I have always thought I was rather vehicle savvy. I can change my own oil, replace spark plugs & belts…at one point in time I could tear down and rebuild a big block 350 in 8 and a half hours. I don’t think I could do that anymore but I know I have in the past and that still counts LOL I can do just about anything to a car that doesn’t involve computer chips if I have the tools to fix it.

Week before last I was on my way to work on Highway 59. 59 is a very busy road, if you aren’t going with the flow of traffic you will get run over by someone who wants to make you go as fast as they are. Personally I don’t understand that. Seriously, pass people…don’t run up on them like a bat out of hell. What if that person in front of you slams on their brakes?? You’re going to hit them, that’s what will happen.

Anyway, I was on my way to work and all of a sudden the temp went redline. Then all sorts of bells started dinging. Crap. Where am I supposed to pull over?! There is no way I am going to pull over on the side of 59. I’ll get run over if I do. So I continue to the next exit and get off. Pull off the feeder road into a parking lot and shut off the Jeep.

I am pretty calm at this point believe it or not. Mind you I have no idea what I am going to find when I pop the hood but it can’t be that bad…maybe a stuck thermostat or one of the radiator hoses came loose. I think it’s something I can fix right there in the parking lot in my snazzy work clothes.

Pop the hood and my jaw drops. Honestly I can’t remember what I was thinking at the exact second I saw under the hood but I was not prepared for what I saw. Hoses looked in good condition, so did the radiator. But there was anti-freeze everywhere. All over the bottom of the engine, on the front frame rails, on the fan, all over the inside of the front tires and it went as far back as the step rails on the passenger side and was dripping off them. But it wasn’t normal looking coolant either. It was a dark orange-brown and smelled burned. Oh shit, that is so not good.

My first call was to my boss, letting him know I’d be late. Second call was to a tow truck to come get me. Third call was to my Dear Sweet Husband to let him know what happened.

Tow truck got there in less than 15 minutes, which was nice because I was in my afore-mentioned snazzy work clothes sweating buckets and it wasn’t even 9am. Houston heat is a bitch. The guys at the auto shop were nice, one of them gave me a ride to work and they said they’d call when they knew what happened.

A few hours later I get a call from Randy from the repair shop about my Jeep. I was joking with him a little about how I was tempted to fix it with my pantyhose right there on the side of the road. That’s when he said there’s no way I could have fixed it. Randy is a nice guy, but I do believe the slew of profanity that came out of my mouth during the remainder of this conversation may have given him the impression I am a certifiable nut case.

What, pray tell, was so wrong that would make mild mannered me go off on an innocent party who was trying to fix the situation? Hold on to your shorts Dear Readers: my thermostat housing was shot, radiator hoses were blown, radiator was cracked, the inlets for the radiator hoses that are mounted on the engine were blown as were my head gaskets. There was not an ounce of coolant in the engine. To find out if the headers are cracked or warped they have to send them to a special shop for that. If the headers aren’t cracked the repair would be $3500-$4000. If the headers are cracked you can just about double that estimate.

Holy Mother of god are you kidding me?!?!

I called my Dear Sweet Husband and told him what Randy said, but by that point I was so pissed off I was crying so he just said he’d call the shop and find out for himself. By the time he called me back I had estimated the repair cost and looked up blue book value to compare the two, then I started to think about all the money we have sunk into my cars in the last few years. We have spent so much I could have paid cash and bought a brand new car. Dear Sweet Husband said he’d get off work early to come pick me up and we’d discuss our options then but he was in favor of just saying screw it, the value of the Jeep was so low that repairing it only to have something else happen wasn’t smart financially.

None of the cars I have ever bought have had a warranty. Well, they had a tail light warranty (we see your tail lights, you’re out of the warranty). So any repair costs we’ve had to pay, which in 5 years is a staggering amount when you add it all up. Especially when you add it up when you’re pissed off about having to shell out even MORE money to fix yet another car.

We ended up at Spring Dodge, which is a huge dealership here in Houston. And I bought a Chrysler Pacifica that has a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty, then a lifetime powertrain warranty. I just about walked out at the thought of not paying cash for a car, but my Dear Sweet Husband was right. Buy a cheap car and you’ll end up right where we do every single time. We did talk them down on the price. And the payments are almost half what I thought they were going to be. But it still bugs the shit out of me that I have a car payment. I’ve never had a car payment.

And this was 100% my fault. I should have pulled over as soon as I saw the temp redline…but I chose personal safety over damage to my car. Do I regret that decision? No. Who knows what could have happened if I pulled over on that highway. Now we have a safe family car.

And I have a car payment.