ding dong, this car is dead

The garage that has my car called me late this morning. They said it would need a new radiator, costing in total $416 for diagnostic, parts & labor.

Later in the afternoon I got another call back from the garage and they told me that the engine was making an unusual noise, that sounded like a hammer tapping on steel, and wanted to know if it was a preexisting condition or something that might have happened as a result of the engine overheating.

So I told them that I needed to come up and get some things out of the car anyway. They told me that they'd have a mechanic talk to me and let me listen for myself what this new noise sounded like.

When I got there, we listened and the mechanic told me some of the things that this noise could mean. None of the scenarios he painted bode well for the life of the car, being that I don't really want to sink lots of cash into a car I don't care for.

The garage is closed on the weekend and my car is on the schedule to be serviced on Monday. While they had the go ahead to replace the radiatior, I told the guy to try and pinpoint the source of the new noise. He told me, and I heartily agreed, that it would be foolish to install a new radiator if, say, the head gasket shows signs of warping or if, in ablsoute worst-case scenario, the whole engine would need replacing.

They'll call me after they've done more diagnostic tests on the car and give me their opinion on if it is fixable, and before the guy starts working on the radiator replacement.

My personal opinion is that I did more damage to the engine than I thought and that the car, in effect, will be totaled from this incident.

We shall see what happens on Monday, I suppose.

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Game 1: Yankees 12, @ Red Sox 4
Game 2: Yankees 14, @ Red Sox 11

Not a good day for Red Sox fans. We're now 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees, and now at best -if the Red Sox win the remaining three games in the series, they'll still be in second place but will only be 1/2 game behind.

On to tomorrow's game.