My car
Last week with my vehicle was a bit of an adventure.
Sunday, I went to my car with the intention of heading to Hy-Vee, but my engine wouldn't start.
We realized that day or the next that it was probably a frozen fuel line because I've been using regular gasoline, which doesn't absorb condensation in the gas tank like ethanol gasoline doe. Riss picked up some stuff to put in my gas tank to fix the problem.
It worked like a charm, and I was able to drive myself to my final on Monday night (which I didn't do that well on....but oh well.).
On Tuesday, the weather was kind of nasty, so Riss drove me to my Accounting final (which I aced), and my car sat at home, outside in the freezing rain.
Wednesday morning, I went to my car to make sure it would run, because I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, and my door was frozen shut. It would have been easier to open a back door, but I couldn't, because they were locked, and the lock in the passenger door was also frozen. The maintenance guy at my apartment building (dirty, but very nice guy) didn't have any lock de-icer, but he DID have a blow torch! We tried to thaw the lock in the passenger door, we tried to melt all the ice holding my driver door shut...no luck.
So I cancelled my dentist appointment and went back inside to study for my statistics exam.
The next morning, I got up at 5:10 a.m. to get ready for my stat final, which Larissa drove me to. I dont' know how I did, but I felt okay about it at the time, so I probably got an A or a B. One of my classmates helped me find the appropriate bus stop, and I used CyRide for the first time ever. It was a lot less anxiety producing than I thought it would be. I should ride the bus all the time.
That afternoon was warmer than Wednesday had been, so I enlisted the aid of two of the maintenance men at my apartment building, along with the blow torch and a crow bar, and we were finally able to open my doors! Hooray! But my fuel line had frozen again.
We got my car running again by Thursday night, and I filled it with ethanol so it would stop freezing...I don't think I'll have that problem again this winter, as long as I don't forget to buy ethanol at least every third time I get gas (I fill up every time it gets down to half a tank).
Friday morning, I went out to my car to make sure the doors would open and the engine would start. I had some trouble with the driver side door, so I went in through the passenger door and opened the driver door from the inside. The engine started fine, but the passenger door wouldn't latch shut! I went around to the driver side and reached across and had to shut the passenger door from the inside to get it to quit popping back open.
I thought everything was fine after that, and I left late that afternoon to return some library books. About 3/4 of the way there, my passenger door FLEW OPEN while I was driving down the street! It only closed when I hit the brakes and took a sharp corner and slammed the door into a pile of snow that the plows left behind. I pulled onto a side street and put the car in park and got out to mess with the door. I tried locking it with it's own lock, which didn't work, so I had to use the power locks and then manually unlock the back doors (there's no way I'm leaving all my doors locked, in case the front one freezes shut again). It was terrifying.
I can't believe how crazy last week was in regards to my vehicle. I handled it pretty well (except the door flying open - I cried a little). It was all pretty funny. And blow torches are awesome.
Sunday, I went to my car with the intention of heading to Hy-Vee, but my engine wouldn't start.
We realized that day or the next that it was probably a frozen fuel line because I've been using regular gasoline, which doesn't absorb condensation in the gas tank like ethanol gasoline doe. Riss picked up some stuff to put in my gas tank to fix the problem.
It worked like a charm, and I was able to drive myself to my final on Monday night (which I didn't do that well on....but oh well.).
On Tuesday, the weather was kind of nasty, so Riss drove me to my Accounting final (which I aced), and my car sat at home, outside in the freezing rain.
Wednesday morning, I went to my car to make sure it would run, because I had a dentist appointment that afternoon, and my door was frozen shut. It would have been easier to open a back door, but I couldn't, because they were locked, and the lock in the passenger door was also frozen. The maintenance guy at my apartment building (dirty, but very nice guy) didn't have any lock de-icer, but he DID have a blow torch! We tried to thaw the lock in the passenger door, we tried to melt all the ice holding my driver door shut...no luck.
So I cancelled my dentist appointment and went back inside to study for my statistics exam.
The next morning, I got up at 5:10 a.m. to get ready for my stat final, which Larissa drove me to. I dont' know how I did, but I felt okay about it at the time, so I probably got an A or a B. One of my classmates helped me find the appropriate bus stop, and I used CyRide for the first time ever. It was a lot less anxiety producing than I thought it would be. I should ride the bus all the time.
That afternoon was warmer than Wednesday had been, so I enlisted the aid of two of the maintenance men at my apartment building, along with the blow torch and a crow bar, and we were finally able to open my doors! Hooray! But my fuel line had frozen again.
We got my car running again by Thursday night, and I filled it with ethanol so it would stop freezing...I don't think I'll have that problem again this winter, as long as I don't forget to buy ethanol at least every third time I get gas (I fill up every time it gets down to half a tank).
Friday morning, I went out to my car to make sure the doors would open and the engine would start. I had some trouble with the driver side door, so I went in through the passenger door and opened the driver door from the inside. The engine started fine, but the passenger door wouldn't latch shut! I went around to the driver side and reached across and had to shut the passenger door from the inside to get it to quit popping back open.
I thought everything was fine after that, and I left late that afternoon to return some library books. About 3/4 of the way there, my passenger door FLEW OPEN while I was driving down the street! It only closed when I hit the brakes and took a sharp corner and slammed the door into a pile of snow that the plows left behind. I pulled onto a side street and put the car in park and got out to mess with the door. I tried locking it with it's own lock, which didn't work, so I had to use the power locks and then manually unlock the back doors (there's no way I'm leaving all my doors locked, in case the front one freezes shut again). It was terrifying.
I can't believe how crazy last week was in regards to my vehicle. I handled it pretty well (except the door flying open - I cried a little). It was all pretty funny. And blow torches are awesome.