I want to start by noting that from a hobbyist standpoint, cars are awesome; I would love to own a really nice car, take it out on the weekends, and enjoy the activity of driving. I enjoy driving, road trips, and can appreciate a nice car. I can even appreciate wrenching on a car, to a certain extent.
But boy howdy am I sick and tired of The Goddamn Vehicles We Own.
I bought a car from my mother back in October - a 2001 mercury sable LX, with a DOHC V6, leather seats and power everything. It's a very nice car (or it could be) except for a small problem - there is an intermittent electrical problem which started with a little compressor trouble and has since advanced to major electrical shorts causing my vehicle to fail to start. Also, my driver's side window is stuck down in Oklahoma's rainy season, and my AC compressor still has trouble. I want to note that it's 100 degrees F outside right now.
In the last two days I have spent about 7 hours in the sun on a variety of tasks, ranging from testing battery and alternator, removing and cleaning the battery cables (that was not a fun job, btw) and now ripping out relays and circuit breakers and replacing them. And how far have I gotten in fixing the problem? Not even goddamn close. all I've managed to do is eliminate the obvious - the last potential source of the problem I can think of is the wire harness in the door, and I have no idea on how to get to it, having removed the door panel - it's behind metal and encased in plastic in most places and as far as I can tell I'll probably have to actually remove the door from the car to get to the fucking thing. And if that does not turn out to be the problem? I'll have to take it to an auto electric shop, where they're probably going to charge me half the value of the car to fix the problem.
in short: fuck vehicle ownership forever.
