No one likes to throw in the towel. A lack of perseverance has never inspired songs or films, never made your dad whisper those four elusive words "I'm proud of you" and never gotten your car fixed. But sometimes, the sunken cost fallacy gets you so low there's no escape. Sometimes, you've got to admit when you've been beat. In the words of Dirty Harry, "a man's got to know his limitations."
Last week I asked about car repairs you've been putting off, but now I want to know about the car repairs that you honestly tried to get done, the ones that seemed like easy fixes right up until your fifth hour under the hood and run to your local second AutoZone. What you may have thought would be cheap and easy ended up as complicated and expensive, or what seemed like a common part was actually impossible to source. We've all been there, and I want to know your stories about a repair that was just too much.
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Why! Why Would They Do This?
Have you ever tried to replace the alternator in a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country? If you have, your swear jar is likely ready to pay for a much-needed trip to Cancun. This easy fix, which I have performed in parking lots and on the side of the road, turned into a monstrous ordeal when trying to help a friend out with him minivan. There was one bolt that was impossible to get to without disassembling basically the entire vehicle. We just couldn't figure it out. When we did give up, it turned out that a mechanic friend of ours couldn't understand it either. It finally took me contacting my uncle who still works as a machinist for Stellantis for us to find the right tool for the job: a wrench welded on to a five-foot metal bar. He had to bring it over for us to use because, apparently, it was the only one at the shop and they needed it.
Any problem can be solved with enough moxie, gumption and YouTube videos, but there was no reasoning our way out of that one. What about you? When were you beaten by an automotive problem?
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