What components of your cars air conditioner should not look like...

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. Sometimes it is nice to just chill. We made a little headway on the nursery – adding shelves to one of the closets. There is still much to do.

On Sunday Daniel worked on our Subaru's air conditioner. It has some kind of leak and over the last several weeks he has been on a mission to find the leak and fix it. He finally decided to replace the condenser and evaporator {he will have to correct me if I get any of this wrong}.

Anyways, the evaporator is located behind the glove box. Yesterday he removed the evaporator to install the new one and this is what he discovered:

Dirt and leaves and fur and who knows what is clogging everything up {on the right}! Compared to the new one {on the left} the old looks like it has been dragged through mud. We have no idea how it could be so gross since it is a closed system that is behind the glove box {inside the car, separate from where the engine is}. 

It really looks like it could be from a vehicle that had been through a flood, but that makes no sense because none of the the interior looks like it had been through a flood. We are really scratching our heads on this one.

Tonight he will finish up the project – something about recharging the system. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will fix our A/C for good.

The Subaru Fix

I am blessed to have a spouse who is very proficient at mechanical work. Unfortunately this sometimes leaves me as a "garage widow." I am grateful that he saves us money by fixing everything machine-related, but often this type of work can be very time consuming!

Over the course of the last month Daniel spent many hours in the garage working on our Subaru. The main thing to fix was a blown head gasket {a common problem in Subaru's}. While he had the engine pulled he also replaced belts and various other components.

Thankfully this project is FINISHED and we have two working vehicles again! With the help of a friend, he was able to get the motorcycle working as well. I am just glad that I don't have to get up at dawn to take him into work any more :)

Pulling the engine out of the Forrester with the help of the engine hoist... Daniel did this late one night all by himself. *Not recommended.

Close up of the engine.

We photographed each stage of the process as a precaution. This way Daniel could reference photos when he was putting everything back together again. This is just a sampling from the hundreds of pictures that we took.

Sometimes I get coerced into participating. This is me helping while Daniel puts the belts on the pulleys.

Getting ready to put the engine back into the car.

No picture of this, but Daniel guided the engine into the right spot while I lowered it using the engine hoist. He was underneath the vehicle for part of the time {meaning he put a lot of trust in me}. I am pleased to say that the process went fairly smoothly and we have had no problems with the car since he fixed it {specifically no oil leaks and no new leaks}.

the good. the bad. the random. (On My Own in Charlotte, May 2010)

The Good. It's almost the weekend.

The Bad. I am driving 7 hours to Nashville tomorrow after work.

The Random. Driving an automatic after almost a decade of driving a stick really messes with your brain... I had a rental car for 2 days while our Subaru was in the shop.

The Good. My sister received a job offer in Nashville.

The Bad. My brother and brother-in-law seriously need jobs {in Nashville}.

The Random. We dropped the price on the house again. 4+ weeks with zero showings is beyond depressing {well, we did have an engaged couple show up at the last open house, so I guess that is an improvement.}

The Good. Daniel's cousin is getting married on Saturday.

The Bad. We found out that some friends of ours are getting a divorce.

The Random. The season finale of Parenthood made me seriously miss living close to my family. If I could pack up and live in the same city as them this moment, I would.

The Good. We have plans for breakfast on Sunday morning with friends at the PFunky Griddle in Nashville. I am so excited.

The Bad. Summer time = tics. I think Sophie is getting tired of me searching her after every trip outdoors.

The Random. Is it crazy to consider living in an RV {short term}???

Broken Motor Mount???

Saturday night Daniel noticed a slight tremor in the Subaru. And I mean slight. Like when he had me test drive it, I barely noticed. In fact without him pointing out the shudder, I would have been clueless.

I know he was feeling pressure about having a last-minute vehicle problem. Especially since he had to drive back to Chattanooga the next. After much discussion {with such options as me riding my bike to work for a week or Daniel just driving the Subie, ignoring the problem}, we agreed that the best option was for Daniel to take the Altima back to TN and for me to take the Subaru to our local Subaru-gueru to get a second opinion.

So today I drove up to Concord, NC to find out what the problem is. Stephen from 42 Autosports is pretty cool. He listened to me. Then took me for a spin in the vehicle to get a feel for the problem. Then he put the car on the lift to check out the problem. He had me come out in the shop to show me the problems. Then gave me a quote and I gave him my thoughts of what Daniel would say, but requested that he call Daniel directly - which he obliged.

Turns out that our Subaru needs new wheel bearings in the back - boo. Though not as bad as a busted motor mount like Daniel originally feared. So, they let me know that I should not drive to Nashville next weekend {as planned} without getting it fixed. We agreed to let them fix it. And they called Enterprise to get me a rental {they pay for half}.

So I waited. And waited. And eventually the guys at the shop realized I was still there {thankfully I had a book to read}. It was 6PM and Enterprise supposedly closes at 6... so one of the guys offered to drive me over to make sure I could get a vehicle. That would have been quite a challenge to be car-less 40 miles from home! Anyways, it all worked out and I will have the Subaru back tomorrow.

