Our trusty CR-V is back from the shop, sitting in the driveway with the pod bolted to the roof, ready for adventure. It started making grinding noises at the beginning of the year that I thought might be the clutch or transmission slipping, and they were getting much worse this past month. The week before the parade I poked around to see why the muffler was getting louder and found a pinhole leak in the resonator pipe. This is our vacation vehicle, so we needed to address the issues before shipping out next week. Our trusty mechanic down the street chased the grinding noise down to the serpentine belt and diagnosed a failing water pump, which cured the grinding noise, and replaced the resonator pipe underneath. The ‘V sounds like a new car again. At 117K on the odometer we’re moving into the nickel and dime phase of ownership to fix the stuff that’s beginning to wear out, so it’s not like this is unexpected. I’m just glad it wasn’t the transmission, because that would have been a catastrophic repair bill.

The next thing I’d like to find is a used silver hood to replace the one we have. The clear coat has been peeling off for years now to the point where it’s almost all gone, and it looks shitty. Jen and I love the ‘V and plan to keep it on the road as long as possible, so we gotta make sure it looks good. I haven’t found a decent replacement inside 500 miles yet, but I’m on the lookout every week. If the right one comes up, I’ll go get it.