Galaxee's unnecessary brake replacement adventures

i was stunned to get a call that the car was finished today! it was only thursday or friday that my adjuster found the transaxle replacement part. so the adjuster has to handle the paperwork at the dealership tomorrow morning, then we're picking the car up in the afternoon. i can't wait to test drive it and NOT hear that noise.

depending on whether the parts place has a core charge (and what the charge is) we may or may not be getting the old transaxle back. while DH would more than love to assess exactly what happened and compare to his personal theory... if it's more than a couple bucks, we have big baby expenses pending and still have to deal with getting the several dozen deep paint scratches out that magically appeared when we left the car at Jim Coleman that "they had nothing to do with"... so it wouldn't be practical.

and if this thing is fixed, i'm writing a blistering letter to Jim Coleman's service manager and cc'ing everyone i've talked to over in Torrance. what i've gathered to date is that Coleman's people told Toyota it was "wind noise" ffs.

hilariously, the log hit my car (what must have been) just a few days before this "condition" started. i was going to start taking bets as to which ongoing issue would be over with first.

 

well, the noise i took it in for is gone. yay! this identifies a damaged transaxle as the cause of the noise.

but lemme get back to you on whether or not this is over and done with... i'm hearing something new and need to run it by DH's ears.

 

a few days and a long road trip later, all seems to be good now. DH's critical ear gives it the ok. kudos to Fitzgerald Lakeforest Toyota. one trip for diagnosis, another trip for repair. no screwing around, and no getting screwed over. i made cookies for the tech and for the service writer, i was so pleased.

a couple of other odd noises i noticed but had attributed to aging suspension parts are also gone. the car sounds great. and i'm pretty happy to have this salvage transmission with a lifetime warranty on it. we have yet to discuss whether or not we can take the damaged transaxle- we have been utterly slammed in the last week or so.

6 and a half months, that's how long this mess took. i am writing some very straight-up letters to Coleman, Toyota, and Progressive about our experiences. but i am very glad to have our car back as it should be.