I Can Has Minivan Back?

This morning, the mechanic at Pep Boys called with offsetting bad and good news. Below the cut are pictures of the good and bad news taken from much later in the day after I walked up to collect the van.

( Bad news, good news, netted out )

So that's another $1,100 spent on vehicle repairs, on top of the $270 spent on Friday-Saturday on the unrelated rear heater core and plumbing failure. However, the van sounds much better. Squeaks that in retrospect were probably the sounds of the alternator falling apart are gone. We still need to deal with the rear heater core, and it would be nice if we could find a shop that could replace that rear air conditioner as well, but the Astro is running again, and I think it feels much better. Tomorrow morning, I head for home.