March 18, 2010
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Yesterday when I was driving to work, I ran over something on the freeway. I think it was either a muffler or a bumper. The car in front of me didn’t avoid it himself, so I couldn’t see it coming my way. There was a car to my left and my right, so I couldn’t swerve. I was going at least 65MPH so there wasn’t much I could do to avoid it in my situation, since breaking wouldn’t made a difference at that point. So *thump* I ran whatever it was over. Luckily there wasn’t any immediate change to how my car felt afterward. No sudden flat tire. No unusual sounds. Car didn’t catch on fire. Nothing that extreme. My car seems to be driving normal.
Five miles later, I make it to work and park my car at the parking lot. First thing I noticed was that my parking break was stiffer than normal. When I got out of my car, there was an obvious burning smell. The smell seems to be coming from the rear left of my car, so I’m assuming it has to do with the breaks. I looked down there and also noticed that I have a set of wires exposed, as if whatever it was I ran over tore it’s rubber covering (at least the metal/plastic covering was still intact). Didn’t have time to do anything at that point as I needed to go to work.
Eight hours later, I was able to drive my car home with no issue. Parking break feels normal when I applied it, but once I got out of the car, I noticed that burning smell again! I do not know what to make of it. Could it be my parking break is stuck on for one tire? I’m a bit annoyed that something like this could be happening to me. First my left leg was damaged, and now my car’s rear left tire seems to be damaged. I lost mobility when I hurt my leg, and now my car might not be moving much because of this.
I can’t live without my car for obvious reasons. I still have one more night of work, so I’m hoping my car could keep going until I can get it in for maintenance on my day off. I’m guessing it might not be a quick (or cheap) fix either, so talk about my misfortune.
Below are the photos of what I think the problem area is at…
*edit* UPDATE – went ahead and brought it to the mechanic anyway. Turns out my “left rear control arm/link” plus cable was bent and damaged. My parking break was forced stuck as well, but they were able to unstuck it. Called for the parts needed for the repair, but I’m now able to drive it with no problems. Gonna wait for them to call me as to when they can fix the problem for a long term solution, and it’s going to cost approximately $450+ total. bleah. At least I can still drive my car, so that makes me glad.
