GMcginty4's Journal

                           For those of you who know, I have been through hell and back with my vehicle recently.  When I bought my car it had no problems what so ever.  The dealer I got it from sold me the car at a pretty good price, needless to say I was proud to own my own car again.  About a year later the brakes started to go bad, so I did what any "good" driver would do, I got them fixed, brand new.  A few months later I started to smell fuel leaking from the rear, but I did not know, nor did I have the money to get that kind of a problem fixed, so I had to "bite the bullet" so to speak and learn to get use to the smell of fuel every time I drove.  A few months later Jeff had graciously bought a new gas tank for my car, and drove to Jeff's dad's garage because he had the necessary tools to get the job done right.  Five hours later we had successfully installed my new tank without a hitch!  After a few short goodbyes I start my car to leave and come home, when fuel starts pouring all over the driveway.  I thought "fuck, I thought I just fixed it!".  Turns out after all of that fucking hard work, while changing the tank I had busted a fuel line on top of the fuel pump.  So I had to drive an hour and a half back home with a horrible fuel leak, going through two full tanks of gas for such a short trip, and with the fear of bursting into flames along the way.  At the time I was about crack under the stress of having to deal with such a senseless problem.  It was even causing problems at work because I was either late, or I kept having to leave early to try to HAVE this problem fixed once and for all.(my co-workers now have an understanding because they all smell the fuel leaking, lol)  I finally had a big break because I had gotten my tax return and I finally had the money to get it fixed.  I took my car to a local garage called "Marconi's" thinking it would be a simple, cheap fix.  I was soo fuckin nervous at the thought of it being more than i could afford although I had 800 bucks to work with.  A guy from the shop had called me at work to give me an update on the progress, but another long story short he told me that the part that they needed was "discontinued" and there was nothing he could do, and at that moment I was about to throw in the towel and buy a new car because the guy had convinced me to the point of no avail. I was so angry because everyone around me had given up on a solution and gave nothing but fucking excuses on why it couldnt be fixed, not only did they refuse to fix it, in the process of diagnosing the problem they had busted a brake line rendering my vehicle brakeless. Needless to say I limped out of the shop with nothing but my emergency brake.  I was seconds away from a critical (to me anyway) decision to get rid of a vehicle I had worked years for.  But because of everything I have been through over the years told me to not give up, and because my ethics would not allow me to do such a thing.  People who know me quite well know I do not make these decisions lightly, and/or give up easily.  SO! I had made the right choice in taking my car to a different shop who in the end finally fixed my brakes at 88 bucks, but of course refused to fix the giant fuel leak.  I ended up going to a local salvage yard to get the needed part, and at this very moment I am still with a fuel leak to fix myself.   I am VERY grateful I have people in my life who give a shit about me enough to help me along the way, not only in keeping my sanity, but being there to cheer me on because in the end, thats all you've got are the people who love you.  There is one thing i have learned from all of this is that if you work hard enough, and you bust your ass to make it right, no matter what the fuck heads of the world say, you become grateful, and more appreciative of what you have got now.