vikingshadow
04-27-2007, 07:13 PM
You know, sometimes all the modern conveniences we have, all the wonderful gadgetry and technology we have at our fingertips, everything to make our lives run smoothly and efficiently just getw angry at us and turns into a cash-sucking, anger-inducing, hair-losing hassles!
Hard day at work after what I would call a pretty decent week, considering. 5:00 hits, I'm ready to leave - papers all graded, lessons planned, etc. Wife and daughter are heading out to scout camp this weekend, so supper is already cooked and waiting, I'm planning on hitting the treamill, yadda yadda ya...
So, I get in the car, turn the key aaaannnnnddddd -------------- nothing. CRAP! I figure that since the car's been turning over pretty slowly the last couple of weeks, it's a dead battery, right? Call wife, she comes to my rescue with her car and the jumper cables. Leave em on awhile, turn the key aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddddd ------------------ nothing. Crank up the wife's car, give it some gas aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddd ------------ nothing.
So, I'm thinking, 5:20 on a Friday, car in the school parking lot, no one's going to be available to come give me a tow, car's gonna sit in the parking lot all weekend - no way, Jose'! So, we jet over to Auto Zone, and they say, "Nope, we don't have any way to come check your vehicle out. Can you bring the battery in?"
So, go home, get tools, go BACK to the school, take the battery out of the car (with no handle on the dang thing, of course!) and carry it to Auto Zone. Stick it on the battery thingamajobber and they say the battery looks pretty good, although the water's low. Fill it up, charge it (took nearly 40 minutes) and head back to the parking lot with the battery. Look at the watch, it's 5:50.
Now, wife and daughter needed to be at the Scout Camp at 6:00, so I'm in a hurry. As I lift the battery out of the back of her car (no handle, remember?) it slips out of my hand and lands on her rear light assembly and cracks it! CRAP! Now I have to buy a new taillight assembly.
Ok, reinstall battery, make sure everything is good and snug turn the key aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddd nothing. DOUBLE CRAP! The Auto Zone guy that came with me says, "Your battery must be fried."
I said, "But it took the charge, right?"
He says, "Well, yeah, but sometimes they just aren't any good after so long." My battery is a little over 5 years - it's a 7 year battery, so I can see his point, but not really. However, it's now 6:40, and I'm more than a bit pissed.
So, take the old battery BACK out, go BACK to Auto Zone and buy a new battery. 60.00. Ask about tail light assembly, but they can't even get one, so that means I have to go through the dealer. TRIPLE CRAP!!!
We leave, I tell wife that I don't think this is going to do the trick, because it just doesn't feel right - way too easy for symptoms. Get BACK to the school, take the new battery out (by the handle - so much easier!) and install it, snug everything up, turn the key aaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddd ------- nothing. QUADRUPLE CRAP!
Well, I've had enough. I figure it's a standard, we'll push the damn thing and pop the clutch. Sure enough, it starts! Great. At least I can get it home and parked, but I decide to go by Auto Zone again to see if they can hook it up to their diagnostic machine. For some reason, they just don't want to hook it up. I explain that we popped the clutch, and they immediately said, "Oh, that sounds like the starter!"
Well, I already dropped $60.00 on the battery, so I ask how much the starter is, knowing full well that I'm not a mechanic and that even if I bought the silly thing, I wouldn't know the first thing about installing it. Sure, they have it in stock and it's $108.00 plus 35.00 Core fee, SOMETHING AFTER QUADRUPLE CRAP! And I still didn't know if it was the starter!
Now, mechanics around here charge upwards of 60.00 an hour, minimum two hours billed. That's IF they can diagnose the problem and get to it rather easily, and if they can get your car in under two weeks. So, I figure - I'm not a mechanic, but I've heard the starter is relatively easy to install, IF you know where it's at. So, que phone call to Dad. Dad is a good mechanic - he refuses to take his vehicles into the shop so, yeah.
Dad says, "That sounds like the starter all right. Do you have a book for your car?" Uh, oh. Here it comes!
"Um, no. I never needed one before!" Begin 20 minute talk on why I should already have one, with a sprinkling of "You spend 30.00 to get your oil changed?" and "You really should learn to be a mechanic to help you out in these situations." Not angry, just the typical father/son talk - never mind him being 71 and me being 41!
Ok, so - scratch relaxing, quiet weekend enjoying my somewhat empty house and insert NEW mission:
1. Mow the grass in my front yard and MAYBE spray it again (dang weeds just won't die!)
2. Mow the jungle in my back yard - judging from the looks of it, this may take most of the day tomorrow!
3. Call O'Reilleys and Junkie Jims to see if I can get a better price on a starter.
4. WALK to O'Reilleys and buy a book for my car so I can determine where and how to remove the starter from my car and reinstall another one.
5. Get my car running again so I can run it up on ramps so I can crawl underneath it to work on the it.
6. Hopefully get out of this weekend spending less than 300.00 on my car.
Ok, to be fair, it's a really great car! The car is a 91 Ford Explorer (may be 92 - I can't remember) with 168,000+ miles on it. I bought it used about 8-9 years ago, and in those 10 years I've had to fix only a handful of problems. New muffler, new battery, new window motor (now the other three are out, but I'll be danged if I spend 300.00 per window again!) new brakes and new tires. Not too bad for the age of the vehicle and the number of years I've had it, if you ask me!
