womzilla | Engine seized, womzilla fled on foot

Half literal--it's a real engine--and half metaphor--no one "seized" it, but it's like unto an unending seizure.

We have a 2000 Subaru Legacy wagon, Edmund. As I was driving on Saturday, he suddenly lost pretty much all power. Via the simple expedient of restarting the engine several times, I was able to nurse him into a parking space (ironically, in a gas station with an attached, but closed, service station) to safely arrange AAA towing to our regular service center.

Today we were informed the engine is seized, as above, probably due to nothing we did wrong, and the only practical remedy is a new engine. (We could take a gamble on a used engine, but there's a too-high probability it would happen again relatively soon with a refurb, obliterating the potential savings and then some.) So, several days of costly repair ahead.

Bleurgh. The rep at the service center has a great sense of humor: "At least it's not cancer!" he said at one point, and "It's only money--not *my* money, of course, so that's easy for me to say." I will say that on those occasions when we've been able to do direct comparisons between our regular place and other service centers, our guys have always been faster, less expensive, and more concerned with our well-being than the competition.

Fortunately, we have the money in savings, and because of