did someone say something about bad car-ma?
Augh!! I have had quite enough of these car-breakdown adventures thankyouverymuch!!
To catch up: I know I didn't post any details on Saturday but basically what happened was that the car was fine going to the shoe store, and when we got back in to leave the shoe store, it wouldn't start. I thought (and said to my mom) that it couldn't be the battery or alternator, because a) it's a fairly new battery and b) the dashboard lights all came on when I turned the key, which, in my experience, doesn't happen when you have a dead battery. So I thought it must be either the starter or the clutch. For this reason I didn't even bother asking the Triple-A guy to try jump-starting it, just had him tow it to my mom's mechanic.
Fast-forward to today. I dropped off my mom's car at her place after dropping off the kids (because mom needed her car today), then went to work. Then I went by the mechanic's place after work (it is two blocks from mom's house). They told me that they had charged up the battery, checked the alternator, and everything was fine. Car started up, no problems.
Well, I was highly suspicious, really. Because they couldn't really explain why it had failed to start on Saturday! They kept saying, did you leave the lights on, etc.? I did not leave the lights on and anyway the lights turn themselves off automatically and anyway if that were it, why would it have started Sat morning and driven to the shoe store and then died?
But they are mechanics and I'm just some writer chick, so I took them at their word and drove off in my car. Drove to Ruthie's daycare, picked up Ruthie. No problems. Car started right back up. Drove to Isaac's preschool, picked up Isaac. Got the kids in the car, strapped everyone in...
...you guessed it, car wouldn't start. *Facepalm*
One of Isaac's teachers was still there, and agreed to try to jump-start my car after the last kid's parent picked her up. (Said parent was clearly quite late being as how it was already 5:45 and the preschool closes at 5:30.) But then the teacher started fretting about how she was supposed to pick up her husband from work etc....Then I remembered that as I was picking up Isaac, some of the other kids had asked us to come to a nearby playground with them, and I had said we couldn't because I was going to take Isaac and Ruthie to pekmez so that I could go to chorus rehearsal because our usual babysitter is sick. ANYway, the point being, I had the cellphone number of the dad who had gone to the playground, so I called him and asked him to come back and jump-start me. He said he would. But then another dad arrived to pick up the aforementioned last kid, and *he* said he would jump-start me.
So we tried the jump-start, but it didn't work. So the dad said that this meant it was the starter (HA!!!) and suggested trying the trick where you push it and put it in second gear. It's hard to explain, and something that only works with a standard/manual shift car. Luckily, the preschool is on a slight hill. So he got behind the wheel, and I pushed, and he got the car started! yay.
I immediately drove back to the mechanic, who displayed the appropriate level of astonishment (but not, frankly, the appropriate level of contriteness, hmf) and said that, guess what, it must be the starter. Duh!! I said that! No one listens to me. ;P
Anyway, so once again I had to leave my car there and take mom's car. SIGH. And all of that, I must remind you, took place with two tired, hungry, haven't-seen-mom-all-day-Monday-cranky kids in the car. Fortunately the preschool is close enough to home that I knew that, if all else failed, we *could* walk home. Not that that would have been much fun, being as it was quite cold and we were all tired and hungry and we didn't have a stroller because I put it in mom's car when we borrowed it yesterday. But it was an option.
Anyway, to sum it all up, I still have no car. Argh. I am annoyed.
Also I am very sad to be missing tonight's chorus rehearsal which is an "audition" for a new music director. I really wanted to be there for it. But apparently the universe (god, fate, Loki, etc.) had other ideas.
Now I better go whip up some mac-n-cheese as promised.
To catch up: I know I didn't post any details on Saturday but basically what happened was that the car was fine going to the shoe store, and when we got back in to leave the shoe store, it wouldn't start. I thought (and said to my mom) that it couldn't be the battery or alternator, because a) it's a fairly new battery and b) the dashboard lights all came on when I turned the key, which, in my experience, doesn't happen when you have a dead battery. So I thought it must be either the starter or the clutch. For this reason I didn't even bother asking the Triple-A guy to try jump-starting it, just had him tow it to my mom's mechanic.
Fast-forward to today. I dropped off my mom's car at her place after dropping off the kids (because mom needed her car today), then went to work. Then I went by the mechanic's place after work (it is two blocks from mom's house). They told me that they had charged up the battery, checked the alternator, and everything was fine. Car started up, no problems.
Well, I was highly suspicious, really. Because they couldn't really explain why it had failed to start on Saturday! They kept saying, did you leave the lights on, etc.? I did not leave the lights on and anyway the lights turn themselves off automatically and anyway if that were it, why would it have started Sat morning and driven to the shoe store and then died?
But they are mechanics and I'm just some writer chick, so I took them at their word and drove off in my car. Drove to Ruthie's daycare, picked up Ruthie. No problems. Car started right back up. Drove to Isaac's preschool, picked up Isaac. Got the kids in the car, strapped everyone in...
...you guessed it, car wouldn't start. *Facepalm*
One of Isaac's teachers was still there, and agreed to try to jump-start my car after the last kid's parent picked her up. (Said parent was clearly quite late being as how it was already 5:45 and the preschool closes at 5:30.) But then the teacher started fretting about how she was supposed to pick up her husband from work etc....Then I remembered that as I was picking up Isaac, some of the other kids had asked us to come to a nearby playground with them, and I had said we couldn't because I was going to take Isaac and Ruthie to pekmez so that I could go to chorus rehearsal because our usual babysitter is sick. ANYway, the point being, I had the cellphone number of the dad who had gone to the playground, so I called him and asked him to come back and jump-start me. He said he would. But then another dad arrived to pick up the aforementioned last kid, and *he* said he would jump-start me.
So we tried the jump-start, but it didn't work. So the dad said that this meant it was the starter (HA!!!) and suggested trying the trick where you push it and put it in second gear. It's hard to explain, and something that only works with a standard/manual shift car. Luckily, the preschool is on a slight hill. So he got behind the wheel, and I pushed, and he got the car started! yay.
I immediately drove back to the mechanic, who displayed the appropriate level of astonishment (but not, frankly, the appropriate level of contriteness, hmf) and said that, guess what, it must be the starter. Duh!! I said that! No one listens to me. ;P
Anyway, so once again I had to leave my car there and take mom's car. SIGH. And all of that, I must remind you, took place with two tired, hungry, haven't-seen-mom-all-day-Monday-cranky kids in the car. Fortunately the preschool is close enough to home that I knew that, if all else failed, we *could* walk home. Not that that would have been much fun, being as it was quite cold and we were all tired and hungry and we didn't have a stroller because I put it in mom's car when we borrowed it yesterday. But it was an option.
Anyway, to sum it all up, I still have no car. Argh. I am annoyed.
Also I am very sad to be missing tonight's chorus rehearsal which is an "audition" for a new music director. I really wanted to be there for it. But apparently the universe (god, fate, Loki, etc.) had other ideas.
Now I better go whip up some mac-n-cheese as promised.