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tl;dr: I got bit by a vampire, now I move only at night, preying on the necks of nubile young women. Read the damn thing, already!
Hard day at work after what I would call a pretty decent week, considering. 5:00 hits, I'm ready to leave - papers all graded, lessons planned, etc. Wife and daughter are heading out to scout camp this weekend, so supper is already cooked and waiting, I'm planning on hitting the treamill, yadda yadda ya...
So, I get in the car, turn the key aaaannnnnddddd -------------- nothing. CRAP! I figure that since the car's been turning over pretty slowly the last couple of weeks, it's a dead battery, right? Call wife, she comes to my rescue with her car and the jumper cables. Leave em on awhile, turn the key aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddddd ------------------ nothing. Crank up the wife's car, give it some gas aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddd ------------ nothing.
So, I'm thinking, 5:20 on a Friday, car in the school parking lot, no one's going to be available to come give me a tow, car's gonna sit in the parking lot all weekend - no way, Jose'! So, we jet over to Auto Zone, and they say, "Nope, we don't have any way to come check your vehicle out. Can you bring the battery in?"
So, go home, get tools, go BACK to the school, take the battery out of the car (with no handle on the dang thing, of course!) and carry it to Auto Zone. Stick it on the battery thingamajobber and they say the battery looks pretty good, although the water's low. Fill it up, charge it (took nearly 40 minutes) and head back to the parking lot with the battery. Look at the watch, it's 5:50.
Now, wife and daughter needed to be at the Scout Camp at 6:00, so I'm in a hurry. As I lift the battery out of the back of her car (no handle, remember?) it slips out of my hand and lands on her rear light assembly and cracks it! CRAP! Now I have to buy a new taillight assembly.
Ok, reinstall battery, make sure everything is good and snug turn the key aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnndddddddd nothing. DOUBLE CRAP! The Auto Zone guy that came with me says, "Your battery must be fried."
I said, "But it took the charge, right?"
He says, "Well, yeah, but sometimes they just aren't any good after so long." My battery is a little over 5 years - it's a 7 year battery, so I can see his point, but not really. However, it's now 6:40, and I'm more than a bit pissed.
So, take the old battery BACK out, go BACK to Auto Zone and buy a new battery. 60.00. Ask about tail light assembly, but they can't even get one, so that means I have to go through the dealer. TRIPLE CRAP!!!
We leave, I tell wife that I don't think this is going to do the trick, because it just doesn't feel right - way too easy for symptoms. Get BACK to the school, take the new battery out (by the handle - so much easier!) and install it, snug everything up, turn the key aaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddddd ------- nothing. QUADRUPLE CRAP!
Well, I've had enough. I figure it's a standard, we'll push the damn thing and pop the clutch. Sure enough, it starts! Great. At least I can get it home and parked, but I decide to go by Auto Zone again to see if they can hook it up to their diagnostic machine. For some reason, they just don't want to hook it up. I explain that we popped the clutch, and they immediately said, "Oh, that sounds like the starter!"
Well, I already dropped $60.00 on the battery, so I ask how much the starter is, knowing full well that I'm not a mechanic and that even if I bought the silly thing, I wouldn't know the first thing about installing it. Sure, they have it in stock and it's $108.00 plus 35.00 Core fee, SOMETHING AFTER QUADRUPLE CRAP! And I still didn't know if it was the starter!
Now, mechanics around here charge upwards of 60.00 an hour, minimum two hours billed. That's IF they can diagnose the problem and get to it rather easily, and if they can get your car in under two weeks. So, I figure - I'm not a mechanic, but I've heard the starter is relatively easy to install, IF you know where it's at. So, que phone call to Dad. Dad is a good mechanic - he refuses to take his vehicles into the shop so, yeah.
Dad says, "That sounds like the starter all right. Do you have a book for your car?" Uh, oh. Here it comes!
"Um, no. I never needed one before!" Begin 20 minute talk on why I should already have one, with a sprinkling of "You spend 30.00 to get your oil changed?" and "You really should learn to be a mechanic to help you out in these situations." Not angry, just the typical father/son talk - never mind him being 71 and me being 41!
Ok, so - scratch relaxing, quiet weekend enjoying my somewhat empty house and insert NEW mission:
1. Mow the grass in my front yard and MAYBE spray it again (dang weeds just won't die!)
2. Mow the jungle in my back yard - judging from the looks of it, this may take most of the day tomorrow!
3. Call O'Reilleys and Junkie Jims to see if I can get a better price on a starter.
4. WALK to O'Reilleys and buy a book for my car so I can determine where and how to remove the starter from my car and reinstall another one.
5. Get my car running again so I can run it up on ramps so I can crawl underneath it to work on the it.
6. Hopefully get out of this weekend spending less than 300.00 on my car.
Ok, to be fair, it's a really great car! The car is a 91 Ford Explorer (may be 92 - I can't remember) with 168,000+ miles on it. I bought it used about 8-9 years ago, and in those 10 years I've had to fix only a handful of problems. New muffler, new battery, new window motor (now the other three are out, but I'll be danged if I spend 300.00 per window again!) new brakes and new tires. Not too bad for the age of the vehicle and the number of years I've had it, if you ask me!
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tl;dr: I got bit by a vampire, now I move only at night, preying on the necks of nubile young women. Read the damn thing, already!