Wednesday, June 10, 2009

a little car trouble




so as previously mentioned, priscilla was in an accident. she got banged up pretty badly, but lucky for us, tyrell knows how to fix things.





he and our friend john worked on it and slowly but surely, got everything bent back into shape. thanks a lot john for all your help!! and once tyrell found all the parts...


he put her back together again. she looks as good as new. and my king of cheap (thank you heather) wants me to add, that his car fixing skills turned this $4,500 budget buster into a $360 repair (hopefully this is a big enough savings to make the smith family christmas letter:).
in the mean time.... we also had a problem with the truck. it had had starter trouble since it nearly left us stranded on our honey moon (i have since discovered that car trouble on the honey moon is a smith boy tradition). but this trouble was few and very far between. there were just a few times in the last year that it wouldn't start, and each time, ty would quickly have us back on our way.
but then it started to do it more and more often after priscilla got hit. it was our only vehicle, and for a while there, i had to push start it every where i went. i was getting really good at doing it by myself. i learned to always park on a slant. and there were several times where a good samaritan detected my need for help and gave me a push. so after a week or so, (which had allowed me ample time to accumulate a long list of hilarious/embarrassing pushing the truck all over detroit stories. and to learn a valuable lesson on push starting, according to tyrell) ty finally got in there to fix the problem he thought would be quick and easy. but to make a long story short after buying new tools, lifting the engine, and lowering the front axel he was able to replace the starter.
so for a while there we had gone from 3 working vehicles to 0 working vehicles in a matter of months. but thanks to ty, we are all back up and running:)

6 comments:

Erin-lou said...

I love this story. You should have taken a video of the pushing and posted it.

A said...

I miss Ty being around. When are you guys moving back to AZ? I just got a call from the Mechanic yesterday... $700 to replace the compressor on my truck. Or I can just sweat all summer long. Oh and by the way it looks like you have a water leak, oh and you probably need a new fan clutch! I guess my 8 year old truck w/ 220,000 miles is dying... I could go on about the other car but ti would take too long. I would much rather throw good money and good food and such to Tyrell then some other Mechanic

Heather said...

I am so with Alan. There have been numerous times when I've wished Ty was around to jimmy-rig something or help me cheaply fix a car. He's the king of the cheap!

Stef said...

Your hubby is a man of many traits! Your car looks AMAZING!! Holy cow!! How lucky you are!

ms said...

I have to say, I am jealous! Mike is a pretty handy guy around the house, but when it comes to cars, he throws in the towel. Oh the money that can be saved that we never will...

Skinners said...

I love to read your blog! I cannot wait until you come back!!!! High five to Ty for fixing it (the car looks amazing) and double high five to you for push starting. You guys rock!