I need to brag...

Bob and I purchased a 1993 GMC Suburban in January after Bob's car accident. Our car was totalled and NO ONE would fix it. We bought the truck for $1800.00. Mistake #1 was not taking it to a place to find out what all was wrong with it BEFORE we purchased it. Instead we paid the car and went on our way. Little did we know...

That there was a hole in the gas tank and it would cost us over a thousand dollars to fix it. We got that all figured out and started having other problems with it. The heat wouldn't work in it and the truck was just making weird noises. So we took it to Firestone (who I hate by the way) and here is the list:

1. Radiator has a hole in it.
2. Serpentine belt has a tear in it (this wasn't true, we took the belt off and its brand new)
3. Battery is almost dead
4. one tire is about to blow
5. breaks need replacing

So the total for them to fix this all was well over $1500.00, I about crapped my pants. But I told Bob we would take care of it ourselves and that it would all work out.

So we replaced the breaks, because that was most important and the rotors. This ended up costing us $60.00 instead of $130.00. My Dads friend replaced them for us.

Then we replaced the belt only to find out that it didn't need to be replaced and ended up taking the belt back and getting out money back.

We also replaced the battery, we bought the most expensive one with a warranty, because a battery is important.

At that time we also bought the radiator, but wasn't sure how we were gonna change it. We had heard it was tough and watched stuff online and knew it would be messy. Firestone wanted $700.00 to replace it. They wanted $350.00 for parts and another $350.00 for labor. We found out that O'reilly had the part for $120.00. BIG DIFFERENCE. So we purchased in hopes that we could either do it ourselves or pay someone to do it for us.

Last night after putting in antifreeze for the 7th day in a row I told Bob that him and I should just do it. We could both take the day off work and figure it out. So we did. We got up, got the kids breakfast and to Grandmas and we started our adventure. Bob said it was gonna be a test, we would either successfully get it done or we would screw it up, no inbetween. We started at 9am, had one small minor problem where Bob cut the tube too short and we walked to O'reilly's to get it replaced and 87 cents later were on our way. Came home and we had it completely finished by noon. It started right up and we drove it around the block and we are good. We have heat, no leaks and its perfect. I am proud. I even helped, I hate getting dirty first of all, but I knew it would save us a ton of money and I am all about that. So $1300.00 later and we are running, all we need now is new tires and we are set. The truck has a new gas line, new battery and new radiator. Bob has never replaced a radiator, but I would've never known that, we did so well together, helping each other out and getting it done.

And here is a picture, because a post wouldn't be a post without one.