Stupid cars

My car has been in the shop for a week as they try to work out exactly what is wrong with it. First it was an ignition coil. That was cheap enough to fix. Then they claimed it was a fuel injector which would be $175, a pain but whatever.

Then yesterday I call to see if my car is done. The mechanic didn't believe the Jaguar representative who said the fuel injector needed replaced, so he didn't replace it. But while digging around they found a huge problem, that I admit I didn't completely understand, that they said would be $2200 to fix. I sort of freaked out when I heard that, I was already paying more than $1000 for routine maintenance that needs done every hundred thousand miles. So I asked if there were any reasonable corners I could cut since the car is at 210 000 miles. I get put on hold. Five minutes later he comes back thinking he can do it for 600, as long as certain parts are in good enough shape. OK, a pain in the ass, but not the end of the world. I will probably get out of there under 2k in the hole.

Then I get a call this morning. Some bolt in the engine is too tight. They think they might be able to get it out, but it is at a high risk for breaking. If it does break the only option is to remove the engine and send it to a machine shop. There is a risk that they even cannot fix it though and I will need to replace the engine! However they are currently looking for ways to avoid this problem, so all I can do is wait around for more news. I am still really hoping this car holds out until I can buy a plug in hybrid, but it is starting to worry me.