So last night my car started making funny smells.

Then a lot of steam.



Fucking car. It has no manners. You see that? No manners! It's pissing everywhere. IN PUBLIC! You'd think at 14 years of age, it would know societal norms by now, wouldn't it? When I first opened the hood it was spraying pretty good - how much did the damn thing drink?!



Psst, hey bro, I hear you got crack. Crack?!

My car is a fucking teenage crack whore. Damnit.

Stop rolling your eyes. I know this is cheesy as hell. Just go with it.

I did find out I can swap a radiator on a manual transmission Altima in less than 30 minutes - including draining the radiator, swapping the fans to the new one, reinstalling, filling, burping the air out, and driving 2 miles to verify no leaks. Downside is my only option was AutoZone (9pm), so I got raped to the tune of $110 for a radiator that Rockauto sells for $70 (same part number). Had to have it running by the morning so I could go to class, then go to work.

I will say, I'm pretty impressed that the original radiator made it nearly 14 years (short by 3 weeks) and 165k miles.

My former 2000 Jetta decided to do that on the way to work last spring... then after I replaced the rad, one of the heater hoses blew, and about a week after that my overflow bottle started spewing. That car had some interesting problems.

Thankfully I addressed most of the issues before they turned into issues that would leave me stranded. Most...

2 years ago, I noticed the water pump was leaking around the shaft. It also wouldn't warm up at all. Solution: new water pump, new thermostat, new radiator hoses.

The old water pump literally looked brand new when I pulled it off, but the bearing had failed - it was noisy as hell and pissing coolant around the shaft:



This summer I noticed one of the heater hoses had been rubbing the clutch line, and was almost worn all the way through. Figured I'd replace both - both hoses, brand new, from the dealer, were $18... when AutoZone wanted $20 for one and couldn't get the other.

Alternator took a shit 10 miles from home a year and a half ago. Made it home with the a/c cranked up and the stereo blasting with a decent charge on the battery, after stopping by Napa to snag a lifetime reman alternator.

The only time it's ever been towed, so far, is when I started hearing a really weird popping from the front left wheel. I knew it had a bad outer CV joint, but it was popping so bad I thought it would break. Turned out it was a wheel bearing that suddenly decided "oh hey the outer race? we don't need that shit" and chewed through it. I had it towed because I was 30 miles from home (and had AAA Plus), after seeing the bearing when it got yanked I was really glad it got towed.

It's had a shitload of "well crap this really needs attention like, yesterday" work, but only one tow..