I'm a bit worried on how my car has been acting since my first accident with it over a year ago...
The Story:
Tried to take a left hand turn out a side street and ended up hitting a green Taurus in its front passenger door. Nothing major, but the tip of my hood and bumber were dented inwards; the Taurus had a dent in its front passenger door.
I took it to a very trusted mechanic to do the mechanical part of the repairs. In the complex he's in, a body shop was just put in, owned and operated by somebody else. For the sake of time and laziness, I decided to have the body repairs done with him. He replaced the bumper and the stuff inside it that actually protects, but with the hood all he did was bend the hood back into position. The hood appeared to be in worse shape than the bumper. I was told that he should have replaced the hood rather than fold it back, but alas he did not. Because of this, there is a gap that is rougly 1.5 inches bigger between the hood and the bumper than used to be.
The Problem:
I live in New England...we get some pretty hardcore storms out here, especially now in the winter. The problem with the car is, whenever it rains (liquid, not snow) out, from a light drizzle to downpouring sleet, my car has a hard as hell time starting. I sounds like it wants to turn over, but it just can't. It just keeps putzing like there's no gas in it. 3rd try is usually the winner, but today I just couldn't get it started (had to get some friends to push it into the garage...it finally started later this evening once it was out of the rain). I've only had this problem since the hood repair...
The Question:
Is the larger gap in the hood the main contributor to this problem (water more easily gets in), or am I dealing with something far worse?
The Story:
Tried to take a left hand turn out a side street and ended up hitting a green Taurus in its front passenger door. Nothing major, but the tip of my hood and bumber were dented inwards; the Taurus had a dent in its front passenger door.
I took it to a very trusted mechanic to do the mechanical part of the repairs. In the complex he's in, a body shop was just put in, owned and operated by somebody else. For the sake of time and laziness, I decided to have the body repairs done with him. He replaced the bumper and the stuff inside it that actually protects, but with the hood all he did was bend the hood back into position. The hood appeared to be in worse shape than the bumper. I was told that he should have replaced the hood rather than fold it back, but alas he did not. Because of this, there is a gap that is rougly 1.5 inches bigger between the hood and the bumper than used to be.
The Problem:
I live in New England...we get some pretty hardcore storms out here, especially now in the winter. The problem with the car is, whenever it rains (liquid, not snow) out, from a light drizzle to downpouring sleet, my car has a hard as hell time starting. I sounds like it wants to turn over, but it just can't. It just keeps putzing like there's no gas in it. 3rd try is usually the winner, but today I just couldn't get it started (had to get some friends to push it into the garage...it finally started later this evening once it was out of the rain). I've only had this problem since the hood repair...
The Question:
Is the larger gap in the hood the main contributor to this problem (water more easily gets in), or am I dealing with something far worse?
