Mom, I love you. But you're a fucking idiot.

The BBQ Pit
1

sigh

The never-ending saga of my mom and her cars. I used to think that she had bad car karma, but now I know the truth.

She never gets her oil changed or has any other preventive maintenance performed.

She’ll add oil when it’s low, but never bothers to get it changed. She doesn’t remember the last time she got the oil changed on her car. She’s pretty sure it was at least a year ago. It’s like she doesn’t want to take her car to a mechanic because then they might tell her that there’s something wrong with it that costs a lot to get fixed. Instead, she just doesn’t do it. (She’s the exact same way about her teeth - she’s not been to a dentist in ten years because she knows she needs work and doesn’t want to hear it.)

Now, for the fifth or sixth time in ten years, she’s killed a car. This one was a 1998 Dodge Stratus - nothing fancy, but a lot nicer than anything she’s ever had. (Her youngest brother died a couple of years ago and left each of his siblings a couple thousand dollars. She used it for a down payment on the car, among other things.) Last week, she was on the interstate when her oil and check engine lights came on. Instead of driving it another 2 miles to my brother’s office to park it, she pulled over immediately and turned it off. Well then of course it wouldn’t start. So she had it towed to the last shop she used (earlier this year she had to have a total brake replacement - $800 or so) and asked to borrow our second car. I’m a SAHM now, so I’m not driving every day. It’s not a big deal for her to use it (especially since I go the oil changed just last week). The shop tells her that they need to replace the timing chain on the Stratus first before they can see what, if anything, is wrong with the engine.

Because of the holiday, they weren’t able to replace the timing chain until yesterday. So she calls me a few minutes ago to tell me that the engine is blown - absolutely 100% shot. This is not the first time this has happened to one of her cars. Why? See above. The shop is going to try to find a second-hand engine for her, but they’re not terribly optimistic.

This kind of shit just drives me crazy! I’m glad I can help her out by loaning her our car, but I will need it back. I can get by without having a car during the day most days, and thankfully her schedule is flexible enough to help out when my son has a pediatrician appointment or something.

But the bottom line is that she does this kind of shit to herself all. the. time! Without going into a long detailed discussion of her mental / emotional health issues (which this behavior is indicative of), I will just say this: AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

2

There are service centers that just do tune-ups, lubes & oil changes.

Have you taken her to one of these?
The experience might be positive.
:slight_smile:

3

While she may have made many mistakes in her life, this isn’t one of them. Continuing to drive with the oil light on is an easy way to completely destroy your engine. It turns out not to have mattered in this case, but just remember to stop NOW if your oil or temperature lights go on. They represent a malfunction in areas that protect the engine from destroying itself.

4

5 or 6 cars in ten years??? I don’t know what the hell she does. I get my oil and all that kind of good stuff checked maybe once a year. Other than that i don’t really care. And I currently drive a 1990 Corolla which has had two owners before me and still runs really well. I’ve had it for two years now. I’m only hoping to get another year out of it but it would run to 200,000 miles I’m sure, as my previous one did. I owned that Corolla from 1998 or so, and my parents owned it before then. And it ran well, I just gave it to a charity because it was close to 200,000 miles. (I love corollas). I did have to replace some of the pipes for the muffler recently. But my car doesn’t break down that much!

5

She might want to avoid Jiffy Lube.