I just had a long three days. Let me start back at the beginning.
Wednesday morning I left Asheville, NC with my car full of stuff from college to drive 1000 miles back home to MA driving solo. All is fine and dandy for the first 300 miles or so. I refueled 100 miles out due to starting with half and tank and not wanting to stop for awhile.
I'm driving along up 77 into Virginia and onto 81. My gas gauge is dropping rather quickly. I figure a car full of stuff, a cargo box on the roof, and a bicycle would cause my fuel economy to drop off a bit from my normal 32-34mpg. My gas light comes on after only going 200 miles...
i stop at a gas station/travel plaza in Lexington, VA exit 195. i look under the car and see gas dripping off all sorts of stuff, from the bottom of the fuel tank to suspension pieces to various plastic covers.
i go to start the ignition and listen for the fuel system to pressurize. it wouldn't pressurize. crap. i went inside and talked to the woman at the service counter. She said they didn't work on cars there but she sent me to a garage down the street. so, i get three gallons of gas and roll down the hill to the garage and get there around 2pm.
i get the car into the garage (after taking the bike down) and get it up on the lift. i was hoping to get a band-aid fix and hit the road again. wrong. the mechanic took a plastic panel off right next to the fuel tank to see that the high pressure fuel line was rusted through. so, he calls up honda to get the part. $190 for the line! and he said they can't get it till the following day.
He looks down the line (toward the engine) and tried to separate the two lines. the second one was broken too. calls up honda, $200. The mechanic then told me that the part wouldn't be delivered to his shop until 2:30 or 3pm the following day. or he could go pick them up in the morning (10am) for 50$. so at this point i figured i should pay to have them picked up otherwise i'm go to have to spend two nights in a hotel. he also said that he may have to drop the tank unless there is an access hole through the backseat. so i had to empty the back seat out (mind you, it is jam packed full of my life) and leave it UNATTENDED in the garage.
the mechanic drove me to the DaysInn about a quarter mile up the road around 3pm. 58$. there was not a goddamn thing on tv till i fell asleep at 11.
the next day (thursday) i check out of the hotel at 10am and head to the garage. the parts still aren't in yet. i sat around reading old magazines from 2008 that were sitting in the waiting room. eventually the parts come in and the mechanic puts them in. It now needs a fuel filter from all that damn rust. while waiting for the fuel filter i repacked my car. (come to find out you can't reach the line on top of the tank from the access port, only the sending unit, so he had to drop the tank and i unloaded my car for no reason.) $750 for parts and labor. (dont forget the 58 for the hotel too!) I re-hit the road at 2:15pm happier than ever to be driving my now fixed car.
I arrived at my friends house in Reading, PA at 7:15 to spend the night.
Woke up this morning and hit the road at 8:30 hoping to get home around 3:30pm. While going around an offramp from route 22 to 33 i heard a funny noise coming from the left front of the car. I also noticed the car wasn't tracking straight.
I thought a had a tire going down. About 30 miles later (going from I-80 to route 209) i stopped a gas station to check my tires. all four are fine. I look under the car to see SOMETHING ELSE DRIPPING. this time it doesnt smell like gas and it is up front under where the pedals would be. I pop the hood and check fluids. my power steering fluid is low. smelled the fluid in the reservoir and matched it to what was dripping under the car. it was power steering fluid leaking from the steering rack. i looked on the reservoir and read that you need to put Honda power steering fluid in and not any old stuff. great. where the hell am i going to get this. I in fucking east stroudsburg, PA. i call my dad and he does a little digging. apparently there is a big honda dealer in east stroudsburg about 5 miles from where i was. i take off out of the parking lot and i have no more power steering.
So, i hit up the honda dealer and get 3 bottles of the good stuff and top it off. about 11$.
i drove the last 4 hours and used all 3 bottles of fluid.
now i have to replace my steering rack. 200$-300$. hopefully i didn't fry the power steering pump as well.
i arrived at home this afternoon at 4:15. i have no power steering and no more noises coming from up front.
so, those were my last three expensive days. how were yours?
