So, the last time I got my oil changed, 3 1/2 weeks ago or so, the guys at the Advance Lube place told me they thought there might be a transmission leak. Ohhhkay. Not something I liked hearing, but better to hear it from someone who just put fluids in my car, and in enough time to see about getting it looked at and hopefully resolved. Monday a week ago, I called our mechanic (Jimmy Sarandrea, at World Class Automotive, an excellent, honest, straightforward mechanic with very good knowledge of domestic and asian import cars), and they were booked up fully for that week. Yesterday afternoon, my dad and I swung by his shop after work (I was giving my dad a ride, as he took his truck in to a body shop yesterday morning to get it fixed from where someone hit his parked truck in the parking garage a while back), and he said he could look at it if I brought it in this morning.

Tired and groggy, I drove my car to Jimmy’s shop this morning, dropped it off there, and got a ride to work from my dad. By 9:30, I had news: there was a minor leak from one of the transmission seals. Not a big deal, in itself . . . but, I also found out that the entire steering rack needs to be replaced, as there was a significant steering fluid leak and the steering rack had issues. So, looking at at least $600 . . . and then after clearing a short-term loan from my dad to be able to go ahead and get stuff done, I find out that it’s also going to need new tie rod ends, and an alignment. Yay. 🙁

Getting it done, I need a reliable, functional vehicle, but it’s going to make me poor for about the next month. It’s going to take what I have in savings (which was already mostly money I had earmarked for repaying my dad for the last round of repairs on this Acura), most of the money from my check this Friday after I pay rent, and a significant chunk of my paycheck on the 16th to pay for all this. Oy.