A week in the life of the Bewber. Buckle up. :)

Ok, it's not THAT bad, but I know that I owe some of you some stickers. I'll get to them as soon as I can. It's been pretty slow here on the wagonkookforum, so I figured I'd share a few examples of why I haven't been able to get to them. Keep in mind that this past week has really just been a continuation of events since I returned from the fest - but here's just the most recent week.....aside from also fixing friends broken cars and Blase having football practice that takes up upto 5 hours of EVERY day.......

For a little background info - At the fest, I learned that the passenger electric fan was out in the woody wagon - so idling and being stopped haven't been my friend.

So last Friday (the 13th) morning I was in the burb with the kids and the temp gauge SPIKED. No coolant loss, but it was HOT. I was only 3-4 miles from home, but by the time it cooled enough to go a little more until it got hot again (repeatedly) - me and my 4 kids could have walked home faster.

Once we finally got home, we had JUST enough time to hop into the woody to go get a new thermostat for the burb before we had to leave for a birthday party. On the way home from picking up an electric fan from the junkyard for the woody and a Tstat for the burb, we caught some traffic and the woody got hot again. Not STUPID hot, but hot enough to want it to sit and cool as opposed to jumping right back into it. With both "dailys" overheating - this forced us into the 1965 Biscayne wagon that also has a history of getting too hot.

For those not familiar - Biscayne = ZERO options. Zip. Ziltch. Not even a radio. Just 2 rows of vinyl seats, a hurst shifter, and a beautiful duet constantly being sung with the treble coming from my whining gear driven timing set and the bass provided courtesy of the screaming dual exhaust. Since I've also removed the wipers, this is obviously not a long term solution for a family of 6. I threw the new part in the burb the next day and we were good to go - we thought.

Sunday - With the burb returning from injured reserve, I took the 65 wagon to a guy 30 miles away to cure a few lingering carburator woes. I also decided to drive the woody around to the back garage to install that new fan real quick. I damn near slid into the main road I live on because the rear brakes had decided to also go on strike. Think more like "Hell no, we won't stop!" as opposed to "go". No worries though, I have a 373 9c1 rear that I wanted to use after the fest anyway... so I'll just throw that one in there real quick and UPGRADE while I'm at it ... That "15 minute" fan swap job that turned into a "couple hours" rear end swap job was started DAYS ago.

So on Monday, I planned to get up early and get back on that rear end swap job. Nogo. Instead I was awakened by my wife saying, "John. My mom is stranded on the side of the expressway in her van. She HAS to get to the Drs Appointment she was going to. blah blah blah." She was over 20 miles away. Up and gone, I was doing 85 on the highway before my vision cleared up enough for me to even see clearly. That little adventure ended up killing that whole morning and some of the afternoon too. That night, we went to pick the 65 back up after football - and get there about 1015 at night. Sitting in that dudes driveway the the burb announced via it's information center that it needs coolant again and is now also making a ticking sound. WTF!

Tuesday morning I take the burb to the same garage where the MILs van is sitting with a broken transmission - and once in the air, we learn 2 things. One is that the ticking is coming from the FLYWHEEL, and that whoever installed the new Tstat housing is a shmuck and it leaks.

So once again, the woody wagon is on IR with the rear swap, the burb is on IR until further exam that will probably demand I remove the transmission, and we're back to rolling in the 65 full time.

Wednesday is the day I have to make deliveries for my store, so I was only able to dink around on the car for a few hours before having to get all spiffied up. (I own a laundry store, so even if you DO crawl out from under a car to deliver sterilized lab coats to Drs offices, you can't look like it.) This kills the afternoon until it's time to make dinner. We roll the 65 to practice and learn that it too is marking its territory. Apparently the lower radiator hose and clamp now have sealing issues. I can't clamp it tight enough to NOT leak. From there on, everytime I took it anywhere, I have to add water to the radiator. It's drinking constantly and peeing wherever the hell it wants to. This car is now like me at New Years Eve.

All of this while ALSO trying to hunt down former instructors who are on their summer break to ask them to fill out a reference letter form that'd help me get BACK into the nursing program that I was kicked out of. Phone calls, emails, MORE emails, etc - all burning precious "car guy" time and daylight.

Today was more of the "the cars will have to wait" same. Dropped the kids off at grammas, then had to go downtown to the college library to borrow a study guide, then hit up Azone on the way home for that lower rad hose replacement. The study guide is because I have to spend ALL DAY tomorrow taking a HUGE multi-component test called the HESI. It's what they now use to help determine if someone can be admitted (or RE-admitted) into the nursing program. So tonight is youth footbal followed be a CRAM session, and tomorrow will be taking that test all day, followed by - you guessed it - Youth Football.

Oh, and this weekend is the Back to the Bricks weekend here in Flint too which means our schedule - broken cars or not - is pretty well spoken for.

