LIKE A PREGNANCY TEST

Knowledge is gained through experience. And there is no better way to acquire the knowledge of cars than by having things consistently fail. Of course, there are YouTube videos and courses and books on the subject of cars which one can study. But when you have things break down several times throughout the years, you learn things you never would have. Things you need to know in order to avoid the automotive shops scamming you in the future.

‘It’s a blown head gasket’, he said.

‘How much will that cost’, was my immediate question. Because that is all I care about. How it will impact my family’s well-being.

‘With 23 hours of labour, you’re looking at around $8,000’, he replied.

‘$8,000! I don’t have that kind of money!’, I exclaimed in exasperation.

‘Nobody does’, he simply replied.

It was unbelievable. The last time the car overheated like this was last August. My son just happened to be in the car with me at that time as this time. ‘Not again’, I heard Sage say as I had to keep pulling over to the side of the road every 30 or 40 seconds to let the car cool down five minutes. This was last Wednesday. The short drive back to our apartment complex took us close to two hours.

Before the car went to the shop, I had called for a tow truck. Twice. When we made it to our apartments, we parked in front of the leasing office and waited. Then we waited some more. The automotive shop was two miles away. ‘I’m sure we can make it there’, I told my son. He was very skeptical. We had already been waiting about 20 minutes. The car would be fine, I reasoned. It wasn’t.

The car overheated within two minutes. We then found another place to park the car and waited a while. Another 20 minutes later, we pulled out of a parking lot by a chiropractor’s office and the car seized. It would no longer move. We were stuck in the middle of the parking lot. I had already cancelled the tow service and now I had to call for another.

‘See, I told you’, I heard my son say. I was wrong. The car definitely could not make it the short distance. Now we had to sit and wait for over half an hour as our car blocked a parking lot. A few cars drove around it and one car even parked near ours. I looked around and noticed people could have parked elsewhere, as there were several open spots. Other people narrowly missed hitting the car as it drove by, though they could easily have opted for the next row to make their way around the parking lot.

The tow truck guy finally arrived. I noticed he was talking in a foreign language into his phone. As he climbed into the car, my son and I stared at the guy as the car miraculously started for him. And moved! He maneuvered the car onto the truck bed, still holding the phone. He set it down a few times as he tied the car down, but the phone was on the entire time.

‘Do you need a ride to the shop?’, he asked. The phone was still in his hand as he was not finished with the conversation.

‘Yes, please’, I answered in surprise. My son and I were ready to walk back to our place, even in this oppressive Texas heat. Past experience has taught me that tow truck drivers are not allowed to drive passengers. This guy was the exception. My son and I climbed into the truck cab and we were on our way to see what was wrong with the car.

‘Hi Mike!’, I called out to the owner. ‘I’m back again… unfortunately’, I continued.

He was busy with another customer, so we had another guy assist us.

My son and I went for the small water bottles in the fridge as we sat down to wait. The candy jar on the mini fridge was filled with candies we don’t usually eat, but my son managed to find one tiny bag of Haribo gummy bears which he handed to me. He searched around for something else we might like. I opted for Starburst. He chose the Skittles and one packet of Rolo.

After about 15 minutes, I walked over to the car in the bay and tried to explain what happened. I told them about the coolant we had bought, some of which we used, which was now behind the driver’s seat. They ended up using that and more of their own. Another 15 minutes passed by before the $8,000 verdict was delivered.

‘How long can I drive the car like this?’, I asked.

‘Not long’, the guy replied. I then thanked him and left. This was a repair I just did not have the funds for this time. Once home, we parked in the carport and started looking at our options, which included finding a used car on Facebook Marketplace. In the meantime, I texted the mobile car guy we had used last year when this issue first appeared.

The following day, I called the service department at Toyota just to see what their estimate would be.

’That’s a pretty big job’, he said when I asked about replacing a head gasket.

‘It starts at $7,144.14’, he continued. And the costs escalated from there. In addition, we would have to first get the radiator and thermostat replaced in order to determine further damage. Oh, and the water pump. Both the thermostat and water pump were already replaced last August by the mobile car guy. Now, we would have to replace this again.

 ‘$2,244 before taxes’, I heard him say. At some point, he let me know that the engine was probably damaged. Not just the head gasket. He quoted me $4,800 for labour in addition to $6,000-$8,000 for the actual engine. I determined it was not worth the cost, thanked him, and ended the call. We would be without a car for the foreseeable future.

My older daughter offered to drive me and my son to the store on Friday. ‘The tables have turned’, I looked over to my daughter as she sat in the driver’s seat of the Jeep. It made me realise the passage of time.

We went first to the Turkish shop, then Central Market. It’s been a long while since I’ve had all three with me, and it was nice. I recall the many shopping trips whilst having all three sit in the shopping cart. Now, they were all grown up. On their way to start their own lives.

The weekend passed with my son and I staying home. I wasn’t sure how long we would make it without a car. There is no reliable public transportation, as there is in Europe. In America, you need a car. Or Uber, as my boss informed me when I told her I would not be able to come in the one time a week I was required to do so. ‘Sounds like Uber will be your friend for a while’, she texted back. I told her that was not a feasible option and she replied that I would figure it out.

The mobile car guy was unable to show up yesterday, on Sunday. But he did promise to make it out today after his work. When he arrived, he was carrying a plastic kit. A testing kit to determine if, in fact, the head gasket was damaged. I had read about this online over the weekend and knew it had something to do with a blue liquid turning yellow if the head gasket was damaged. The change due to combustion gases being present in the cooling system.

My son and I watched as he opened the kit and poured in the blue liquid. He told us we would have to wait about 15 minutes.

‘It’s like a pregnancy test’, I said. I looked away for a while, afraid to see if the liquid would turn yellow. It did not.

The next test he did was a pressure test on the radiator. That test did fail, which led to the conclusion that the radiator was leaking and cracked. It would need to be replaced.

He immediately placed an order, showing us everything he did along the way. I’m not sure what the automotive shop tested, or if they tested anything at all, but I know I will never return to that shop again. I called the tow truck once again and had the car towed to the guy’s shop. Tomorrow, a new radiator would be installed. Along with a new thermostat. And, hopefully, nothing else.