car talk.

[sophiaserpentia]

Spent the early part of yesterday getting baked, while assisting a friend who got the Mercury Tracer running. I wasn't a useless bystander, at least; I replaced two tires and put in a new battery.

Getting the car to start involved rigging a starter switch to bypass a relay which the computer at the parts store doesn't recognize. The difficulty of getting correct parts for the Tracer has increased exponentially over the years; for some reason bogus part numbers get put into the parts catalogs, and so the part they bring out from the back rarely matches the part I pulled off my car anymore.

So, we accomplished this just in time; the transmission on the hooptie began acting up Thursday night. An ominous red puddle underneath it today solves the mystery -- it has developed a transmission leak. Hopefully then it will just be a matter of putting more fluid in it and getting the leak tightened up.

Now we have two partially running cars. But I think fortunately the problem with the hooptie is a minor one.

Note to readers -- it is not uncommon for tranmissions to exhibit bizarre and truly terrifying behavior when all that has to be done is bring the fluid level up. You might think from the sounds and actions that the thing is falling apart. Have a knowledgable friend look at it before you take it to a shop and get reamed for unneeded repairs.

Comments

[cruelly-kind.livejournal.com]

Ditto to what Sophia said -- when it doubt, check the fluid levels. Can't hurt, and most likely will help.

And trust me, chaging the front diff on a 4x4is the job from hell, unless you have it done by a shop, in which case it is the Incredibly Expensive Ass-reaming From Hell.

[iamom.livejournal.com]

Mmm, thanks for that tip and reinforcement. I was afraid it'd be pricey, especially because the chassis is completely covered with steel skid plates that would have to be removed before checking the differential fluid levels...