One of the nice things about new cars is that it takes a long time before you need to shell out big bucks to fix them.  For the first couple years or so, there are generally no major problems.  Well Vanessa is about 4 years old now, and that time is gone.  She's been running hot lately, the engine fan is always on, she has a check-engine light coming on, and she is overdue for a manual transmission fluid change.  The dealership where I purchased her is no longer in business, so I took her to a different dealership yesterday to get these issues looked at.

The check-engine light is on because there's a certain emissions-related component which has failed.  Replacing that component will cost $250.

The car has been running hot because the water pump is going, the water pump is covered by the extended powertrain warranty with a $100 deductible, so that will cost another $100.

The manual transmission fluid change will run another $150.  (That is a lot, but apparently the job is difficult to do on this model.  I had previously taken it to Jiffy Lube and they tried but could not do the work.)

The techinician who took the car for a ride said that the engine fan is much louder than normal, which he takes as an indication that the fan is going and will ultimately bind up.  When that happens the car will overheat.  The problem is that the component is extremely expensive ($500+) and installation isn't cheap either.  To replace the fan will run me another $820.

It took 66,000 miles to get to this point, but yeesh, that's a whole lot of damage, and financially speaking, life sucks for me and mine right now.  So, I told them to take care of the first 3 issues but leave the fan for another day.  With the waterpump functioning properly, the fan won't need to be on as much, and hopefully I can get by without having to replace it for awhile.

I hope they finish fixing the car soon.  I miss it already.