as the engine turns...
so, the saga with my car continues.
life was great for awhile until it started getting hot in cincinnati. I finally brought my car in towards the end of may for an oil change and asked them to check the freon again. they said a lot of it from last time had leaked out, so they topped it off and put in some dye to check for the leak. No visible leak, which means it could be somewhere within the air conditioning system buried behind my engine. so, unless it started getting hot, no worries.
car was nice and cool again, things were fine. early july, on the way to CP rehearsal before we left for ireland, I pulled into calhoun garage and noticed an intense chemical burning smell. After i parked and got out of my car, i realized that it was my car and there was smoke coming from under the hood. I turned the car back on to check if it was overheating, but the temperature gauge read normal. I left it for the time being so i wouldn't be late for rehearsal. when i started my car in the afternoon there was no smoke, no chemical smell, and no other issues, so I decided to just roll with it and keep vigilant for other car changes. About a day later my air conditioner stops working again. before it had blown semi-cold air, now it was blowing HOT air. hmmm. i left for ireland a few days later, so we left the problem alone.
return from ireland, still no air. tony and i were toying with the idea of buying a new car towards the end of the summer, so it wasn't a large issue. we then decide to just run the chrysler into the ground for another year and save up for a down payment on a new car next summer.
currently i am driving with no air conditioning. which doesn't sound awful until you take into consideration that three of the four windows don't work. and the car is black with black leather interior. and we've had temperatures in the low 100's the last week.
finally i took my car into the repair place for an assessment this morning. (it's also been making a clanking sound when i turn right) they discover that my compressor seals are blown and the compressor is damaged. so they try to bypass and get the system to work without it. it blows cold air for thirty seconds, then the compressor explodes, emitting a giant cloud of white smoke and spraying freon everywhere. so, getting the compressor replaced would be close to 900. and they think the condenser is most likely damaged also. and there could be other problems that are being masked by the compressor issue. pretty much my car is fucked.
on the plus side... it is safe to drive and the heat and defrost should work through the winter. the defrost just won't function very well and i'll probably have to wipe off my windshield frequently. now i think i will try to get at least the passenger side window fixed to make life a little more bearable. and also so that i can carry passengers in my car if need be. it's been an inferno in there the past few weeks. it did start raining once, but it was so hot that i decided to just get a little wet instead. at least it is safe to drive, since i'll be doing a lot of driving this fall. the first thursday of school i have my quintet gig in dayton 830-330, need to haul ass down to school for chamber players rehearsal 4-6, then to kentucky for rehearsal 730-10. then back to fairfield. yikes.
the people at my auto shop were saying that they put out these TSB bulletins on cars when there is an issue with a model. its the step taken before a recall, just stating that there are issues and problems, but not severe enough for a complete recall. my car model and year has over 150 of these. fantastic. fuck you, chrysler.
life was great for awhile until it started getting hot in cincinnati. I finally brought my car in towards the end of may for an oil change and asked them to check the freon again. they said a lot of it from last time had leaked out, so they topped it off and put in some dye to check for the leak. No visible leak, which means it could be somewhere within the air conditioning system buried behind my engine. so, unless it started getting hot, no worries.
car was nice and cool again, things were fine. early july, on the way to CP rehearsal before we left for ireland, I pulled into calhoun garage and noticed an intense chemical burning smell. After i parked and got out of my car, i realized that it was my car and there was smoke coming from under the hood. I turned the car back on to check if it was overheating, but the temperature gauge read normal. I left it for the time being so i wouldn't be late for rehearsal. when i started my car in the afternoon there was no smoke, no chemical smell, and no other issues, so I decided to just roll with it and keep vigilant for other car changes. About a day later my air conditioner stops working again. before it had blown semi-cold air, now it was blowing HOT air. hmmm. i left for ireland a few days later, so we left the problem alone.
return from ireland, still no air. tony and i were toying with the idea of buying a new car towards the end of the summer, so it wasn't a large issue. we then decide to just run the chrysler into the ground for another year and save up for a down payment on a new car next summer.
currently i am driving with no air conditioning. which doesn't sound awful until you take into consideration that three of the four windows don't work. and the car is black with black leather interior. and we've had temperatures in the low 100's the last week.
finally i took my car into the repair place for an assessment this morning. (it's also been making a clanking sound when i turn right) they discover that my compressor seals are blown and the compressor is damaged. so they try to bypass and get the system to work without it. it blows cold air for thirty seconds, then the compressor explodes, emitting a giant cloud of white smoke and spraying freon everywhere. so, getting the compressor replaced would be close to 900. and they think the condenser is most likely damaged also. and there could be other problems that are being masked by the compressor issue. pretty much my car is fucked.
on the plus side... it is safe to drive and the heat and defrost should work through the winter. the defrost just won't function very well and i'll probably have to wipe off my windshield frequently. now i think i will try to get at least the passenger side window fixed to make life a little more bearable. and also so that i can carry passengers in my car if need be. it's been an inferno in there the past few weeks. it did start raining once, but it was so hot that i decided to just get a little wet instead. at least it is safe to drive, since i'll be doing a lot of driving this fall. the first thursday of school i have my quintet gig in dayton 830-330, need to haul ass down to school for chamber players rehearsal 4-6, then to kentucky for rehearsal 730-10. then back to fairfield. yikes.
the people at my auto shop were saying that they put out these TSB bulletins on cars when there is an issue with a model. its the step taken before a recall, just stating that there are issues and problems, but not severe enough for a complete recall. my car model and year has over 150 of these. fantastic. fuck you, chrysler.