Think I should have this minor Adam Ant hit memorized? Go ahead, at least click it for the title.
Today my VW decided to leak oil profusely. According to Somara, it had started trickling a little yesterday when she saw the trail my car left…three hours after I went to work [her shift is around 11 AM]. I figured it would hold at least a couple more days, long enough to take it to Underground on Monday. No dice. The alarm went off a few blocks from my job which meant the oil was practically gone. As a comedian I once saw said [paraphrased], why is the oil indicator shaped like Aladdin’s lamp? To me, it doesn’t mean my oil is low. It says I have a wish coming and the genie must be arriving due to all the smoke coming out from under the hood. Thankfully, there was only a little burning smell and smoke.
I didn’t want to be stranded at work so I had to juggle my schedule, probably lose some vacation hours and cajole my wife into following, should the car die on the way. Somara bought a couple quarts of oil for the trip to assist. It leaked out of the vehicle in two miles! So this process had to be repeated several more times as I scored oil at a gas station and an HEB on Lamar. When it was over and done, alarm blaring in the home stretch from Airport to Underground, my poor ol’ Golf leaked three gallons of motor oil to hobble there [11.3 litres for my Metric-using friends]. What started as a trickle on Monday was now a gushing wound, I could even see it already working its way out at the HEB while I was refilling it.
There is a [relative] silver lining to this tale of car trouble. The mechanic on it called me at work pretty quickly. Due to all the mess covering the front of the engine by then, he found the source…the oil cooler’s seal, a three-dollar part. What a relief since I know how much labor is at an hour and then I just need five quarts to put it all back to normal. There was some coolant mixed in but he said it wasn’t serious.
Now I must wait for the part to come in, the repair and then coordinate a lift to retrieve the ol’ money pit on wheels which remains cheaper than a new or “new” used car.
Nov. 21, 2008 Update: I picked up my car last night thanks to a life from Jeremy to get it. Did I luck out. The mechanic found the leak pretty quickly since he said the stream of oil was the diameter of a ball-point pen which is about a fifth of an inch [or a half centimeter]. Not everything is perfect yet. The temperature LED started blinking half a mile from the house this morning. I managed to get to work without incident but it seems the coolant tank is close to empty despite the assurances of the mechanic. If all I need to do is refill it, I’ll be very happy because the Golf is running above its annual average to maintain. Trust me, while Somara was driving us back to our jobs yesterday, I was already putting my brain “on the hunt” [as my head doctor calls it] to figure out how we’ll finance a new car.
Nov. 22, 2008 Update: The mechanic [John, not Toby] theorized it was an air bubble in the coolant area. I have my doubts because I put water and coolant in there, it’s fine. Then I drove it around work a few blocks, worked out. I remained nervous driving it home last night and to my job this morning. It remains going with little to no leaking…I choose “little” since I’m not absolutely sure on it. I fear Somara and I will need to have a financial meeting about buying a new car in 2009.