Car Issues

About four months ago, our AWD (all wheel drive) disable light came on.  We thought it was strange and looked in the car manual. It told us that it can come on when you remove the spare tire or if a certain fuel is low or overheating.  We didn't find anything useful and didn't worry about it too much since it's not snowing.  Nathan only works the first part of summer so money is tight and we wanted to wait until his paychecks start.

Well, a month ago, the car started to squeak.  Then started squeaking a lot whenever we put the breaks on.  However, I hate taking the car in.  There's been too many times that I have Nathan take the car in and the mechanics tells us it is nothing and I feel like a fool.  The only "car people" I like is Grease Monkey.  I've never had a problem with them.  So I leave everything else to Nate, which is tough because he's busy and can't take the car in easily.  So, we waited until the car sounded horrible.

Nate took the car to Les Schwabs and after 1 1/2 hour wait they told him that the break pads are so worn out that they are gone and we have been rubbing metal on metal. The metal pieces will also need to be replaced/fixed and it will cost $400.  Well, since I didn't have my phone on me, Nate can home we talked about how that sucks but that there's nothing we can do and got it fixed the next day.

After Nate took the car in to get fixed (took about 2 hours), he came home and told me that it was only half fixed.  Les Schwab didn't check the back breaks when we brought it in the first time.  The back breaks has the same story (break pads gone, rubbing metal on metal), but they also have drums in the back that need to be replaced so that's a $500 repair.  Now this really stinks! Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do but get it fixed. It took a week for the parts to be ordered but we also got that taken care of. 

But the stories not done.

We got the back breaks fixed on a Wednesday and whenever I drove the car, I had a hard time keeping enough pressure on breaks to keep the car from moving.  I thought it was just because I was tired and to not make a big deal about it. We went camping that Friday night and had our car parked at a steep incline.  When we were ready to leave, the low break fluid light came on.  I took it to Grease Monkey and they told me that if the fluid is low there's a break problem and they don't deal with those.  I told him that we just had our breaks fixed and the manager was nice enough to write Les Schwab a note in case I have a problem dealing with them.  Oh and by the way we also need our radiator flushed at the next visit and that will be $100.

So I went to Les Schwab (since Nate had the kids) and told them that the fluid light came on.  He gave me strange looks and said he would check it out.  An hour later, they are done.  There was a washer that they put on that didn't fit right and so not only was our fluid low but it has been leaking.  They fixed it under warranty so no cost to us.

Car troubles are huge hassles and are generally inconvient.  I would if we took the car in for the AWD diasabled light sooner, if we could have avoided this.  Probably not, because the light is STILL on (needs a general machanic to check it out). We think that once we replace all our tires ($400) which are very worn out, that the light will turn off...hopefully.