I've done so much car work in the last 2 weeks, I'm actually getting sick of it. Here's the list of what I've had to do.

'88 Buick:
PS Pump - leak and bad bearing
Harmonic Balance - rubber cracked and pully delaminated
Passenger side half shaft - outer CV boot exploded

'03 Jeep Grand Cherokee:
Front brakes and rotors
Inner front axle seals - passenger side was leaking and may have been the cause of the brake issues
Transfer case fluid change - it was just time
Passenger front window regulator and motor - cable broke

I've got about $750 in just parts, I don't even want to know what all this would have cost at service shops.

Anyway, just venting.

I would have liked to of had that for a side job. Glad you were able to do it yourself and save money

I just did a job for a co-worker fixing a hack job. Someone installed air shocks on a Mustang (improperly) and we added a set of Hotpart poly-ball LCA's with weight jacks (to raise the rear a bit for her). Due to rust and mufflers being in the way, the job only took about 16 hours (yes, you read that right and I used propane torches and air tools, impact gun, air chisel and lots of other toys). I had to make upper shock mount bushings for the non adjustable Koni's from a set of Monroe shocks that I bought (just to steal the hardware), etc.

The pictures show what I started with (as far as the shocks are concerned). When I opened the trunk, I just stood there staring. These pics are with the axle dropped a few inches. The shock rods were actually an inch or two higher with the car on the ground.

Holy crap, what a hack job that was. Were you able the get them back so something resembling correct?

Thanks. Frankly much of the work would not have gotten done if I couldn't do it myself. I could barely afford the parts. And now, my new street tire money for the Camaro is gone.

Yeah me too this year.
Wife's 02 Kia Rio - timing belt snapped, blew up engine, bought new car

My 91 Honda wagon - AC condenser, AC clutch, front bushings

Trans Am - New tie rods, new diff, new axles and several non-effective trips to the shop, finally new good axles, now snapped front hub

Been the worst year for car breakage/expenses ever!

He used one of the factory "cupped" washers with the built in nuts and the other side had 3 sections of 3/16" plate steel and a nut for a top mount. He used no washers on the bottom (so the shock shafts went through the holes) and no rubber bushings. The first bump shoved the dust boots on the shocks clear down the shaft until they were mashed.

I changed out the LCA's and added a set of the new non-adjustable Koni street shocks. It's in fine shape now, other than the scratches on the shock tower. Nothing that couldn't be fixed.

I had an 02 Saab 9-3 convertible heater hose replacement kick my ass this past Saturday but damn Kevin it pales in comparison to what you went through. I've got a steering rack for the Trans Am, front passenger side lower control arm and a headlight bucket sitting there for my 07 Yukon. I'm so pissed off at a 44,000 mile 07 Yukon needing a control arm and headlight bucket that I haven't been able to bring myself to work on it. GM build quality sucks!

Some days you draw the short straw...

And this weekend Racerdad916 and I are going to try to get my project Camaro running. I think he wants to drive it and he knows that I'm a few weeks from starting to part it out. So this is the attempt to get it up and running before it gets dumped for another street car. We'll see how irritated working on this makes me...lol

I have to re-do the power steering pump on my Trans Am because the previous person didn't install it correctly. He also cut off way too much from the front springs, so I had to replace those, but I was prepared for that. I did manage to change the steering box and the sway bar properly. Whoops, I mean that person who isn't me did.

I've done a ton in the last 6 weeks also. Laid off again so I'm taking whatever side work I can pick up.

Worst amount of work, best turn out money wise.

Bought '97 Saturn SC2 with knocking engine, nice body, trashed interior - $475 (killed me to pay that, was buying them for $250-300 last winter)

-Took trans and factory CD player for my GF's car.
-Took almost new set of BFG tires + AL wheels for my beater.
-Took computer, ign. module, coil packs, plug wires, random sensors, and rear disc brakes for spares.

Junkyard called my Craigslist ad, gave me $325, AND picked it up.

PS- I got $15 for the busted trans at the scrapyard too.

Damn Kevin I am glad I did not get that headache. And don't give up on the car you have a lot of work in it. It would be a shame not to finish it and drive the crap out of it. Racerdad stay on him to finish the car.

Sure beats a new car payment though doesn't it? I have two beaters for daily driving that have kept me pretty busy the past year.

I just recently finished up tracing a poor running issue on the wife's 95 9C1 Caprice. I replaced pretty much every sensor on the engine, and replaced the TPS, IAC plugs, plug wires and optispark (with the requisite waterpump, while you are there). After putting the thing back together with the new optispark (which made no difference in the way the car ran), an oil leak I was hoping to fix was WORSE. I had to R&R the Opti _again_ re-replacing the optispark and waterpump drive seals. That leak finally got better, but the car still ran like crap. While starting the troubleshooting process all over again, I discovered a leaking fuel pressure regulator (I had merely tested the fuel pressure on the car, which checked out before. I never pulled the vacuum hose). After replacing that, the problem was fixed.

While that was going on, the electric WP on our 96 SS started making noise. I replaced it with a new Mezier, and all was well for a day. I came out to the parking garage after work two days later to discover water running out from under the car. I checked and noticed the radiator had a leak. I limped the 40 miles home and ordered a radiator. After installing that, things ran well for another two days, when the fuse on the waterpump popped. Luckily, I was a mile from the house, so I drove the car home, stopping when the temp reached 260, waiting for it to cool before continuing home. After replacing the fuse, things have been okay so far.

