Rebuilding inventory...

During my visit to the shop to fix the fluid leaks and get a tuneup, the mechanic pointed out a few things which would need to be addressed at some point in the future.  The most serious of these was that there was some oil seepage fouling the spark plugs indicating a worn out gasket.  Since I have no way of knowing how long they have been there, I have decided to go all the way and change both the valve cover and cylinder head gaskets. For peace of mind, I will also replace the radiator hoses and both alternator and compressor belts.

There have also been some squeaking noises from the front end indicating worn out bearings on the pulleys and tensioners, so those will need to be changed.  The three new ones are in the green boxes below.  From the rear end, now that the tool case has been filled out, the trunk has difficulty staying up because of worn out dampers.  This makes the lid slam down on any slight gust of wind which I consider to be a danger to anyone using the cargo compartment as the weight and relatively sharp edge of the lid can cause serious injury.   Just like the hood, a new set of dampers has been acquired so the trunk can withstand any external pressure unless forcefully pushed down.  Surprisingly, the most expensive part is for the most minor problem.  The "oil level sensor" tattle-tale keeps popping up in the dashboard and while it may seem to be a serious fault, it actually is a Level 3 warning (i.e. can be attended to at a convenient time).  Because it is often considered a hassle to manually check the oil level through the dipstick, modern cars use a sensor to give off a warning when it becomes too low.  In this particular case, the warning is for the sensor not functioning properly and will require the dipstick routine to find out if the proper oil level is maintained.  If this is done regularly, there is actually no pressing need to have the sensor changed.  But since my thinking runs along the line of choosing to take all the pain in one go, I will replace it sooner rather than later. The new sensor is on the yellow box.

I have now decided to go ahead and change the wiper blade assembly instead of just the rubber which I had done earlier. The reason being that the replacement rubber was not a proper fit and did not lie flat on the windshield. More expensive this way but the good news was that the replacement rubber blade was very cheap to begin with. I was also able to get my hands on a mounting screw to fasten the plastic engine valve cover. And a polishing compound which hopefully will be able to remove watermarks and minor scratches from glass.

I wonder what's next...