Car Update - not exactly good
the short answer - the car has been sent off to the dealer.
So Stepfather came over (I'm still not sure of using the term, but it DOES belong on him married or not, whether my mom is talking to him or not. Which she's not. This should make my next convo with her AWK-ward) and poked and prodded the engine. I don't think he exactly believed me until he saw the car REFUSE to turn over. What I heard this time were the clickings of a car trying to start, and not starting, that I didn't hear the other night. And, as he poked, things started coming on in the cabin. The lights, the dash, the radio - which I realized then hadn't lost time.
This isn't good - it means the battery is NOT dead. And the problem is not a dead battery.
So we jump the car (twice - the first time the jumper cables fucking SMOKED - I was pretty scared. *snort*) and it does start, just like Friday. And just like Friday it sounded NORMAL. the revved as it started up, everything was working fine. he sent me into the house to google "How to test if your alternator is working without a tester" (Let me promise you - it's scary) I came back out in about 10 minutes - I needed to pee, I needed to find an actual answer to the question instead of the "DON'T DO IT!" that I was finding, and I brought him a big glass of water. As I stepped out I realized - I couldn't hear my car.
yeah, he says, it just shut off no warning and now nothing, just like you said.
At that point, we decided that short of replacing the battery and having that NOT be the problem, and after a phone call from his older brother )that went "Yeah, we did that, yeah, that too, yeah that's what I thought" ) we really had no choice but to get professional help, and it should probably be the dealer.
Now OK - I KNOW the dealer is not necessarily the best course. But something is REALLY weirdly going on with this car, and if anyone would have seen it before it's the dealer who only works on these cars. They should be able to get the computer to cough up the diagnostics for it. I'm leaning towards it being an electrical short somewhere, and more than likely involving the starter. It COULD potentially still be the alternator/battery setup, we just don't know. (Hopefully it's not ALL of them, because then I will have a heart attack and my situation will be worse than a damn broken car!)
A bit of a funny with the tow truck - he went EVERYWHERE but where my car was - three different driveways and he got it all wrong until I came out front. Then they're all "You don't have Premium service!" and I said uh YES I do - see the GOLD CARD in your hand??? They had to "check on it" and that took 15 minutes and the question "Do you SEE the gold card?" *facepalm* THEN he couldn't get it into neutral, towing for the Saturns are by flatbed is possible, so it needed to be rolled up to it. _I_ hop in and get it in neutral, but not before he'd reversed the truck in order to jump it one more time, to start up the car, and put it in gear. SO he had to turn he truck around AGAIN and rep;ace the hooks. Duh. This is also after he looked at me and said "are you SURE it won't start? Can I try?" well yes sure, but it wont' start and if jumped won't STAY started, so it needs to be looked at, and I'm choosing the dealer.
Maybe I'll get REALLY lucky and it will be a part needing recall and I won't have to pony up for it! and hopefully I won't have to call AAA again, because I'll lose my Gold status for a year by going over my call limit.(I think I have one more freebie left) I swear it's paid for ITSELF in the past 2 days.
Anyway, so that's it for now. Service will look at it tomorrow and deliver the news. I'm considering a walk to CVS for milk and some other things, but not until it cools off. Not a cloud in sight and I'm DYING from heat.
So Stepfather came over (I'm still not sure of using the term, but it DOES belong on him married or not, whether my mom is talking to him or not. Which she's not. This should make my next convo with her AWK-ward) and poked and prodded the engine. I don't think he exactly believed me until he saw the car REFUSE to turn over. What I heard this time were the clickings of a car trying to start, and not starting, that I didn't hear the other night. And, as he poked, things started coming on in the cabin. The lights, the dash, the radio - which I realized then hadn't lost time.
This isn't good - it means the battery is NOT dead. And the problem is not a dead battery.
So we jump the car (twice - the first time the jumper cables fucking SMOKED - I was pretty scared. *snort*) and it does start, just like Friday. And just like Friday it sounded NORMAL. the revved as it started up, everything was working fine. he sent me into the house to google "How to test if your alternator is working without a tester" (Let me promise you - it's scary) I came back out in about 10 minutes - I needed to pee, I needed to find an actual answer to the question instead of the "DON'T DO IT!" that I was finding, and I brought him a big glass of water. As I stepped out I realized - I couldn't hear my car.
yeah, he says, it just shut off no warning and now nothing, just like you said.
At that point, we decided that short of replacing the battery and having that NOT be the problem, and after a phone call from his older brother )that went "Yeah, we did that, yeah, that too, yeah that's what I thought" ) we really had no choice but to get professional help, and it should probably be the dealer.
Now OK - I KNOW the dealer is not necessarily the best course. But something is REALLY weirdly going on with this car, and if anyone would have seen it before it's the dealer who only works on these cars. They should be able to get the computer to cough up the diagnostics for it. I'm leaning towards it being an electrical short somewhere, and more than likely involving the starter. It COULD potentially still be the alternator/battery setup, we just don't know. (Hopefully it's not ALL of them, because then I will have a heart attack and my situation will be worse than a damn broken car!)
A bit of a funny with the tow truck - he went EVERYWHERE but where my car was - three different driveways and he got it all wrong until I came out front. Then they're all "You don't have Premium service!" and I said uh YES I do - see the GOLD CARD in your hand??? They had to "check on it" and that took 15 minutes and the question "Do you SEE the gold card?" *facepalm* THEN he couldn't get it into neutral, towing for the Saturns are by flatbed is possible, so it needed to be rolled up to it. _I_ hop in and get it in neutral, but not before he'd reversed the truck in order to jump it one more time, to start up the car, and put it in gear. SO he had to turn he truck around AGAIN and rep;ace the hooks. Duh. This is also after he looked at me and said "are you SURE it won't start? Can I try?" well yes sure, but it wont' start and if jumped won't STAY started, so it needs to be looked at, and I'm choosing the dealer.
Maybe I'll get REALLY lucky and it will be a part needing recall and I won't have to pony up for it! and hopefully I won't have to call AAA again, because I'll lose my Gold status for a year by going over my call limit.(I think I have one more freebie left) I swear it's paid for ITSELF in the past 2 days.
Anyway, so that's it for now. Service will look at it tomorrow and deliver the news. I'm considering a walk to CVS for milk and some other things, but not until it cools off. Not a cloud in sight and I'm DYING from heat.