Car issues

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All motor vehicles (in fact all machines I guess) get to that stage when things start to go wrong or break down one after another. You spend money fixing one thing, then something else goes wrong and you don’t want to get rid of the vehicle because you just spent £xx on it so you pay to fix that, then something else happens… and so it goes. My last car was getting to that point but then some young man drove into me and that was the end of that, I had to get another car. Now I have had this one for 12 years, and it is coming up to 19 years old and has done over 157,000 miles. I’ve had very few problems. The clutch did go a few years ago, but other than general wearing out of brakes and that sort of thing it’s been very reliable and so useful. Now though it’s starting to develop more problems. First the rear windscreen wiper stopped working (I think it never really recovered from the enforced inaction of Covid lockdown – doing nothing doesn’t suit vehicles in general). Well that didn’t really matter too much, I thought I would try and get around to looking at it one day. Then I found that the suspension system is wearing out. That means it makes rather a clunky sort of noise when I drive over bumps. It passed the MOT test though and the garage said I should just carry on. I guess when that finally goes it will be the end as it would be too expensive to be worth fixing on an old car. Then I got a flat tyre. Luckily that turned out to be a nail and the tyre could be repaired so not as expensive as I feared. The latest thing is that the heater blower has stopped working. I hoped it might be something simple like a fuse but sadly no, it must be the blower motor itself. You might think this wouldn’t matter too much either, but with the cold weather it is a big problem as I can’t clear the inside of the windscreen properly. I wipe it (or scrape the ice off it when it’s below freezing) and I can see through it mostly OK, but then as soon as a light shines on it from another vehicle or a street light I can see literally nothing. Far too dangerous! Also illegal of course. I looked for a replacement but it turns out that even if I was willing to pay over £100 just for the part, they are no longer available. Well I don’t want to give up just yet, I only paid for a year’s insurance and road tax last November. So I have bought a used motor via Ebay from a car breaker. I’ve watched YouTube videos on how to get to it (a real pain as it requires removing the entire glove compartment) and I will have to have a go at that next week. Of course it isn’t even fun doing things like that outside in the freezing cold or pouring rain; I wonder if I could squeeze it into the garage? Like most people, our garage is full of tools, fitness equipment, camping stuff and all sorts of thing so there’s no room for the car! All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.