Car Trouble
The steering on my car has been getting worse of late, with the free-play in the steering wheel becoming quite large. To illustrate: when coming out of a left hand bend and going into a right hand bend, the steering wheel can be moved about 1/5 of a turn before it starts to affect the direction of the car/wheels. Yikes. This was back in late December, and I kinda got used to it since no repair shops were open during he Christmas/New Year period.
At first I thought it was just the wheel alignment/balance becoming *extremely* out of whack, and i'd just been too lazy getting it done. So I booked it up at Jax for that to be done, and they told me it was a bigger problem than that, and that it really was too dangerous to drive. So I took it to my genral mechanic, and they discovered that the steering rack had broken away from the firewall. In other words the mechanical parts that steer the car, are attached to the car in two places, one of them had snapped off. They said that they aren't able to do repairs such as this because it requires taking out the engine block, fitting a new steering rack, and welding it to the firewall. Their estimate of the repair costs: in excess of $1,200, but check with a body shop for a more accurate quote.
Now the thing is... my car probably isn't worth that much all up. So i'm split between coughing up the money just to keep it going, or writing the car off and buying another.
Then comes christmas! So as I said, most car repair places are closed from around the 22nd Dec to the 2nd of January. My basic idea was to get a proper quote, and if it did end up in excess of $1,000, I would buy a new car. But... just have to wait a few weeks, using the car meanwhile...
As it turns out, the place I eventually went to charged me $300 for welding the existing steering rack back on. And now the car dives fine again. So, it lives fo a bit longer... I would still like to get rid of it sometime this year, if I can afford it.
Oh, and the lastest problem with it is that the car-battery warning light comes on occasionally, and stays on for a few minutes while driving. Meanwhile, when the warning light comes on, I can hear the fan (cabin circulation) speed up, and if it's at night, my headlights suddenly get twice as bright. Sometimes it happens for 2 mins, but occasionally it happens for most of a trip. However... the battery is brand new, after some problems I had in early 2005. I susupect it's the electrical wiring, as i've been told that's one of the main problems with older Toyota Corollas.
So far though, the battery hasn't gone flat, and the car starts every time i've tried, so, erm. I havn't looked into it any further.
At first I thought it was just the wheel alignment/balance becoming *extremely* out of whack, and i'd just been too lazy getting it done. So I booked it up at Jax for that to be done, and they told me it was a bigger problem than that, and that it really was too dangerous to drive. So I took it to my genral mechanic, and they discovered that the steering rack had broken away from the firewall. In other words the mechanical parts that steer the car, are attached to the car in two places, one of them had snapped off. They said that they aren't able to do repairs such as this because it requires taking out the engine block, fitting a new steering rack, and welding it to the firewall. Their estimate of the repair costs: in excess of $1,200, but check with a body shop for a more accurate quote.
Now the thing is... my car probably isn't worth that much all up. So i'm split between coughing up the money just to keep it going, or writing the car off and buying another.
Then comes christmas! So as I said, most car repair places are closed from around the 22nd Dec to the 2nd of January. My basic idea was to get a proper quote, and if it did end up in excess of $1,000, I would buy a new car. But... just have to wait a few weeks, using the car meanwhile...
As it turns out, the place I eventually went to charged me $300 for welding the existing steering rack back on. And now the car dives fine again. So, it lives fo a bit longer... I would still like to get rid of it sometime this year, if I can afford it.
Oh, and the lastest problem with it is that the car-battery warning light comes on occasionally, and stays on for a few minutes while driving. Meanwhile, when the warning light comes on, I can hear the fan (cabin circulation) speed up, and if it's at night, my headlights suddenly get twice as bright. Sometimes it happens for 2 mins, but occasionally it happens for most of a trip. However... the battery is brand new, after some problems I had in early 2005. I susupect it's the electrical wiring, as i've been told that's one of the main problems with older Toyota Corollas.
So far though, the battery hasn't gone flat, and the car starts every time i've tried, so, erm. I havn't looked into it any further.