My Car Is Self-aware
My car — the 1990 Acura Integra LS I purchased when I turned 17 years old — is obviously self aware and capable of self-multilation. Every now and again I will start thinking about getting a new car. My car has its quirks and is definitely getting up there in age. But I always planned on driving it in to the ground. Some would say that it was successfully driven into the ground when I had to replace the power steering rack; or when a burnt valve needed replacing earlier this year; and those people would be correct. But something led me to decide that I favored a $1,400 repair job on a car that's already paid for completely over a new debt.
So rewind a few days and you'll find that I started a new job on September 1 which led me to begin seriously considering going after the Jeep Wrangler I've been lustfully eyeing for the past six months or so. It is evident that my Integra knows my thoughts because sure enough on Wednesday, September 2 a coolant hose finally cracks and sends antifreeze all over my engine bay.
Over the past few days I've learned a very important lesson regarding coolant hoses in automobiles: when one of them cracks just replace them all. As my girlfriend will attest I now know the local auto parts store employees on a first name basis, and her truck might actually be capable of getting to the store without any intervention from humans. Tracking down the hoses for a twenty-year-0ld car has been quite the endeavor.
Nevertheless, I can now say that my upper and lower radiator hose, heater hose, bypass hose, and garden hose have been replaced. Ok, the garden hose part isn't true mainly because I live in an apartment and don't own a garden hose. Which brings me to next weekend. I'll be heading down to Houston to flush my radiator of the water that is in it now and replace it with a proper 50/50 mixture of coolant to water.
I've dubbed this week the Great Hose Debacle of 2009.
