Anyway her guy eyeballs car…says can I call you after we have a look…sure…calls apologetic about quote he’s about to deliver..then delivers quote parts and labour less than 800$ more apologizing..all the while I’m doing the happy dance.

    Any way long story longer…hey Elaine…take it to my guy. Fellow named George owns garage at Dawson and Willingdon called ummm bill and teds or somesuch thing…numbers 604-298-3031.

    Arli
    *who is available for car service*

  2. Thanks, Arli, I’ll check them out too.

    If the van’s bit the biscuit, and has to go to the great RV lot in the sky, I’ll be in the market for the geekiest little motor scooter I can find, for sale for pocket change. Anyone heard of such a thing? [grin]

    -Elaine

  3. Hey Elaine

    It may be a good thing you pulled off when you did. My parents had a similar weird noise on a trip back from Ottawa last weekend. It got louder and louder (sounded like bearings going in the wheel which usually take months not minutes to get bad).

    My dad got out to check a couple of times and couldn’t see anything wrong. Finally it got too bad for him to bear and he pulled into a parking lot and said to my mom “we’re stopping here”.

    As he braked, one of the front wheels rolled right off the car and through the lot. So lucky he had pulled over and wasn’t still on the highway. All of the studs had broken right through!

    All that to say, stopping was a very brill thing to do given the circumstances. Good luck with the repairs!

    Tanya

  4. You know, I had the same thing happen to me once, when the bearings rotted out on my VW Rabbit.
    It was Labour Day weekend, I was heading back to Vancouver with my then-gf. We had both been visiting family in the Okanagan and as I drove by the turn off for my parent’s place, I decided to go to their place and figure out the problem.
    On the way to their place the front right tire came shooting off the car and rocketed forwarded across a sidewalk and into an empty lot.
    Right beside the home of a hideous man who, as luck would have it, was one of my dad’s know it all friends.
    I had to knock on the door and say, ” Hey Big Hank (grumble, grumble) mind if I used your phone to call my dad?”
    Because, of course, what other spot would I end up breaking down in?

    Actually, the good news was that we did break down there and weren’t still driving, because we would have been well on our way up the Freeway and that would have been way more complicated and probably much more dangerous.

    Apparently you can have your bearings checked as part of a regular tune-up, if you remember to ask.It’s not *just* about figuring out where you are at at any moment in your life .

    Oh,yeah, and a word to the uninitiated… when your tire comes flying off and rolling projectile down the street and over the curb in front of you, you will encounter some difficulty in stopping your vehicle.
    Just cuz your brakes are trying to grab empty air all of a sudden, so it doesn’t work quite so well.
    So, my advice, it’s pretty much always worth your while to take the time to check your bearings.

    More drugged mumblings from Spike, the oh-so-mechancial animal

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