August 28, 2006
head gasket (hed gas'·kit) n: mechanic-speak for "take it like an altar-boy!"
My car had been idling rough for a few days, so I loped up to the garage I've been using since the last place stole half a gallon of coolant and a quart of oil out of my trunk. Initially they found a bad spark plug and some bad wires, among other things. Not exactly cheap, but not too bad: About $450.
Then when they took a closer look to start the repairs they found one more problem: a blown head gasket. This is 8-9 man-hours of labor to repair, in addition to being an expensive part.
This is a bit of a conundrum, really. I don't have enough disposable income right now to buy a new car: I've been waiting until I pay off the IRS (in October) and clear out all but my monthly expenditures from my credit card (in September) at which time I'd have about $600-$700 a month for payments and a few months until the spring to build up a down-payment.
But until then I have to keep the current car running, pretty much regardless of the cost. What that means is I just had to pay $1000 -- 2/3 the value of the car as assessed by the county -- to get through to May. In addition to the two new tires I had to put on it last month, my credit-card payoff date has been pushed back from September to (probably) January. That knocks down my down-payment quite a bit.
That means I probably won't be able to purchase the car I'm looking at (a V-6 Honda Accord). My options are to lease the car, which is cheaper in the short term, or buying a Civic or something similar.
I'll probably wind up leasing the Accord, assuming my math works out right. Basically, the longer I keep this car, the more it costs me, which means I have to keep it longer while I pay off the debts I incur repairing it.
It's just so frustrating. After costing me $886.63 all of last year, the car has cost me almost $2,100 and August isn't even over yet. That year I spent out of work has set me so far back -- I won't be done paying off that debt until next fall, and I had to refinance my student loans which pushes their end dates back to 2012 -- that I feel like by the time I'll have the disposable income to buy the things I want I'll be too old to enjoy them.
