Bang........

Actually, I should say,

Bang,

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

Rat - tat,tat,tat,tat......,

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

CLICK, and that was the end of the transmission in the van.

We had it towed to the dealership because we were not sure of the problem. Once there, we got the call that the differential had shot through the transaxle and destroyed the whole system.

BTW, never use Gray's Garage for your towing. We called at 10:23 and they said it would be an hour to get there. At 11:23, I called again and they said it would be another half an hour. At 11:55, "Oh he is on the way and will be there in a half an hour". At 12:23 it was just another half an hour. At 12:50, "he is on the way now". And when he finally arrived two hours late, the guy put the van on the tow truck bed and drove off. I call that pathetic and will never ever use them again. I will do my best to recommend anyone else to someone in need. What a crock of shit when a business bullshits their way through the day and wastes your time and money.

Now for the transmission. It is wasted. The dealership said they called around for a used part, but they said they could not procure one. I can understand that one. Most salvage yards will not pull a transaxle because of the work involved. So that summarily puts us back several thousand dollars for a new transmission/transaxle.

The worst part of it all, is that the 100,000 mile warranty ran out three weeks ago. I personally think that the auto manufactures engineer their vehicles to breakdown just past the 100,000 mile mark. Remember, these are the same engineers who "do" design vehicles that mainly run on unleaded gasoline. The same executives who "could" manufacture engines that run on renewable fuel sources. The same dealers/salesmen who "would" probably sell their mothers soul for 100K a year salary with stock options and a pension. And we are the "Stupid" ones who continuously buy these flashy pieces of crap because we have no alternative choices and no other way to get back and forth.

Oops, I forgot..... These are the same companies that engineered the removal of mass transit in most cities. Cincinnati is one of those cities where GM (not exclusively) paid for track removal of inexpensive transportation from the downtown area, and where the greed and sloth of city officials allowed the citizens in the general tax paying population to be shoved further down into a lower class, "unless" you bought a car for each worker in the household. But that is another story for later on.

Well, the van is currently on a rack at the dealership, waiting on a part that is supposed to be delivered in the morning. If things go as planned, we should have the van back tomorrow evening, and be out $3,000 dollars by the weekend.

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