grey time :(

i never said it out loud…

…but i noticed that after i bit the bullet, replaced the radiator, and finally stopped the coolant hemorrhaging i had put up with for years (it started as just a drip and took forever to progress, but once it did…) that mr. grey, my beloved bmw, had let me actually do shit for myself and the dogs and what-not on my day off. he seemed to be content just being my transportation again, and not demanding any of my time on my days off.

but, apparently, he missed our time together.

the oil leak i was supposed to deal with while os was in colorado never got dealt with, even though i have the parts, partially because i’m kinda nervous about taking the top off my engine, and partially because he has to sit and cool overnight before it can be done. i’ve had the parts since august, but taking the kiddo to school coupled with work on the weekend makes for NO time to do it. ideally i coulda done it while he was gone, but i just got lazy. now he’s back, but so is school, so there we are on that. but it’s getting a little worse and is needing to be addressed soon.

when i got some noisy tires replaced recently i noticed that one of the tie rods is failing at the ball joint, so i get to replace that. on the upside the parts have a lifetime warranty, so they’re free. i know how to do the labor, although i’m not a fan of it. but once it’s done i gotta drop a bill on an alignment. no bueno.

then, friday, for the first time EVER i had a car fail inspection…due to the emergency brake not holding the car when you engage it and then try to drive. who knew that was a thing? it looks like an easy adjustment might fix it, and if not i get to pull back hubs apart to access the inner drum brake that controls the thing. fun stuff. but without it, no inspection, which means no registration, which expired in december. so there’s that, too…

…and just when i thought it was safe to just ENJOY my car!