Another interesting nugget about the football is that the district Blase played for last year failed to notify us they were having signups. The age group he played in last year, Freshmen, went up to like 90 pounds and with ALL his gear on, including helmet - he checked in at 62 pounds. Because of the other schools fuggup, he was invited to play for a different school district this year. He's not really that much bigger. Because of a lack of freshmen kids there - he's going to play "JV"..... which means I've got a 55 pound 9 year old going to play against kids that can be almost 13 and can weigh up to 120 pounds. (or something like that)

When I mentioned to him, "That's gonna toughen you up good when one of them older kids lights you up like Christmas" he just grinned and let me know "They have to catch me first". Hard to dispute that.

It should be a fun season to watch. It looks like Blaser is gonna get to carry the ball some, my godson Mac looks like the most promising QB, and my best friend also happens to be the coach.

Anyway, I haven't forgotten about you guys's stickers. They say that life is what happens in between the things that you plan - and I've just had a LOT of "life" happening lately. Believe it or not - those who know me consider all of THAT crap to fall in the range of normal for me. Debatable, but it's close enough that I can't argue either.

I Redheads and clevage,
Bewber

So where are my damn stickers?

John, many of us have lives that are no less interesting, we just don't have time to write about them! It's a stage of life thing. I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I'm just not going to have a project car for awhile. Probably until my oldest son is at least 14 or so, and he would have to be willing to wrench on it with me to make it worth it.

A wise friend of mine told me this: Invest in your marriage first, then invest in your kids. You can only make this kind of investment now. Cars will always be around.

toomanytoyz wrote:

So where are my damn stickers?

Baw Haw haw, I just spit beer out my nose.

Don't worry it'll be cold soon and overheating won't be a problem for you

And I though my life was full lately. I'm blessed the cars have been behaving (with the exception of the 94 DGGM which I ran tonight...no water flow through the motor and there is a voltage drain. gotta get that pump I won at fest on there).

Kitchen remodel is on slo-mo due to 6 day work week, etc etc etc.

^ And the busted sink.

Sorry for all the issues John....... As for Bill, you gave him a perfectly acceptable sticker last year at wagonfest and he removed it!!!! I think he has had enough stickers!!!

If you do any WF10 stickers I would like a couple to "Stack" on the wagon.....

Tim

Where's his damn stickers!

There are WagonFest 2010 stickers and no one told me?

Keep pluggin' John, you always seem to get through it.

DBeaSSt wrote:

There are WagonFest 2010 stickers and no one told me?

Keep pluggin' John, you always seem to get through it.

Not to toot my own horn, but about 10 minutes before we left on the WF cruise I asked Tim where he got his "Save the Whales" sticker, someone (I forget her name) went and asked John. Who I guess then had more requests. I'll take responsibility for this

And so it continues.....

So I finally get the rear end swap done on the woody wagon enough to drive, but there's a sticky caliper riding a rusted rotor that SCREAMS constantly. It pierces the mind, but at least I got the car out of the way so that I could get to that flywheel swap on the burb.

BUT - something in my gut told me to take the burb to a tranny guy, so I listened - and it's turned into a monster at the trans shop. The flywheel looked fine so he took apart the fluid pump and it looked fine, and then the internal trans bearings looked fine - but the clutches didn't. That wasn't the problem, but "hey, while they're out - we might as well do these clutches, huh?" The only other thing the burb ticking could/should be is the TC - but that's just an educated guess. What was going to be a $20 used flywheel that I replaced myself is now a $500 bill that we HOPE will fix it.

Knowing that we'll get the burb back tomorrow, I wanted to finally change out that water pump in the 65 tonight so that I could stop adding water everytime I stop the car. Doing that tonight allowed me to focus on the screaming brake on the woody tomorrow. The water pump went in great, but when I went to reinstall the radiator, I learned that the new pump pushed the fan ahead JUST enough for the fan and radiator to have interference. This was an easy fix because all I had to do was eliminate the fan spacer and the rad dropped right in like it was supposed to. With everything buttoned up, I added water - only to learn that the fan had sliced a friggin hole in the radiator, that now won't hold water. I took the only car that's been reliable for hauling us all - that I need in the morning to get everyone to school orientation and made it go from "it drips water, but we can take it anyway" to "it SHOOTS water and we can't take it ANYWHERE." It was the EASIEST repair that needed to be done on the car that's the EASIEST to fix - and not only is the car NOT fixed, it's WORSE!. I'm absolutely livid.

So we have 3 vehicles that holds us all - the burb that's at a shop - the woody with a screaming brake that wakes the dead - and the 65 that NOW needs a radiator.

Oh, and the transmission in the wifes Alero has been acting up lately too - so that too is on borrowed time.

Seriously. I really need this string of fail to be done. Aside from it all costing money that we don't really have, I don't know how much more of this BS I can take mentally.

Thanks for the shoulder to whine on.

J

lakeffect wrote:

Where's his damn stickers!

So does all this mean he never got his stickers?

Bills sticker price didn't include delivery. He's on the "buy here, pay here" setup.

Dang sorry to hear about all your car issues. Not much consolation but I've for sure been there!!!

The burb is out of the shop, but still needs the t-stat housing redone. I was able to get the biscayne radiator repaired for $40, the woody still has a brake that screams for no known reason - despite installing a new caliper - and has also blown out the brake line that goes from front to rear - and after taking a quart of ATF this afternoon, the wifes car ran so good she got a ticket.

