I just need to vent (about my car)

Well, let's see. First the exhaust broke just in front of the rear box. Not a problem, I thought, it gave me an excuse to order that low-flow exhaust I've been looking at. Before I could even place the order though, the little rubber seal around the stupid French-made temperature switch in the radiator broke and sprayed my engine with coolant. Fortunately, I was about 3 miles from home and was able to put a gallon of coolant in it and drive it back with the heater running full blast (on a humid 95 degree Fahrenheit day). Anyway, I got a new seal (for $8.35) and tore it putting it in. Now I was mad. I had it towed to my local trusted shop and told them to fix the bloody thing. They got another seal and tore it too. Then they suggested I get a "handful" of them so they could try to put them in. Since the car was in the shop anyway, I also asked them to put in the new poly-bushings and struts that have been taking up space in my shop and to get the car to pass its emissions test, which it needed by today. Anyway... they found bad tie rod ends, which were replaced by the dealer only 4 years ago, bad ball joints, and a couple other problems in the front suspension. I'm glad our new mayor has gone on a street repaving binge. As for the emissions, I'm getting blow-by through the rings, so the car might never pass without a ring job, and the 7 year old catalytic converter is shot. So, I'm ordering a cat tonight, the car should be otherwise ready tomorrow, and I get to put the exhaust on myself. Oh yeah, as of today the registration's suspended since I never got the emissions tested and I get fined $15 a week until I do. To top it off, my old Toyota that I'm driving is on advanced life-support and I'm waiting for it to day at any moment. I really love The Breadbox, but sometimes, I just want to give up. I'll be okay when I get it back and running again. Thanks for putting up with me.

Sorry about your troubles, but look at the bright side, after all this is done, she's be good for a long time :thumbs_up: And if she doesnt make the grade and heads to Volvo heaven, can i have the front headlights and marker lamps :)

Finally picking the car up tonight. Just had to leave the forum for a while. Oh, and one of the marker lights is partially melted after a set of jumper cables burst into flames once (Don't ask.)

ok i wont lol Hey, if you come accross a full set of usa lamps, bare me in mind :)

Having had to replace an entire unit last year thanks to a small accident, I can say that they are not easy to remove. The lower turn signal has to be removed to get at the lower mounting bolts and Cibie thought it would make sense to put a metal captured nut into plastic fixture. After 20 or so years the plastic is brittle enough that the nut is no longer captured and there is no other way to remove the screws. In addition, the lenses crack very easily and the adhesive breaks down so they fall off. I ended up breaking the replacement turn signal I found at the breakers and using my undamaged back, which did unbolt. Since both the replacement lens and my broken one were loose anyway, I used the replacement lens on my fixture and put it all back together again. Point is, they're hard to find complete and a bugger to remove if you do. My "complete" assembly actually came from 3 different cars. They are fairly plentiful, but it's the time involved that's the problem.