Well, the Camry is back on the road. YAY! We FINALLY got the stupid drum off of the rear passenger side. Though it didn’t look as if the brake had gotten stuck at all, the brakes in the back were pretty non-existent, so they have, now, been replaced. That was a chore but, gratefully, it’s done with.
We have driven the Camry up to Woodinville (about 56 miles north) and back twice without issue. I, of course, think I FEEL something, HEAR something, but I have to put that down. It’s moving forward, getting slightly better gas mileage and has not made that horrible noise, again. I’m going with being grateful for where we are at instead of looking for problems.
I also have finally transferred the van into my name. I will be driving it for work. OH! Work! I’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, the van still has its issue but I believe I have finally determined what is wrong with it: water has gotten into the transmission. I had checked the tranny fluid back when I was working on it last, a few months ago and the fluid level was too high. I decided to suck some out of it today to make room for some Lucas Transmission Fix. The fluid came out a bit milky. Crap. Online I went to research why that would be. What did I find out? Water has gotten into the transmission, most likely due to the transmission cooler in the radiator having failed, allowing antifreeze to get into the tranny. Damn.
This is not good at all. The clutch adhesive in an automatic transmission is made to be used in an oil environment and is WATER SOLUBLE. SO, what this means is, since water has gotten in the transmission, it is slowly breaking down said adhesive which means the transmission is eventually going to fail. Double crap.
I had taken some of the transmission fluid out of the van a few months back since I had seen the level was too high. I don’t remember the transmission fluid being milky then so this could mean it is a super recent thing and I may get a bit more life out of the tranny before actually having to replace it. My fingers are crossed on that. I’ll only be driving it around 150 miles a week, so let’s hope.
So, work. Two days after my supervisor let me know that there wasn’t a way to recycle me into a different training class, she called me. She went to battle for me with her operational managers, letting them know that she felt I was one that would excel with the company and that, though my absences from training have not been medical related, she feels that recycling me into a different training would benefit the company. I still have my job and the relief that gives me is so incredible. I start back at work tomorrow, though the hours will be different since I am in a different class. I was working 7 am – 3:30 pm and now will be working 11:30 am to 8 pm. Not super fond of the hours but not complaining about them either. I don’t have to start looking for a new job and that is priceless.
Lance worked at his brother’s the last two days to start paying back the money he lent us to get at least one car back on the road. It turns out that his brother’s neighbor has some work Lance can do. Lance’s brother had already recommended Lance to his neighbor, so Lance went over and talked with talk with the neighbor. Lance starts work with him on Monday, and it pays very well. YAY! It’s a temporary gig, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.
This week is still going to be a somewhat long one. Money will be tight, but I’m thinking we will just barely make it, just in time for Lance to get paid for the week. Juggle, juggle. But we made it through this. We aren’t necessarily out of deep waters, yet, but we seem to be heading in the right direction, again. I’m grateful for all we didn’t lose – the Camry, my job, our minds – and we managed to wade through it without getting irritated with each other, for the most part.
We seemed to be on the same side, again, and I think it surprised us both just how much we haven’t really been on each other’s side very much, for a while now. It’s not that we wished bad on one another or anything like that, or just plain didn’t care. We both stopped feeling supported somewhere along the line so stopped supporting one another, I think. Or something like that. Anyway, we have fared well all the way around this time. Whew…
* I wrote this last night and then got distracted by getting dinner ready and all that. Wish us luck today!!
Dragonfly Gypsy USA 