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Thursday, September 01, 2016

Van update

When we were replacing our harmonic balancer, our neighbour pointed out that our brake pads need to be replaced. It's likely our rotors will need to be replaced as well. Apparently their "life" is around 70000 miles and we're well past that mark. So we've been looking into parts and labour costs (and debating whether it's something we want to tackle ourselves).

Speaking of that harmonic balancer, here's Andrew under the van, working away, under the direction of our neighbour (who actually knew what a harmonic balancer was before ours broke ("harmonic balancer" was news to me)):



And there's our rotor, fully revealed (I can point out the harmonic balancer in this picture because I totally know what one is now):


There it is in all its decrepit glory:


We got it all put back together last Thursday and it was running so smoothly (and quietly!). It was so nice!

And then...I got in the van yesterday and the brake lamp light was on. We knew our middle light was out, but now one of our side lights is out, too. Today I found the right bulbs and bought them (on Amazon) so they'll be here soon.

And then...we got in the car today, heard a little clunk, and the driver's window fell down inside the door.

"There goes another fifty dollars," I sighed.

It's the power window regulator, I'm sure of it, because four years ago the same thing happened in the very same door. And two years ago it happened in the other door. So, in theory, we should be pretty efficient at fixing this problem by this point. We ordered the part and it will get here with the brake lamps.

In the meantime our window is hanging wide open (with a garbage bag taped over it to keep all the rain out because, by the way, Hurricane Hermine will be bringing lots of rain our direction in the next couple of days (perfect timing to have a broken window, don't you think?)).

The joys of ownership...

1 comment:

  1. My dad has been doing a lot of repairs on his car lately. In fact, last Saturday he opted to replace his alternator instead of hiring it out. Labor costs + the new taxes on labor + car parts. I guess he figured he'd just do it himself. Sounds like y'all are getting good at it!

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