Staring Down a Bullet

Twice in the last week or so, the specter of expensive car repairs has once again raised its ugly head, only to be easily vanquished.

First, the front-end started making grinding noises again. The knee-jerk reaction was to assume that the newly replaced hub bearing was going out. Further inspection showed that the lugnuts had loosened, allowing the rotor to wobble slightly and drag against the brake pads. Tightening the lugnuts stopped the grinding noise.

Then on Friday, the transmission decides it doesn't want to shift properly, often going into neutral instead of the correct gear. I envision thousands of dollars in repair bill, money that I really don't have and surely don't want to spend. I decided to take a huge gamble and change the fluid and filter, thinking that it probably won't work but holding out hope that it does.

And guess what? It works. The transmission is now shifting correctly.

So two near misses in a little over a week. With the way my luck is going, maybe I should be sure and buy a lottery ticket.