Okay, so me and have done a little price quoting to see what it will take to get my car back to running in tip-top shape. To recap, here is what's going on:

Yesterday while I was out on my daily run, I noticed a bad vibration coming from the front of my car which got so bad at times that I had to pull off a couple times to recollect myself and see if I could point out the problem. The ABS and loss of traction lights came up on my dashboard, but it felt normal so I continued on. After pulling off at a rest area to let people know, it mysteriously went away. So I completed my run and told my dispatcher that I was heading home right away to have the problem looked at. It wasn't until I was almost home that I noticed the smell of burnt rubber coming into the cockpit and so that started to worry me a little bit as well, but I was able to get home. After a while, I felt like going out somewhere so I could have experience what was going on so we can try and figure out what to do from there, and along the way we called a friend who is a mechanic to get his input. Here is what we discovered.


- The wheel bearing on the left front is completely gone. As in it's no more. So how is the car still running?

- The CV axle is taking on more of the load than it should have to. No wheel bearing means that the wheel is turning on the CV axle, and is putting an extraordinary amount of stress on it. I'm afraid that if that goes, then there goes the whole front end and I no longer have a car.

- Because the left front wheel bearing is gone, the right front wheel bearing is taking on more of the load as well. When I replace the wheel bearings about a year and a half ago, I decided to have them both replaced so that they would have even wear. Now that's starting to show signs of wear and I'm gonna have to get that replaced as well.

- So how does that trigger the ABS and TCS warning lights? There is a sensor on the wheel that tells the computer what is going on and makes adjustments according to the conditions and driver input. Because of that, the ABS computer has been disabled. My mechanic friend told us that it's not absolutely critical, but I would like to have the peace of mind to know that everything's working as it should.

- And on top of all of that, I've been needing to replace an O2 sensor as well so that I don't fail my emissions test in August.


So how much is that gonna set me back? The absolute least expensive that this will all cost is around $950, including labor. I may be able to get these swapped out in bits and pieces, but that is how much it will be in one fell swoop. If I cannot get this taken care of quickly, then I fear for my job and I fear that myself, , , , and will soon be out of a home as well. If you wish to donate to me personally, then my Paypal address is croco83(at)gmail.com, and make sure you set the subject to "Car Repair Help". And if you cannot help financially, then please, PLEASE get the word out! I already feel bad enough as it is to have to try and beg people for help, and not just for my own benefit. If you can do this and we can somehow pull this off, my gratitude will be endless. Thank you.


~ Croco


(EDIT 1: Like I said before in my original post...if you have nothing constructive to say, then don't say it at all as I will block rude and snippy comments. My tolerance for bullshit is at an all time low and I WILL call you out on it. Don't think I'm just saying this to vent, I will do it.)