Round and Round We Go - Hide and Seek Car Parts

For over a week now, I have been searching for a part for Princess Two's car. Part of the same part is bad on Princess One's car. Prince One has the same car but a year older. So, we have three of these cars and they have a weakness. The Air sensor goes bad and the after market sensors don't work and the car won't run without this sensor.

So, everyone online says to find a car at a wrecking yard and get this part. Well, that is easier said than done.  I called the local yards and then got online, I called one place and they would tell me about another place and then the trail would get cold and then I would get online to check eBay and a few other sites online and start calling more and more. 

At first, each place said they had one. I would ask them to look at it and make sure it had both parts we needed and that they are in working order. Mind you, that these people are advertising they have this working part online. 

The first place was a yard that leaves the parts on the car until needed at the part had been on the car for 64 months! It was calcified and I had to wait a day to see if they could use a mild acid to clean off the part. NOPE!

That wasted a day. I then called a few places 5-6 hours away after my dad looked online, then Princess one gave me some numbers. One of them said they could get the part for $250 sent to them from New Mexico but on further searching it wasn't complete or something. He gave me the number for a State Street place and they sold theirs last week. They gave me the number for a place in Colorado.

They said they had it and I asked that before I paid, they look at the part and make sure both are there and looking good and when he checked the part number, it wasn't the same as what is said it should have been. .
 
They gave me the name of a place in CA that said they had one that fit and I asked him to check it out and explained what I needed as he said he had one and when I asked how many miles the car had on it and if he would go look at it for me, he said it had over 220,000. He told me he wouldn't sell it to me as it probably wouldn't last long if it did work. He gave me his personal number and said he would be willing to call around if I couldn't find one. I thought that was above and beyond but I may have to take him up on it.

At some point in there, I called Portland and don't even remember what happened on that call. They told me to try Napa. I went to our local Napa Auto Part Store and they said they had a new one for a HUGE amount of money. 

I forgot to mention that I can get one from the manufacturer  for over $1500 which is more than we paid for two of the cars and more than any of them are worth now.

I have had such a hard time because people tell me they will check on it and call me back and then don't get back and I have to call them again the next day. All the while, Princess two has been without a car for two weeks now. 

I am no closer now to getting the part than I was two weeks ago. It is frustrating. I finally wrote out a little map of who I called and where they sent me. It is kinda funny but I feel like I was playing state bingo and once I had called a state, I could check it off the list.

Anyway, I am waiting for "a guy to call me back." I will end up calling in the morning and if I harass them, they tell me they don't have the part instead of looking so you can't just call them until they look, I need them so I have to be patient for them to find the time to check it out for me. 

On my car, when I took it in for the alignment after hitting the deer, they found I broke the ball joint on the front passenger side. When they replaced that, the starter mysteriously stopped working. So, that is a new expense. Frankly, I will post about my car later as I am so frustrated with the shop where I took it. I took treats to my normal mechanic today and told him how much I appreciate him. I have spent over $1000 in the last month. I must have issues with cars as so much has happened in the past month with them all. Lets hope the worst is over and they can get my car working as he has had it since the fourth.