So. We just spent over $2000 getting our car into reasonable working order, because there were a few biggish things that needed work, and we figure we'll have the car for years yet, and we kinda don't want it breaking down when we have a kid in the back seat. One of the things we had fixed was a leak in the cooling system. It was just a seal they had to replace, but it took them three hours to get to it, and then another three hours to put it all back together. And it's been running great, except the temperature gauge kept creeping up. So Darrin was keeping an eye on it going to work & back every day, and filling it up just about every day, and noticing there's still stuff leaking out from somewhere. And then Wednesday morning he finally had a morning that he could be late to work and take the car in, so he looked at the radiator, and one of the hoses was JUST out of its...socket? Whatever. Anyway, that was the problem, and the guys at the car shop were happy to get it in right away AND NOT CHARGE US because they'd apparently knocked it out anyway.
So I picked it up after they finished, gave it a wash (it doesn't look like the same car anymore), got my beige shorts all dirty...ah well. Then I went to get Darrin at work. And as I was driving into the school over the speed humps/bumps, I thought the muffler sounded a bit loud. So when I parked I looked under the back, and it all looked normal. And I mentioned it to Darrin, and he said he thought it was getting loud too. So we went home, and about two thirds of the way home, somewhere up Lower North East Road, north of the Torrens, we stopped at the lights, took off again, and it sounded...well, Darrin said it sounded like a V8 (it's a V6); I thought it sounded more like a motorcycle. Loud. So we looked under it again when we got home, from the sides this time, and the pipe has come off the front of the muffler. And the old quick-fix of a tin can & an unwound coathanger just doesn't seem like it'll work in that spot. So the car has been sitting in the same spot since Wednesday afternoon. We're just waiting to see if Darrin's brother Craig has a spare muffler before we do anything. If Craig doesn't have anything, we'll take it back to the shop (which is conveniently just across the road, so not likely to get pulled over by any cops on the way there).
And then Darrin woke up Thursday feeling really spaced out, and decided to stay home. We wonder if it could've been carbon monoxide poisoning from the car slowly getting worse over the last few days/weeks. Anyway, he spent the day lying around, sleeping, watching movies, and he's back at work today.
But at some point while I was out getting groceries yesterday, the water went off. And it hasn't been on since then. We've still got some in the hot water tank, and there was a trickle coming in last night through the cold taps (apparently enough to refill the toilet tank overnight so we could flush it again this morning), but it's still off. So as soon as I post this, I'm going to have to go ask the vet out front if she knows anything about it, because all the outside taps are off too, and the main switch that controls our house is ON, so we don't know what's going on.
Update: The vet says she turned the water off because her hot water system is overflowing. She's tried getting in contact with the landlady but so far no response. So until something happens, we just leave the water off unless we need it for something, then turn it back off again when we finish. The vet's overflow just runs into a sink, so it's just a matter of wasting water and getting the landlady irate again about spending so much on water bills if it's left on.
So I picked it up after they finished, gave it a wash (it doesn't look like the same car anymore), got my beige shorts all dirty...ah well. Then I went to get Darrin at work. And as I was driving into the school over the speed humps/bumps, I thought the muffler sounded a bit loud. So when I parked I looked under the back, and it all looked normal. And I mentioned it to Darrin, and he said he thought it was getting loud too. So we went home, and about two thirds of the way home, somewhere up Lower North East Road, north of the Torrens, we stopped at the lights, took off again, and it sounded...well, Darrin said it sounded like a V8 (it's a V6); I thought it sounded more like a motorcycle. Loud. So we looked under it again when we got home, from the sides this time, and the pipe has come off the front of the muffler. And the old quick-fix of a tin can & an unwound coathanger just doesn't seem like it'll work in that spot. So the car has been sitting in the same spot since Wednesday afternoon. We're just waiting to see if Darrin's brother Craig has a spare muffler before we do anything. If Craig doesn't have anything, we'll take it back to the shop (which is conveniently just across the road, so not likely to get pulled over by any cops on the way there).
And then Darrin woke up Thursday feeling really spaced out, and decided to stay home. We wonder if it could've been carbon monoxide poisoning from the car slowly getting worse over the last few days/weeks. Anyway, he spent the day lying around, sleeping, watching movies, and he's back at work today.
But at some point while I was out getting groceries yesterday, the water went off. And it hasn't been on since then. We've still got some in the hot water tank, and there was a trickle coming in last night through the cold taps (apparently enough to refill the toilet tank overnight so we could flush it again this morning), but it's still off. So as soon as I post this, I'm going to have to go ask the vet out front if she knows anything about it, because all the outside taps are off too, and the main switch that controls our house is ON, so we don't know what's going on.
Update: The vet says she turned the water off because her hot water system is overflowing. She's tried getting in contact with the landlady but so far no response. So until something happens, we just leave the water off unless we need it for something, then turn it back off again when we finish. The vet's overflow just runs into a sink, so it's just a matter of wasting water and getting the landlady irate again about spending so much on water bills if it's left on.
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