Ugh..

My front-right CV joint has been clicking, and the boot on the left joint is torn, so I've been making an effort to get them fixed. I have to drive to Durham tonight, and didn't want to do so on a bad joint, so I brought the car in this morning to get the right axle replaced. Three hours after I drop it off, the shop calls me at work.

"We ordered the wrong axle.. sorry.. we should have the correct one here by 3 this afternoon."

3 o'clock rolls around and I call them back.. turns out that the second axle they recieved was identical to the first one. Well at this point I'm SOL. They tell me that they're going to have to call the local dealer and order the part from them, at which point the cost will be near $400 for the part alone.

Well I have been speaking with Marty over at Raxles and he's told me that he can provide me with a reman. CV axle for about $150. This sounds much more reasonable so I tell my mechanic to go $(#* himself and I'll take care of it myself, thankyouverymuch.

Well if things weren't bad enough already, I had asked them to pull all the heat shielding off of the exhaust while they had it on the lift, which they did.. However when I started it, the buzz was still there. Sounded like it was coming out of the front underside. Also, the left-hand bank (as you're leaning over the front bumper looking into the engine compartment) of fuel injectors seems to be clicking louder than the right bank.

So I'm driving to Durham tonight on a bad CV joint with a resonating catylitic converter and a noisy set of injectors. I suppose it could be a whole lot worse, but I'm pretty bummed out nonetheless..

Does anyone have any words of advice or encouragement? I'm tempted to replace the right axle and just sell the car and be done with it, but it's just so NICE..

-adam