car problems

I’m bored! I’m not supposed to be bored! I’m supposed to be happy that I’m not in class! Gah!

Okay now that I’ve said that … Saturday I asked Mickey to change the oil in my car, because it’s been about 3,000 miles since the last change (50 miles short, nyeeeh). He looked at it … and maybe Daddy looked at it too … and he talked to Mum about this odd bit of information he discovered. I’ve got too much oil in my engine. :O Or, that’s how it is according to the dipstick. Mickey said there was about 2 inches length from the “max” line to the actual line the oil is at.

Mum pulled out this folder of stuff on my car, where she had the receipt from CarMax about the last oil change. The receipt had a charge for 4 quarts of oil. My owner’s manual says my engine should have 5 quarts in the engine. How could one quart less be two inches over the max line? The previous oil change was at EZ Lube, and they put in 5 quarts. Or that’s what they charged us for anyway.

Mum told Mickey to just use 4.5 quarts, then if it’s not up to the max, then put in another .5 quart. But he said he’d rather know what he’s supposed to do. Bah. So Mum has to take my car in to CarMax to ask them about it. (Yes, Mum, because I cannot talk to non-educational staff about anything in any sort of intelligible manner [not that I talk to teachers or counselors in an intelligible manner either …], and besides, I still don’t know how to get to CarMax. ahaha)

Now for the other, more worrisome matter: The CarMax receipt said the oil change was at 15,000 miles thereabouts. Okay, fine, I’m at 18,150 somewhere. The EZ Lube oil change was performed at 8000 miles? Or something really horrible like that. Before that … we bought the car. *headdesk*

In normal circumstances, going 7000 miles before an oil change is … horrible. Too bad my car isn’t under normal circumstances. There was some article in the newspaper about … umm … darn, I don’t really know. Dodge engines, or Chrysler engines, or DaimlerChrysler engines, or Dodge Stratus engines, or to get extremely specific, 2.7 liter magnum Dodge engines. I don’t really know. One of those. Or something else I haven’t listed. But anyway. The problem is that the engine tends to develop “sludge” in … uhh … oil areas. *blink* Hey, I never said I knew car engines.

The article mainly talked about this one woman who got oil changes every 7000 miles, since that’s what the car company recommends, saying that’s all it takes for good maintenance…. So we (Mum, Mickey, and I) pretty much just ignored the article … resolving to get an oil change every 3000 miles. (I wasn’t worried because I hadn’t realized Mum went longer than 3000 miles for an oil change more than once.) Then … I think, I forget … something changed … oh, there was this webpage online where a guy said he got an oil change every 3000 miles, he even has receipts, and his engine still went bust. And that he’s selling replacement engines for $3000. *sweatdrop*

But other than that, Mum didn’t find any other problems people had with the 2001 Dodge Stratus. Not really. (Some people had/have problems with their Chrysler Sebrings veering suddenly out of the lane. o_o Creepy.) Mum pretty much said, “Expect your car to die on you anywhere from 30k to 70k miles.” I said, “Then are we going to buy that replacement engine?” And she said, “No, we’re just going to buy another car!” me: “But I want my car to last 60k miles! I don’t know that I’ll find a car that I like this much!” Umm … yeah. ;-; I love my car, dangit! Although I probably won’t buy another car from DaimlerChrysler, except for maybe vans … even Tadash admits Chrysler isn’t good, and he likes them! (bg info: Mickey likes loves Chevy, Hidek likes Ford, and Tadash likes Chrysler.)

I used to like Dodge … but now I’m not so sure. I probably wouldn’t buy a Japanese car, ever … even though they have good reliability (government regulation; where the hell is our government?!), just because I don’t believe they’d drive like a Dodge. ^^;; *loves how Dodge cars drive* VROOM VROOM! *laughs*

Okay I’m not insane, keep those white jackets away.

Yes, because I have Mickey for my brother, I’d already tentatively picked out my next car, at his insistence: Acura TL. (There’re two Acura TLs in the staff parking lot on campus. ^^ And I saw a third one on campus last week.) The TL is, um, a luxury car. >_> (Hey, Mickey is looking at the Cadillac CTS! Don’t look at me like that!) I think base price is $32,000. Yeah. Uh. I definitely wouldn’t have that much money by the time my car gets to 30k miles. I think by then I’d just barely have a job. Or … maybe I’d still be finishing college. *eep*

But I love my car! I’d planned to keep it for 8 years, or longer! I love it that much! I just can’t imagine that I’d find a car as cool as mine! Well, I could, but probably not with good mileage and (fairly) good reliability along with it. And a $20k price tag. ehehe. *sigh* Pray to God my car is fine! ^^

4/15/05: Asked Mum; it’s the 2.7 liter magnum engine that has the problem.

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