12/20/2001 Entry: "He Said I Blew A Seal."

Oooh. The mechanics said, on top of everything, I've got a blown head gasket. I'm under the impression that this is a bad thing. Like, it will cost more than the current value of the car to fix it sort of a bad thing.

On the plus side, I hadn't put a stamp yet on my insurance payment.

Sharp inhale. It may be time for me to tell Cindy goodbye.

Replies: 3 comments

Oh, honey, if it's a blown head gasket, it's toast. This is exactly what happened to my car this past spring. The repairs would have been more than what the car was worth, so I cut my losses. You might consider giving the car to charity as a tax writeoff. You get the value of the car as a donation, and they even make the pickup and towing arrangements without it costing you anything further.

Posted by Ron @ 12/21/2001 11:57 AM PST

That was definitely a thought. The other possibility I'm looking into is selling it to a salvage yard. Parts for Camaros are expensive, and if and when GM stops manufacturing it, they'll only be moreso. One of the problems with auto donation charities is that for some, the cost overheads are extremely high so the charity ends up getting very little of the money. So I don't know yet.

Posted by Casey @ 12/21/2001 12:17 AM PST

I blew the head on my '80 VW Rabbit and spent the summer between my junior and senior year in high school replacing it. okay, i didn't really do it but was there with dad handing him the tools, bringing him bandaids, listening to him curse. you know, bonding stuff.

and i learned about cars. more than i wanted to know. more than you want to know.

and three miles into driving it with its $500 home-installed head, it caught fire. seems that we had spilled a ton of oil behind the engine and didn't clean it up. mental note: oil ignites.

luckily a harley dude drove by right as I jumped out of the car, lifted the hood and stared helpessly at the flames. he jumped off his bike, threw dirt onto the flames and, once extinguished, cleaned his paws on his "fuck Huessin" t-shirt.

i wonder what he's up to now? hope he's updated his formal patriotic wear.

Posted by aaron @ 12/21/2001 10:13 PM PST