BUT it was an expensive month. I guess that's what we get for having DDs with more than 170K miles on their odometers. It does still beat a car note, though, although sometimes it's nice to just call the dealership and have them come drag the POS to their shop to fix when they're under warranty.

So yeah, I feel your pain. I was very tired of working on cars by then.

I don't know why reading all your stories makes me feel better. I guess misery really does love company. I know what you mean about a car payment, but the sad thing is I actually still owe some on the Jeep. Should be paid off sometime late next year. We bought it almost 3 years ago with 29k on the clock. It now has just over 90k on it.

Friday I bought a 2000 Cherokee, 147K, 4 L, auto, mostly original! Sunday I had it on the lift hammering chunks of rust off the rotors... they're still on the truck just making a bit more noise than before! My new brakes, from hoses to rotors, will get here tomorrow.

Yesterday my 'Vette didn't recognize the FOB and wouldn't start. It took some playing with the FOB to get it going and according to the semi-annoying corvette forums it looks like I'll need a new car battery. Debating if I want the dealer to do a true diagnostics on it or if I just want to throw an optima in it and cross my fingers.

I feel sorry for all you guys. And just to show you how sorry I am, I'm going to write the following sentance with the all confidence that I will soon be fixing cars as fast as I can beginning tomorrow. Ok, you ready? I'm going to regret this.

I have spent nothing on the seven cars in my shop and driveway, 4 of which are driven regularly, except for oil and oil filters for nearly 2 years. Two Honda's, 1 Burb, and 4 F-bodies with a 2000 WS6 being the newest, 87 GTA the oldest.

Of course nobody asked about the $9000 in repairs at my house and 3 rental properties over the past 2 months, but who's counting. Ouch

Ok the bad luck is starting to hit me. First my 94 has lost a u-joint or something in the steering. I noticed that on friday and on saturday I replaced a fuel pump in a 96 bird and got to pull it right back out cause it is defective. The only good news is I did not fully reassemble the car before trying to start it. Oh yea my daily driver 00 Z needs a battery. I know the majority of what I got is gravy compared to what Mike and Kevin got but these fuel tanks suck when the customer does not want the floor cut.

Oh, I will. I think I have almost as much time in the Teal Wonder as he does, and I want to flog(cough) I mean drive it. Still recovering from ankle surgery. We are planning a night or two this week. It's so close.

I have been telling him that his gf might be a great AI pilot.... I need to keep working that angle......

Focus young Grasshopper.........

Don't you hate that? I got a new pump and updated harness for our 95 9C1 Caprice. I installed it, put gas in it, and tried, but no start. The odd thing was I could hear the pump spin up like it's supposed to, but it seemed to get no fuel pressure. I hadn't touched anything else. After trying to verify it was something else, I had to drain the fuel and pull the pump for another inspection. I finally discovered they had built the harness with the power wires switched! After swapping the wires to the pump, and bolting everything back together, we were back on the road.

Well I know exactly what you mean. Even worse when you do it for a living.(20+ years)
Heck I havent even put 400 miles on the car this year. 390 of which are on track the other 10 getting gas lol.....

^^ and when you do it for a living your car always gets fixed last

That goes for anything. I'm an electrician and the light switch in my bedroom was bad for 9 months, just did it last night.

I'm in telecom and I insulated my garage last fall. In the process, I broke the leads to all but one phone jack in the house (I'm sure it's bad at the second splice). I have had the stuff to fix it laying around for about a year and just unplugged all of my home phones instead (since the answering machine wasn't working, why bother with letting them annoy me at 7am on a Saturday?).

especially when you have a car to finish

This has been a tough year for me too...the idiot (me) who built the new harness for my megasquirt followed the factory wiring schematic for the distributor which was incorrect and killed the module and the megasquirt. In the mean time, every other thing in the driveway needed work...Audi TT needed a window motor and regulator ($500 in parts alone!!), rear brakes, secondary air pump, new tires and alignment. After the alignment, it was tearing up the rear tires WORSE!! After quite a few people looking at it, found out from a dealer tech that a special tool is needed to set the rear alignment since its AWD. Got an alignment at the dealer with the right tool and now its aligned but still need to replace the two tires it tore up in <10K miles. My Astro needed an A/C compressor so I also put a dryer on it which turned into an evaporator core job too. Too add to that, I bought a non-running TTA which I had to replace the fuel pump, clean the tank, misc other fluids, and replace the front brakes since they were locked up. (calipers/hoses/rotors). No where near driving condition, but the price was right... Had to put two tires, a chain, and exhaust can on the bike too.

And this hasn't really been a car year...just fixing what was broken. I was pre-occupied with getting ready for the wedding (last week) so Jan-April was gutting/remodeling/selling her house, moving her in and then making wedding arrangements. 2010 has been a busy year.

And some jackass kids decided the night after our wedding to paint graffiti on a bunch of cars on our street. She got a big red penis drawn on the side of her white beater ranger...so I had to clean that off before we could go on the honeymoon.

Congrats on the wedding Todd! Sounds like the hard part is over for you two...