This is just nuts.

Oh say it ain't so Adria!

She got caught going 64 downhill in a spot that changes from 55 to 45 for NO reason. It's a straight up "trap"....... but she batted her eyes and he let her go with a citation for not having her proof of insurance with her.

Well at least the Alero seems to be acting ok.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Well at least the Alero seems to be acting ok.

Yeah I'd say keep your wrenches away from it!!!

Sprocket wrote:

Yeah I'd say keep your wench away from it!!!

That's not nice John!

True ... but it IS funny!

buickestate wrote:

Sprocket wrote:

Yeah I'd say keep your wench away from it!!!

That's not nice John!

no offense intended, just the cruel irony of it all.

I would KILL for a WF2010 sticker! Good luck John, cars LOVE breaking all at once. I think one gets jealouse of all the attention the other is getting when you are fixing it and follows suite.

... and here I thought it was always the timing on the warranty went off.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Well at least the Alero seems to be acting ok.

Thanks for the jinx, you JERK!

Well it seems that the burb, wagon, and wagon drama wasn't enough - so lady luck is still using my sack for a friggin speed-bag.


FMA left for work this morning in the Alero and came right back saying that she wasn't able to turn the wheels to the right. It was also bleeding all over the driveway.

We got it into the air and learned that there are two spots where the steering rack bolts to the engine cradle - and one of them had rusted OFF, causing the steering to bind up sometimes - and that the tranny lines had rusted, which is where the fluid was pumping out from - which is why the trans has been slipping and now should probably also be replaced.

So since we can't afford to replace the car, the next cheapest way out is to replace both the transmission and engine cradle with used ones - in a 10 year old disposable car that has over 200k miles on it. Neither of which I'm equipped to handle here by myself.

So we got it home and she then left for work in the burb - like 3 hours late. She called about 30 minutes later to let me know that the "low coolant" message had appeared. I resealed the t-stat housing last night, so that's not it. It's either got some other leak, or I cooked a head gasket the day that the thermostat stuck and it's guzzling coolant.

So if you're pulling for my luck to turn around - thank you, and keep on pullin', baby!

You need a tractor to pull you, sir.


I feel your pain, though. But not quite on such epic scales.

So John... I'm thinking in your last life.... maybe you won the lottery , and now Kharma is balancing the scale.

Good point Dave. Thank your for that. I have no idea what it really was, but it seemed nice enough of you.

Holy Crap
Life has that unique ability of going from all fun and games to a bucket of crap in about 5 minutes. We are all pulling for you and know that you'll get through and it'll be good.

I know I couldn't believe it a few months ago when have 7 cars, I had to get my wife to drive me to work for a week, cuz I had no time and $$ to fix one.....

Only wish I was closer so I could help ya out.

John go buy yourself a power ball ticket I hear it's 113million this week

The good thing about life is that it is usually a pendulum, it swings both ways (like my brother in law) regardless of how long or short your pendulum is. (also like my brother in law except he has a very short pendulum or so I'm told)

"Jest" thought I'd share some encouragement to face the day.


Dave

With 113 million, I could probably even afford to have a pendulum enhancement!

Well, before 2pm I'd already backed through the front fender of a Geo Prism. It was right where I was looking as I backed up too - just too short to see. There's literally not even a SCRATCH on the bumper of the burb. So that was nice to know that my recent streak of automotive luck isn't just limited to my own cars.

Not too long before that, a completely different person told me that he was going to sue me for $1200, and that he was not only trained by the US military in hand-to-hand combat, but also played professional hockey - and could snap at any second and end up killing me if I didn't stop talking to him. (So I went ahead and kept talking to him for a little bit more.) I almost laughed as I heard my dad's voice in my head say, "Guys our size don't take threats. We give them."

The nicer I was to him, the more angry he got, so that was fun too.

What a friggin day this has already been!

Maybe it is time to get out of Flint.



Sorry, I couldn't resist.

MOVE?? Are you kidding me, this is obviously where the action is!

It was the guy who owns the other business in the same building as mine. We had a soaktub overflow the ther day and some water seeped under the wall and into in his bathroom - and he's saying that having wet carpet ruined an entire box of CDs worth $1,200.

Oh, and that the lawsuit? That would be in regards to how the plywood sign he's had outdoors for over 20 years now has a little bit of a bend to it because the wolmanized 4x6 poles that I used for mine warped are bending it a little bit. So his plan is to sue me over a 20 year old piece of plywood that's been outside it's entire life having a small amount of warpage. Not DAMAGE, warpage.

And to think, I went in there to discuss my plan for an entirely new sign pole and how it would make his sign higher and more visible.

you want me to go get derek and come visit this guy?

Naw. Thanks anyway.

Bewber wrote:

So that was nice to know that my recent streak of automotive luck isn't just limited to my own cars.

I'm sorry, but that actually made me lol.

Sorry dude. Wish I was closer. I'd help you out if I could. An we could have fun visiting your neighbor, too...