The other day after pulling into a parking lot at Outback Steakhouse, I noticed steam spewing out from the front of my car. Not from under the hood, but from the grate area, right above the license plate. Fortunately my Step Dad and Mom were meeting us and were able to help assess the situation. If you know me at all, you know that I am mechanically challenged. I can check the level of oil in my car and the air pressure in my tires and that is about the extent of my knowledge on cars. SD (Step Dad) asks me to pop the hood and he checks things out. Radiator is full, nothing seems amiss. Yet there is still a nice, loud hissing sound coming from the front of my car. We decide to go in and sit down to let the car cool down before doing anything else. When we come back out, Jon gets down on his hands and knees to listen for the sound and notices a dent/hole, about the size of a bullet (which is was not), in what we thought at the time was some kind of filter (turns out to be the condensing unit). I put a paper towel over the hole and the hissing stops. Okay, now we know where it is coming from. I called Aaron and we discuss calling the dealer the next day.

Fast forward to Wednesday (yesterday). I had an appointment to take the van in at 9 PM last night (who knew they made appts. that late?). I brought it in and told the guy what happened. By this point my A/C was no longer working either. BTW, I drive a 2007 Odyssey, so I figured the A/C had something to do with the other issue, as one would think that it should still work after just being 1 year old. I sat around the dealer for about 15 minutes before they came to tell me the bad news. The condensing unit needed replaced. That, combined with labor was going to cost us $800+ tax! OUCH!!!! Aaron talked with the guy and asked why this condensing unit is so exposed that a rock can go through it and cause it to be replaced. All Hondas are like this, the guy said. Nice.

So, this expense, plus my recent dental issues (another whole post to the tune of $3500), well, there goes my deck. We have been wanting to put a deck on the back of the house for a while and have recently gotten some quotes. Well, after these unexpected expenses, I think that will have to wait for a while.

If there is a positive to this all or a silver lining, the guy at the Honda dealer didn’t charge us for the rental car I am driving until I get my van back. 😉