** 2007 Summary **
I had been dealing with an annoying oil leak for some time that wasn?t affecting fluid levels but would drip onto my exhaust and burn off when I was stopped, which was smelly and drew unwanted attention my way. Since I was nearing 125k at this point, I decided to drop my car off and have the timing belt replaced and the leak taken care of while they were down there. It was also determined that that my driver side CV axle was going bad along with my water pump and idler so I had that all replaced, as well. It ran me $900 which hurts, but at least I didn?t have to deal with the timing belt or chasing a leak. And 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. 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.
In October the brakes were done on all 4 corners; rotors & ceramic pads, drums & shoes. I had bought all the components to do it myself but my work schedule was preventing me from getting to it so I just dropped it off at the local shop one morning when my wife didn?t have school so I could drive her Tahoe to work. The rear wheel cylinders were worn and got replaced. I didn?t get into replacing the lines with steel braided but may if I ever get around to the 2.5RS front brake upgrade. This was another $700 in parts & service so that takes my total to $1600 for the year (as far as substantial maintenance costs are concerned, not to include obvious costs like oil & filters, etc) or $400/year.
That brings us to now. It?s the first day of December and this month will not allow for the time or money to be put into the car (especially since we?re trying to wrap up a kitchen renovation here at home) so I?ll try to resume updates with a new page after the first of the year.
Page 1 - General Overview
Page 2 - 2005/2006 Summary
Page 3 - 2007 in a nutshell
Page 4 - 2008: The Year of the Boomerang
