Wheeee car adventures!

I love when the van breaks!  Well, ok, not really ;)

The newest maintenance nightmare happened Wednesday morning, my brakes started going out (again, this happened before in January).  I got it to the shop, and then I got the estimate... $800.  Now, in addition to that, there's been one other major problem hanging over my head, which is a rusted freeze plug in the coolant system which could burst any day and bring the van to a screeching halt.  That's another $1200 estimated to fix it and all the oil leaks that are going on under the engine.  There's also some minor issues of new spark plugs and starter wires that have been soaked in oil.

All in all, repairs to get this thing safe and reliable again would be well beyond my current means.  But, family is good, and my parents have loaned me enough to get the major repairs under way.  Paying that back will require a second job, but this breakdown underscored the need for that anyway.  I want my Mazda3!  It doesn't hurt that my recruiter is putting pressure on my manager to expedite my upcoming raise.... ;)