Eeep, that's a lot Aims. Do you know another mechanic to check with?

eta: xposty before the big bad price post....

Yeah - seems to work fine.

I would tend to think it'd be OK to risk it. You'd definitely want to check the transmission fluid level on a regular basis during your trip.

If your mechanic recommends flushing the transmission then I'd do that.

There are mountains in Utah, right?

Yep. Are you gonna take 40 East?

What kind of car/truck is it? How heavily loaded will it be? Are you gonna pull a trailer?

I don't.

I'm trying to check with my sister's friend to see if any of this can be held off until we get to Michigan.

What kind of car/truck is it? How heavily loaded will it be? Are you gonna pull a trailer?

2001 Windstar. Not that heavy. No.

Well fuck.

$1450.00

That sucks. That's practically the price of a rebuilt transmission right there. (I think - haven't priced that in a while.) What did he say was wrong with it?

A second opinion might be a good idea. If it's a trustworthy mechanic, you could ask him, "Can it last a few thousand more miles before I do the work?"

Oh, another possibility is to buy a used one from a junkyard. I'm pretty sure that would be a lot less than $1450, including installation. That'd be a bit of a gamble, but probably less of a gamble than driving to MI with the current transmission.

car ma~~~~ Aimee.

I wouldn't answer the email. and if I happened to bump into him I'd say something like "past is past"and if he offers you something" no thanks" persistence should get get a sarcastic "no means no, dude"

They aren't replacing the trans - the trans work is just $400 and change. It's the engine work that's $823. I'm gonna see if he'll waive the charges for the air filter and oil change.

It's all non-warranty work so he'll make bank on the $1261.

Aimee, I'm sorry. Verily, that blows.

I'm sorry if I skimmed past other people's bad days...I'm emerging from two weeks of constant work and sheer exhaustion, so I've barely even had time to poke my head in here lately.

Tonight is the Miracleborn going away party (sniff), and then I have the weekend to get rested and packed up for the 9th grade camping trip I'm chaperoning next week. Monday through Friday up north of Sacramento on the American River--it should be great! I hope. Please God, don't let it rain the entire time. Especially not while we're whitewater rafting. I don't need another Muppet-on-heroin experience like last years 9th grade camping/canoeing debaucle.

Do you have to drive through the mountains?

Just the Sierras and the Rockies. I've noticed that I use about a tank and a half less gas on the way back down than I do going over Donner Pass and up the Western Slope. (car~ma for your trip)

Now I have to call the vet and discover the price for grouchy Gracie's latest bout with her painful bladder. The vet wants to do $1,000 worth of work on her teeth, but no. Just no. She's elderly, she already has cancer, and frankly I don't like her well enough to want to wring every last day out of her life. In fact, I have been guiltily thinking that it would have been much, much better if it had been Gracie who died three weeks ago instead of Chloe, my best-beloved old cat.