If you have a Subaru and live in the Charlotte area, check 42 Autosports out - they know their stuff, they have great prices and they really talk to you about all of your options {whether you want to do it yourself, buying parts from them OR have them do the work for you}. Even as a girl, I didn't feel uncomfortable in their shop. I didn't feel like they treated me any different for being a woman.

We purchased a 5-speed Subaru Forester today. It is the *youngest* vehicle we have ever owned - coming in at 10 years old.

It is due for a timing belt change, but once Daniel does that, we should be good to go for another 100,000+ miles. Well that is not completely true... it is used and will have general wear and tear on the engine but our in-house mechanic (Daniel) does a pretty good job of keeping our old vehicles in good working order.

I talked to my brother today and this is the gist of our conversation.

Mark: How was your new year's?

Me: Good. We bought a car today.

Mark: Awesome. What kind? How much did you spend?

Me: A Subaru Forester for $XXXX.

Mark: Wait... you won't spend $4 to buy more Christmas lights for your Christmas tree, but you will spend $XXXX on a car?

Me: Yep.

Mark: You guys are going to be millionaires some day.

Daniel just beat me at my own game...

In the past if I had a strong feeling about a paint color that I desired to put on the wall, I would {sweetly} tell my husband that we should paint it the way I wanted and let it stay on the walls for X period of time and if he absolutely HATED said color, he could repaint the walls.

This always works in my favor. 1) The color generally grows on him (ie the RED kitchen walls) or 2) He is too lazy to paint over it (ie a bright BLUE bathroom we had in our first apartment). I am sure he would tell you of other examples, but those are the ones that come to mind.

Well today Daniel played this little trick on me. For some time we have been considering getting a second vehicle. We have made it for {almost} two years now as a one-car family, but we are feeling the need to go back to two vehicles. I was under the impression that we were in agreement about our second car. It would be an SUV. Preferably a FourRunner, Pathfinder or Exterra. But it turns out I was wrong.

Unbeknownst to me, my overly analytical husband has had an eye on gas prices and mileage of vehicles. After exhaustive research, he has come to the conclusion that a Subaru Forester would be the best vehicle for us. It has all-wheel drive, is bigger than a car and has ridiculously good gas mileage and it is well priced. My problem is: I just think it is UGLY.

From past discussions, Daniel thought that my only needs for a vehicle were that it had power windows and air conditioning. And then NO WHITE vehicles was added to the list. As well as no previously-smoked in cars. And then the truth came out. I am a bit of an aesthetic snob when it comes to what I like about vehicles. I won't bore you with which vehicles I prefer and why...

Back to how Daniel beat me at my own game... today over lunch at Al Mike's (he must have been buttering me up by taking me out for lunch first), he informed me that he really thought we should buy a Forrester (I've never even driven one) and that in 9-ish months we will trade in the Altima for a diesel Jetta or Passat (I am on board with this, we have discussed this as our next car). THEN if I still REALLY HATE the Forrester, we can trade it in for something that is reasonably priced.

So there you have it. Beat at my own game.

I Love You Moore than a Second Car

Daniel just beat me at my own game...

In the past if I had a strong feeling about a paint color that I desired to put on the wall, I would {sweetly} tell my husband that we should paint it the way I wanted and let it stay on the walls for X period of time and if he absolutely HATED said color, he could repaint the walls.

This always works in my favor. 1) The color generally grows on him (ie the RED kitchen walls) or 2) He is too lazy to paint over it (ie a bright BLUE bathroom we had in our first apartment). I am sure he would tell you of other examples, but those are the ones that come to mind.

Well today Daniel played this little trick on me. For some time we have been considering getting a second vehicle. We have made it for {almost} two years now as a one-car family, but we are feeling the need to go back to two vehicles. I was under the impression that we were in agreement about our second car. It would be an SUV. Preferably a FourRunner, Pathfinder or Exterra. But it turns out I was wrong.

Photo courtesy of www.automotive.com.

Unbeknownst to me, my overly analytical husband has had an eye on gas prices and mileage of vehicles. After exhaustive research, he has come to the conclusion that a Subaru Forrester would be the best vehicle for us. It has all-wheel drive, is bigger than a car and has ridiculously good gas mileage. My problem is: I just think it is UGLY.

From past discussions, Daniel thought that my only needs for a vehicle were that it had power windows and air conditioning. And then NO WHITE vehicles was added to the list. As well as no previously-smoked in cars. And then the truth came out. I am a bit of an aesthetic snob when it comes to what I like about vehicles. I won't bore you with which vehicles I prefer and why...

Back to how Daniel beat me at my own game... today over lunch at Al Mike's (he must have been buttering me up by taking me out for lunch first), he informed me that he really thought we should buy a Forrester (I've never even driven one) and that in 9-ish months we will trade in the Altima for a diesel Jetta or Passat (I am on board with this, we have discussed this as our next car). THEN if I still REALLY HATE the Forrester, we can trade it in for something that is reasonably priced.

So there you have it. Beat at my own game.