Wednesday morning I left Asheville, NC with my car full of stuff from college to drive 1000 miles back home to MA driving solo. All is fine and dandy for the first 300 miles or so. I refueled 100 miles out due to starting with half and tank and not wanting to stop for awhile.
I'm driving along up 77 into Virginia and onto 81. My gas gauge is dropping rather quickly. I figure a car full of stuff, a cargo box on the roof, and a bicycle would cause my fuel economy to drop off a bit from my normal 32-34mpg. My gas light comes on after only going 200 miles...
i stop at a gas station/travel plaza in Lexington, VA exit 195. i look under the car and see gas dripping off all sorts of stuff, from the bottom of the fuel tank to suspension pieces to various plastic covers.
i go to start the ignition and listen for the fuel system to pressurize. it wouldn't pressurize. crap. i went inside and talked to the woman at the service counter. She said they didn't work on cars there but she sent me to a garage down the street. so, i get three gallons of gas and roll down the hill to the garage and get there around 2pm.
i get the car into the garage (after taking the bike down) and get it up on the lift. i was hoping to get a band-aid fix and hit the road again. wrong. the mechanic took a plastic panel off right next to the fuel tank to see that the high pressure fuel line was rusted through. so, he calls up honda to get the part. $190 for the line! and he said they can't get it till the following day.
He looks down the line (toward the engine) and tried to separate the two lines. the second one was broken too. calls up honda, $200. The mechanic then told me that the part wouldn't be delivered to his shop until 2:30 or 3pm the following day. or he could go pick them up in the morning (10am) for 50$. so at this point i figured i should pay to have them picked up otherwise i'm go to have to spend two nights in a hotel. he also said that he may have to drop the tank unless there is an access hole through the backseat. so i had to empty the back seat out (mind you, it is jam packed full of my life) and leave it UNATTENDED in the garage. the mechanic drove me to the DaysInn about a quarter mile up the road around 3pm. 58$. there was not a goddamn thing on tv till i fell asleep at 11.
the next day (thursday) i check out of the hotel at 10am and head to the garage. the parts still aren't in yet. i sat around reading old magazines from 2008 that were sitting in the waiting room. eventually the parts come in and the mechanic puts them in. It now needs a fuel filter from all that damn rust. while waiting for the fuel filter i repacked my car. (come to find out you can't reach the line on top of the tank from the access port, only the sending unit, so he had to drop the tank and i unloaded my car for no reason.
) $750 for parts and labor. (dont forget the 58 for the hotel too!) I re-hit the road at 2:15pm happier than ever to be driving my now fixed car. I arrived at my friends house in Reading, PA at 7:15 to spend the night.
Woke up this morning and hit the road at 8:30 hoping to get home around 3:30pm. While going around an offramp from route 22 to 33 i heard a funny noise coming from the left front of the car. I also noticed the car wasn't tracking straight.
I thought a had a tire going down. About 30 miles later (going from I-80 to route 209) i stopped a gas station to check my tires. all four are fine. I look under the car to see SOMETHING ELSE DRIPPING. this time it doesnt smell like gas and it is up front under where the pedals would be. I pop the hood and check fluids. my power steering fluid is low. smelled the fluid in the reservoir and matched it to what was dripping under the car. it was power steering fluid leaking from the steering rack. i looked on the reservoir and read that you need to put Honda power steering fluid in and not any old stuff. great. where the hell am i going to get this. I in fucking east stroudsburg, PA. i call my dad and he does a little digging. apparently there is a big honda dealer in east stroudsburg about 5 miles from where i was. i take off out of the parking lot and i have no more power steering.
So, i hit up the honda dealer and get 3 bottles of the good stuff and top it off. about 11$.
i drove the last 4 hours and used all 3 bottles of fluid.
now i have to replace my steering rack. 200$-300$. hopefully i didn't fry the power steering pump as well.
i arrived at home this afternoon at 4:15. i have no power steering and no more noises coming from up front.
so, those were my last three expensive days.
how were yours?
.
Comment