The coolant drip that ultimately killed our car—at least as far as we were concerned. This picture is looking up from the ground; it might look upside down because the firewall to the passenger compartment is at the bottom of the photo. As best as I and others I consulted could tell, the source of the drip was the condensation outlet from the heater core—the line that allows air conditioner condensation to drip out on the ground instead of building up elsewhere. Apparently if antifreeze starts pouring out of this drain that's a sure sign your heater core has basically disintegrated so that coolant that flows in there is just rushing right through the box and out on the ground.

A heater core is not an expensive or complicated part, but it can take some time and effort to dig out and replace. On this car (a 1995 Chevy Corsica) you apparently have to remove the dash for the job. I wasn't too excited about that, so I was thinking maybe we should pay someone to do this. Unfortunately, this problem appeared on a Sunday morning in Springfield, Ohio, and there was not a single mechanic open in town. Fun. At first we decided to just get a room, wait until morning, and take it to a mechanic then. After much debate and consideration, we decided instead to wait for a tow to a friendly dealership where we could just get rid of the broken beast in exchange for something in orange. And while it may sound like we made this decision lightly, I assure you we did not. Investing in a new car is asking for its own kind of new trouble so we considered it long and hard. I guess we'll never know if we did the right thing, but, well, we live and learn, right?