Our van has been making this scary thump sound when it shifts from first to second gear for about a month. While dh was in Korea, I drove his car because I could not take it in on my own. So, today we take it to the mechanic - scared to death about the transmission.

GLAD WE DID! It turns out two of the four brackets holding the engine in place were broken so it was the engine that was moving everytime it started off.

Good news: It was much less expensive than I thought it would be, but still expensive.

Bad news: Well, I guess the expense is the bad news, too. So, I am carless until tomorrow it looks like, but no big deal. Cars are such a pain, but what can you do? At least they are both paid for so this expense isn't as bad as a car payment every month, right?

Yikes!!! Good thing you got it taken care of before you lost the motor!!!

__________________
~Happiness is a large family~

I hate cars too! Mine is making some sort of noise or noises.. no one can seem to figure out what it is and I don't have any more money to spend on it..

Glad you figured out what it was before anything bad happened!

I hear you on cars. At least you didn't lose your moter out on the road! Sounds like you were close.

Our car died this weekend, probably like the fourth time since spring. At this point we think we might need a new engine. And we're making payments on this piece of junk! Right now it is parked and will be for a bit - I'm tired of dealing with it. And currently all of our extra money is going to fix it. That leaves us using our little beater Honda - it's not pretty, it's a little too small, but it runs. I figure we're fine for a couple of months but I am a little concerned about when winter settles in. The Honda never has handled as well as the Subaru. It may be a long winter... We soooooo got taken advantage of on this car, sigh.