pulling a transmission now to fix a squeaky throw out bearing. It’s been 5 years of being embarrassed by the noise. At least the bearing hasn’t seized and ripped off the quill.

I’ve also replaced a ton of wear/maintenance parts on the front end which have all been reasonably priced but will admit the vehicle is getting older and gets used under conditions that are very hard on it. Surprisingly the CV axles and wheel bearings have held up but it probably won’t be long. No sensors have needed replacement yet but if I use OEM when they do go out it will be expensive.

Our other Toyota which is an automatic has started leaking from the transmission case. It’s a known issue but Toyota says I’m on my own due to age vs mileage but they will give me a 20% discount on any work done. Sigh. Still stupid expensive. The touch screen also quit working in some areas, no deal on that one.

I’m to the point where I think I keep vehicles too long. They eventually need parts replaced and there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the major manufacturers anymore in terms of quality. They all have some sort of issue with something, usually something expensive after 100,000 miles.

I miss the old days when vehicles were simple and you could sit in the engine bay to work on them. It seems like I need to buy a new tool also or type of socket every time I work on things nowadays just to get into the space needed.

Anyway, I think I’m going to keep one long term since it will have a new clutch and is beat up. The other we will probably trade in for something and get rid of it in 4 years to avoid the cost or frustration of some of these repairs.