9/22/10 UPDATE: Window Pains...

I finally bought and installed a new window motor for Vic's rear-passenger door.  Thankfully, Todd (aka: Mystery Mechanic) had bought me a bunch of tools a long time ago.  The bolts holding the old motor in were those star/hexy things.  I put the right bit in a ratchet, and out the bolts came.  The hard part was getting the pump off the regulator.  After much prying, off it came.  Installing the new motor was a lot simpler.  Though there was one drawback...

The window still won't work.  That means I will most likely STILL have to take it somewhere to get it fixed.  Not happy...

Mom's Town Car is in the body shop having it's side-swipe repaired.  I wonder how it will come out...

Old & New Parts

Works better with a ratchet...

9/6/10 UPDATE: What's Next???

After a week of awful car-luck, things got worse Saturday.  Todd's parents were set to leave Maine for home after their annual stay.  But they couldn't leave... because the transmission in their '03 P71 stopped working.  Todd and I had to borrow a car trailer, bring it 80 miles to home, re-wire part of it, then drive north 3 hours.  It took a while to get the dead car onto the trailer and tied down.  We left at about 2:30AM.  Some time after 4AM, one of the 4 tires started coming apart.  I noticed the sparks in the darkness.  We found a rest stop and... well... stopped.  It just so happened there was a man on duty with a roadside assistance truck (a very small one).  Eventually, we decided to just take the bad wheel off, chain up the axle, and drove home with only 3 tires on the trailer.  Both of us were falling asleep at the wheel... Yes, I had to drive for a while.  By the time I got home, my dad was getting out of bed.  I fell asleep so fast, I barely remember putting on my jammies.  

Getting more gas... with 4 trailer tires

The bad tire...

9/3/10 UPDATE: Bad Things Happen in 3's

Holy Cow!  The moon must be perfectly aligned with some planet or another to have such bad luck!  It all started with my Mom's 1999 Town Car leaking coolant from somewhere.  We dropped it off at my old mechanic, but by the end of the day, Dad's 1995 Town Car was smelling like smoke.  So his went there that night.  Next morning, knowing things happen in 3's, I expected something to happen to my car.  It did.  While driving Dad to work, the car was running awful and the engine light went on.  Bad coil pack, which my mechanic fixed.  BUT, I was told it burned out because of COOLANT leaking onto it.  In other words, there is a very good chance I will need an intake as well. 

Fast foward a bit, and Ma's car is home.  She and Dad are on the way to a doctor appointment... and he car starts stinking of coolant.  Now it is getting a new heater core.  Half the car is ripped apart.  I think Dad's needs a new instrument panel (digital), if we can find one...

Which brings up the question:  how long do you keep a car?  All three have over 100,000 miles and are over 10 years old.  We won't even go into rust...

My parents are renting a car for a few days.  For the first time in years, a Chevy is spending the night in our driveway...