cabbitzilla (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cabbitzilla) wrote2005-08-05 07:20 pm
cabbitzilla) wrote2005-08-05 07:20 pm
...
Less than a week after getting the Explorer finally titled and tagged properly, the Saturn opts to be a pain in the ass.
Around 5:30 this afternoon I got a worried call from Megan; the Saturn had started smoking, and she was getting a burning smell in the passenger compartment. She wasn't far from the apartment, so she limped the car home from there. I popped the hood, honestly expecting something annoying-but-trivial like a blown valve cover gasket, and got a nasty shock.
It wasn't the gasket that was blown. It was the valve cover itself. A lovely pencil-sized hole right through the plastic cover above the camshaft linkages... and a splash pattern of oil radiating out from it. I turned the car over briefly; it rattles a bit, but it's all valve clatter from there not being enough oil in the block. Great. The engine's intact, I just need to call around and find a cover for it. Given that it's plastic, it can't be too expensive, right?
Wrong. Once I had the full specs on the engine and was getting quotes for the proper part, I got another nasty shock: dealer price on the piece in question were consistently in the $310 - $335 price range, nobody has the damned thing in stock, and nobody can get it any earlier than Wednesday of next week (1 place) or Friday of next week (the other 2 places).
It should be noted that my surgery is the 15th. The following Monday. If it's the wrong part or misplaced in shipping, I'm totally screwed. Given how late in the day it already was, there was no way to start in on the various junkyards... that'll be the project for tomorrow. In the meantime, Megan's on the hook for a sewing workshop tomorrow... which means I'm going to have to get up, shuttle her down to Crofton (with two stops), and then return here. My plans for the weekend have gone up in smoke.
The next person that tells me I'm selfish and only think of myself is going to eat a haymaker and likely parts of my cane as well.
*sigh*
Around 5:30 this afternoon I got a worried call from Megan; the Saturn had started smoking, and she was getting a burning smell in the passenger compartment. She wasn't far from the apartment, so she limped the car home from there. I popped the hood, honestly expecting something annoying-but-trivial like a blown valve cover gasket, and got a nasty shock.
It wasn't the gasket that was blown. It was the valve cover itself. A lovely pencil-sized hole right through the plastic cover above the camshaft linkages... and a splash pattern of oil radiating out from it. I turned the car over briefly; it rattles a bit, but it's all valve clatter from there not being enough oil in the block. Great. The engine's intact, I just need to call around and find a cover for it. Given that it's plastic, it can't be too expensive, right?
Wrong. Once I had the full specs on the engine and was getting quotes for the proper part, I got another nasty shock: dealer price on the piece in question were consistently in the $310 - $335 price range, nobody has the damned thing in stock, and nobody can get it any earlier than Wednesday of next week (1 place) or Friday of next week (the other 2 places).
It should be noted that my surgery is the 15th. The following Monday. If it's the wrong part or misplaced in shipping, I'm totally screwed. Given how late in the day it already was, there was no way to start in on the various junkyards... that'll be the project for tomorrow. In the meantime, Megan's on the hook for a sewing workshop tomorrow... which means I'm going to have to get up, shuttle her down to Crofton (with two stops), and then return here. My plans for the weekend have gone up in smoke.
The next person that tells me I'm selfish and only think of myself is going to eat a haymaker and likely parts of my cane as well.
*sigh*
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The turn-around time for an ordered part sounds pretty high, though as I'd think a valve cover would be in a local warehouse or in the main distribution change. It does sound about right for a 'source item' though; coming direct from the manufacturer. But, again from my experience up here, that tends to happen more often with assemblies such as transfer cases, differential carriers and the like, or with upholstery items, than with engine parts.
However, I don't know what Saturn's set up is...besides different from most of the rest of General Motors. And GM is noted for their screwy parts setup. The running joke is GM developed a cure for AIDS. They gave the virus a part number...no NOBODY can get it!