I am a single parent and I only get paid at the end of every month. Like all parents, I have my child involved in an extracurricular activity. I cannot make it with one paycheck each month. I thank God for my transportation, however, I am putting oil in the car at least twice or three times a week and that takes money. I really need some sound advice.
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Have you thought about carpooling with some other moms whose kids are in the same activity? Or you could look into other activities that are within walking distance of your home or on the bus line? Just a few thoughts. Good luck.
That's too much oil. Something is wrong with your car. Have it checked by a mechanic.
As a single mom, I feel your pain. But trust me, it's much less expensive to fix your car than to replace it! If you're adding oil that often, you've got a HUGE leak somewhere, and leaks don't tend to get smaller! If you're running the car and you lose too much oil, you'll "seize" the engine - car won't run, engine will need to be replaced. At one point I had a head gasket leak, which I didn't think much of - for how much I thought was leaking, I didn't feel the expense of the repair was fair.
My neighbor (who I didn't actually know very well) turned out to be a mechanic, and helped me get a payment plan with his garage.
A mechanic will give you an estimate (most are free, just ask for a quote) and check around for people who know people...if I lived by you, I'd have you talk to my DH!
Take it to a mechanic or else the car will be ruined and you'll have to get a whole new one.
I know as a single parent myself just how hard it
is to manage to come up with a large downpayment
on a car.I had this problem myself,sorry but your
ps-- you need to get connected to an organization that can help you though these hard times..ie church
group,etc
You could try to see if an oil Stop Leak additive would help - sometimes it's cracked seals & the additive patches it up for a while - Frankly I don't see a problem just feeding the engine oil for a while as long as you keep tabs on the levels all the time - cheaper than repairs - Just SAVE up for them. Or it may be that your car is on the way out altogether & you should just get as much mileage out of it as you can! Do see if you can get a friendly repair person to take a look at it for you....
I remember the time when the kids were very young I pumped up a tire every morning for over a month (with one of those dollar store bicycle pumps) because I just didn't have the money for a new (even used) replacement. Didn't know about "Fix-a flat" at the time :-) and probalby would have had to wait for my monthly check anyway to have been able to afford a can of it.
It least you are being aware of the need to keep that oil in your car. So as not to ruin it suddenly and completely. But oil really is expensive. The Stop leak stuff suggested just might be a help to get by for a little while. And the carpooling, etc advice to reduce car usage is good too.
Here's another thought, just in case you don't know the oil leak source. I just had my car serviced (lucky me), and the mechanic noticed my oil was almost completely empty!! (blush). Seems the last time we changed the oil (a DYI job) we didn't tighten the oil filter properly...it all leaked out. So, well, sometimes big things are really not so bad, if you can logic out the problem. Good luck, wish I could give you better advice about how to deal with this.
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