My wife had been driving The Boomerang for a few weeks and I was driving her Tahoe so she'd save some money on fuel but I missed the car and was asking for it back. Well, I got my wish when she returned from a softball tournament with a shudder.

I didn't have the time to tear it apart and figure it out so I dropped it off at the shop the Thursday morning to let them take care of it. Since I'm coming up on 125k miles, I decided to have the timing belt replaced and the oil leak repaired, which I thought was the front main seal. Turns out it was the oil pump gasket and the shudder was from something breaking off at the driver side CV axle. It was also determined that my water pump and an idler was going bad so in an effort to get everything over with, I had it all taken care of.

Just got the car back from the shop:

Parts:
Timing belt - $60
Idler (x2) - $120
Oil pump seal - $6
Water pump - $100
Antifreeze - $13 (sheesh)
Idler cogged - $80
Crank seal front - $10
Axle shaft assembly - $100
Belt accy - $19
Belt accy - $20

Labor:
Vibration check at 30-40MPH - $7.50
Timing belt remove & replace - $263
Axle shaft assembly remove & replace - $75

Total with taxes - $904

Ouch. That really hurt but once I thought it over, it's really not that bad considering it's the first money I've really had to put towards it for maintenance in the last 4 years. That averages out around $225/year for maintenance. How does that sound? About average?

At least it's one less thing I have to worry about and hopefully I can get another 125k miles out of it trouble-free.

I've been toying with the idea, again, of building a carputer to bring all of my toys and desires together in one utility. A 7" touch screen would bring everything (mp3s, GPS/navigation, Sirius radio, email, etc) to my fingertips.

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