Truck-less

Want to hear a story? It's a tragic story, actually. Of a valued member of our family that is now residing in the "hospital." I'm referring to our truck. Our poor, not-so-little Ford F-150 truck that has been put through a lot of pain this past year at our neglectful hands.




Of course you all remember the epic crash through the garage and out the other side:  

(See whole story here with more details and pics)  

After a month away from us, it was returned in tip top shape. Throughout this past year we had to take it in and fit it out with 4 new tires and then new brakes were required only a month ago. But brakes and tires are required maintenance every few years. And though we were less than thrilled about having to get them both done within a few months of the other...well, it's all a part of owning a car, yes?

A couple of weeks ago the truck started making a kind of funny sound which is never a good sign. And threatening to stall when slowing down. I was a little worried. You hear stories of cars that have been in crashes and how even after fixing them back up, they are never the same. The truck was only 4 years old...was this what the sounds and stalling were related to? That crash through the garage a year ago? But after a couple of days of this worrisome behavior, while Bryan was driving, the truck stalled. And the oil light came on! Ah-ha...that was new. We re-started the car and headed to the gas station, where we were rather appalled to find the oil tank completely and utterly bone dry. We bought 4 quarts of the stuff and poured all of it, every last bit in to get the levels back up to normal. But the damage had been done. (Why, oh why the check oil light didn't come on earlier, I'll never know.) The blame game yielded nothing, really. Since Bryan had been taking the truck in to the shop fairly regularly this year (and had even taken care of it's last oil change during one of those trips), I put anything other than driving the thing out of my mind. He, on the other hand, assumed that I was continuing to stay on top of the more scheduled maintenance since the truck is my primary mode of transportation. Sigh.  

When we took it into the repair shop we were informed that the engine was filled with metal shavings and that it was slowly but surely shredding itself. And that the price to fix said damage was, well....a lot. We're talking more than we paid for Rebekah's whole car, a lot. We considered trading in the truck for something new. But realistically, why? If it was older, if it was monetarily worth a little less, if we didn't want a truck anymore, if we were the kind of people that liked to trade up every few years....then it would make sense. But none of those things applied so why start over again making payments when the truck was already fully paid off and still had plenty of life? Well, you know...after we put a whole new engine in it. So we bit the bullet and told the repair shop to go ahead. I'm glad. Because truth be told, I'm pretty fond of my truck. The work to be done, it's labor intensive. Apparently F-150 engines are complicated. So we've been truck-less for over a week and probably won't see heads or tails of the thing until mid-next week. Good thing we bought Rebekah's car when we did, eh? Because guess how I've been driving all my carpools?

Moral of the story:  For the sake of your vehicle, your wallet, and your marriage...CHANGE YOUR OIL!