Tuesday, January 18 2005: 200,000 miles
I just rolled over 200,000 miles in the Jetta this morning (9:30 EST
2005-01-18). I was literally within yards of where the old man in the
Toyota ran me off the road last month. It's a testament to something
(i don't know what) that these "milestone" numbers are achieved on routes
that are taken on a regular basis.
The odo rolled over to 100,000 miles right in front of the Mini-Mart in town. And this time (see VehiclesJetta) on my way to work.
All the little things are starting mount up to the point of causing real stress, though. I have to put in the new leather seats because the padding in the drivers' seat is toast, the parking brake cable needs to be adjusted so that we don't have to use a chock on steep hills, the accessory belt needs to be re-tensioned, I need to put the new alloy wheels on because 2 of the 4 steel wheels are bent, the starter motor makes a lovely whiny noise after starting in cold weather (which means it will surely die before I'm done with the car), the muffler has a gigantic hole in it, and just last night I think the right rear shock seized (most likely due to unrecognized damage caused by the aforementioned running off the road).
I guess a lot of this has to do with me just procrastinating on stuff. I've had the seats for about 3 months and the wheels for several weeks. I haven't messed with the brake cable because the last time I pulled the rear drums off I nearly fucked up the wheel bearings. I really need to adopt a fuckit dude attitude wrt my car now, but its hard to be cavalier when its the only working set of wheels we have.
In the long run, though, none of these problems are real major mechanical issues (at least not yet anyway). It's just annoying and makes me worry because I'm in the bind of having to try to fix it myself (not a good idea) or shell out way more money than is necessary to have someone else fix it for me. It basically boils down to a matter of confidence and resources, and I lack both.
The odo rolled over to 100,000 miles right in front of the Mini-Mart in town. And this time (see VehiclesJetta) on my way to work.
All the little things are starting mount up to the point of causing real stress, though. I have to put in the new leather seats because the padding in the drivers' seat is toast, the parking brake cable needs to be adjusted so that we don't have to use a chock on steep hills, the accessory belt needs to be re-tensioned, I need to put the new alloy wheels on because 2 of the 4 steel wheels are bent, the starter motor makes a lovely whiny noise after starting in cold weather (which means it will surely die before I'm done with the car), the muffler has a gigantic hole in it, and just last night I think the right rear shock seized (most likely due to unrecognized damage caused by the aforementioned running off the road).
I guess a lot of this has to do with me just procrastinating on stuff. I've had the seats for about 3 months and the wheels for several weeks. I haven't messed with the brake cable because the last time I pulled the rear drums off I nearly fucked up the wheel bearings. I really need to adopt a fuckit dude attitude wrt my car now, but its hard to be cavalier when its the only working set of wheels we have.
In the long run, though, none of these problems are real major mechanical issues (at least not yet anyway). It's just annoying and makes me worry because I'm in the bind of having to try to fix it myself (not a good idea) or shell out way more money than is necessary to have someone else fix it for me. It basically boils down to a matter of confidence and resources, and I lack both.
