Welp, the transmission that we had replaced a few months ago is acting up.

[OldBaldy1701E]

We cannot afford to do anything about it. My husband cannot get to work without it. We cannot survive without in this ice covered city.

Merry Fucking Christmas indeed. I should have known. My curse is too much for anything to stop it.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Warranty? NT

[OldBaldy1701E]

7. I think it was a three month thing.

It has been longer than that since we got it fixed. That repair cost my husband his only living family member as his sister loaned us the cash to get it fixed, then became a 'Karen' when we did not pay it back as fast as she thought we should have. (Bear in mind that she did not give us any kind of timetable. 'Oh, you can pay it back whenever'-type of thing.) His sister's hubby makes a ton of money in his work and they could have just bought us a new car without blinking an eye. But, they decide to go all Scrooge on us. He has basically gone no contact with her because of it.

Then there is the fact that my hubby was the one who wanted this car. I was not involved with the choice and he did not avail himself to ask me anything. He knows very little about vehicles and he never asked me anything about it. I am very concerned about how this is going to affect him. He is already massively stressed out from his job and how things are going here and now we are looking at not having a car while being in the health situation that I am in and living in this parody of the North Pole. Add to that the fact that we live in the twelfth most expensive economy in the country.

Fucking wonderful. I cannot do fuckall about it. Before we moved here, I repeatedly stressed that we were about to move 1100 miles from any backup we might need and how that was a very bold and dangerous thing to do. Given my AAD (Adjustment Anxiety Disorder... moving is a major trigger for it), he felt that I was overreacting.

And here we are.

[CentralMass]

2. That was always my luck around this time when I lived in New England.

England. Then invariably I incurr some big dental expense.
On year after the transmission in the Mini van went I pulled a Charlie Brown legs up in the air flip snow blowing the driveway. A puddle had frozen overnight to solid ice and I didn't see it under the foot of snow. I landed on my back hit tje back of my head and got knocked out for some period of time. When I came to the snow blower engine was still running. I fall nade me shut my mouth hard enough to crack 3 teeth.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Call your local county Community Action Program (CAP)

Some have resources for car repair. Good luck!

[drray23]

4. If it only lasted a few months

Then the shop did something wrong. Either they installed a refurbished defective one or scammed you and just patched your old one.
I would call the shop and ask them why it's failed so quickly and expect them to fix it.

[OldBaldy1701E]

9. We usually only go to this person.

So, he will be hearing about it as soon as I can figure out how to get the car to him and walk two miles back to the house in 8F weather with a messed up foot and a worsening back flair-up.

[SheltieLover]

5. Call your local senior center

They might know of a program to help or people to give rides.

[OldBaldy1701E]

10. I will try to do that, but finding one around here has proven to be interesting.

There doesn't seem to be one in this town. Either that or they don't want anyone to know about it. I will keep trying. I did call the county where I live. They were sympathetic but had nothing to offer to help with this particular situation.

In other words, they got theirs and I can go fuck myself. A concept that I have had to deal with since I was in single digits.

So, a long time.

[XanaDUer2]

6. Never fails

In constantly scanning my dashboard of 2009 car.

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. Yep. This is a 2010.

And, it turns out to be one of the worst years for this particular vehicle. A number of 'innovations' that turned out to be idiotic attempts to either save money or look cool.

[XanaDUer2]

11. I'm so sorry Baldy

I think you'll have to fix it to get to work though. Is there a warrenty on the work?

[XanaDUer2]

12. What will you do

Maybe you can start a go fund me

[OldBaldy1701E]

14. I will be honest here.

Every time I have ever asked for financial aid or help from people I know, it always ends badly. I have had such bad luck with it that I am even wary of Christmas gifts and the like as there have been too many times where I was offered a 'gift', only to have it suddenly turn into a 'loan with lots of connected interest'. I have had friendships disintegrate and family members start shit over it. I am so gun shy about it that I am very afraid to even consider it because of past traumas that are associated with the issue.

But, I may be forced to and that scares me even more.

[waterwatcher123]

13. You might want to double check fluid levels (both hot and cold marks on the dipstick - level location is a must).

Check for leaks under the car to make sure you do not have a leaking seal or a broken hose (sometimes sliding cardboard under the car works well to pin point the location). If the fluid levels are right, you could replace an equivalent amount of the fluid in the transmission with this product from Lucas (https://www.lucasoil.com/product/transmission-fix/). You can find this Lucas product at Target, Walmart or any automotive store. It is extremely thick and does not pour well from the container. I usually heat the container in a pan of water to make it flow better. It is thick and will likely require a bit more time for your car to warm up and operate properly in a cold climate. However, it does seem to work reasonably well with transmissions that are not shifting right or slipping.

Do not overfill the transmission with fluid. You have to remove an equivalent amount of fluid to replace it with this Lucas Transmission Fix. There are lots of ways to withdraw fluid. One of the easier ones is to use this syringe like tool found on Amazon. It tends to be a messy job as well.
(https://www.amazon.com/Thorstone-Automotive-Extractor-Syringe-Evacuator/dp/B0B27SKZ4V?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3RFPLMFN0EATR&gQT=1)

Best of luck.

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. Thanks for all that. (n/t)

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. UPDATE TIME.

I took the girl to the mechanic this morning. We have not heard from him yet. We may tomorrow. I cannot say what is wrong with it. First gear is weak and jumpy but not all the time. After first, it does fine. Reverse is a mess. Very jerky and feels like it is about to cut off on me, which is due to the motions, not the engine trying to die. If they can fix it, well, it depends on the price. Replacing it is out of the question. It is not worth it after doing it once before. If it does need replacing, we are done. We cannot afford to repair it.

That will be bad.

[OldBaldy1701E]

17. New Update.

The mechanic took look and said there was nothing obvious. After some research, we learned that this happens with these models in cold weather. (Great. I live in Minnesota and I have a car that hates the cold.) He finally did something that I have been begging him to do for years. We have always had older cars. I used to put Lucas treatment in both the oil and the transmission fluid religiously. For some reason, getting a mechanic to do this is very difficult. However, this time he listened and put in the additive.

The vehicle is behaving so far. However, my husband is now scared of using it thanks to the constant issues with it.

Thanks to you all for your patience and words of comfort and encouragement. I literally have no one else to talk to about stuff here.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Well, the damned thing is acting up again.

I drove it this morning for an errand, and it behaved fine. Then, my hubby gets in it and it starts jumping around in reverse and first gear, which is new as first was never acting up so badly, it was just very loud when the the vehicle was in first gear.

My husband is stressed out beyond belief now. So am I. We are supposed to be working on moving out of here and instead we are even more trapped.

I told him. My curse will not be denied. I love him so much. I am destroying him with my bad luck and my inability to do much in the way of being a breadwinner.

I may be forced to ask for help here. I have mentioned how absolutely loathe I am to even think about doing that. But, I will run the risk and deal with the consequences if I can get some help for this situation. I suppose I will have to really think about it.

Damn this. And right after Christmas as well. People are already broke and barely hanging on and I am supposed to ask for help?

Great...