Will It Ever End?

I come from a family of Pontiac lovers. GTO’s to be specific. Even though mine is not a GTO, I love my car… really I do! It’s served me well for many years. It’s got nice leather seats… even the driver’s side is heated. Mmmmm… yeah, that’s nice on those cold winter mornings! It’s fully loaded and I’m spoiled rotten with power windows, seats, and steering wheel controls. My car gets me where I want to go in record time. (LOL, OK that’s just me with a heavy foot.) No tickets recently, knock on wood. So what’s my point to all this? After six years of excellent servitude, my car has been needing attention. So far this year, I’ve had to:

Replace the battery (twice!)
Replace all four tires
Replace the front brake pads

And now I have to replace the rear brake pads and all 4 rotors, which is going to cost me $200 just for parts. Those are things that need my immediate attention. Called the local Auto Zone about getting the parts – Was told that if I went in and prepaid, they could order the brake pads since they were “temporarily” out. After I go there, I am told by one clerk that there is no way they can order them. As I was in mid-sentence explaining my phone call, he walks away and gets another guy. The next guy proceeds to tell me how he cannot guarantee delivery by Sat like the guy on the phone told me. Well then… I’m not about to prepay when I can wait until next week after the truck delivery. The second guy did go above and beyond by offering to see if one of the other stores had one and he’d drive there to get the pads. (Since I’d been so patient, he said. LOL) I’m not holding my breath, though. Looks like it’ll be another week before the brakes and rotors are done. What’s one more week of the entire car shaking while the brakes are applied??

Eventually, I’ll have to have my exhaust system replaced. What really irks me about that is the resonator only needs replacing and costs about $82, however…. Can’t just replace that part. Oh no. According to one place I talked to, they won’t just replace that part because it’s welded to the rest of the system. I will more than likely end up paying $300 for an entire exhaust system (and that’s just parts) unless I can find some backyard mechanic who is willing to cut the resonator out and put a new one in.

Shall we go on? Oh yes, let’s. I had a 25 point inspection done several months back and it found that the head gasket needs replacing, as well as the oil pan gasket, and several other gaskets that leak miniscule amounts of oil. According to my brother, it’ll cost me about $1500 to get it all fixed. He recommended I just drive the car and keep an eye on the oil levels – as long as I’m not constantly putting oil in the car, it should be fine. I just have to put up with the oil burning smell I get every now and then that comes out from under the hood. Nothing a face mask wouldn't solve.

New battery $60
New tires $415
New front brake pads $50
New rear brake pads & rotors $200
New Exhaust System $300
Gaskets Replaced $1500
A safe, reliable car -- Priceless