My car thus far

I found out that I had more problems with my car recently. This means two things. It's an old car (14 years old) and the parts are due. For instance, my door lock installed in my car couldn't open/close properly now. The paint needs to be removed and a new coat for my car is required. I've just changed two tires (back) early this month and I'll be changing two more (for the front tires) this weekend. It's gonna be about RM$400 to change the two tires. I haven't change my tires since I took ownership of the vehicle, which is four years ago.

The second thing to point out is the amount of abuse I've inflicted upon that car could be seen now. After four years, the neglect, the hard driving could be seen clearly on the outsides. I have to admit it's one piece of beautiful machinery. It's not a Mustang, it's not AE 86 or any of the expensive models out there but it's wholly mine. My very own Mazda 323 Astina. It runs well, hardly gives me problems (regarding the engine problems). The only thing that kicked me in my teeth was two years ago when my alternator died. Had a hard time driving.

It happened when I was on my way to Jasin (a small little hick-town about 45 minutes away from Melaka town) and I was traveling about a hundred klicks (since the max speed allowed is 110). I was driving toward Jasin to eat and suddenly there was a loud noise coming out from the engine section. I also felt that I ran on top of something. I looked into my rear-view mirror and I saw a black piece of I-dont-know-what-at-that-time on the ground. I came to a grinding halt. At first I thought it was my timing-belt (worse case scenario) and so I step on the accelerator to test the engine's response. Vroom. No problem in the engine section. So I popped the hood and opened it to see what's wrong. I couldn't see anything wrong yet then I noticed that my radiator fan isn't running. I then check and saw that I'm missing a belt around my alternator. I quickly ran down the road to pickup my alternator belt. I called my mechanic, who is like 300 klicks away, and told him of my misfortune. My engine was still running at that time.

My mechanic pointed out that the alternator belt is tied together with my engine's cooling system and if I'd notice carefully, the needle of my thermostat is getting higher. I went into my car and sure enough, my car's temperature is moving steadily up. So his advice to me is to drive to Jasin and find a mechanic to fix a new belt. He asked me if I know the size and type of belt for the alternator. I told him that I don't know but I still got my hands on the old one. He congratulated me on my thinking in finding and keeping that piece. Hanging up the phone, I went into my car.

So off I went, I still have about twenty clicks more to go but I've got to keep my eye on the engine's temperature. I got to a good three minutes when the thermometer's needle is pointing at the red. So I stopped for a few minutes, wait for it to cool down a little and drive some more. There is no point in driving fast; driving fast generates more heat, so no difference. After half and hour or so, I reached a road-side mechanic that is able to solve my unforeseen circumstances for RM$100 or so.

A few months later, the alternator itself stopped functioning. I'd replaced it with a Ford's alternator and I've been using it till now.

My car is still a good car. Now to fix it to be as good as I wanted it to be, I would need to cough up a good RM$3000. RM$1600 for the paint, RM$1000 for the seats to be more comfortable and RM$400 miscellaneous. Oh well, but for now, first things first, my tires.