it's always something
I was soooooo happy yesterday to be done with work because it meant sleeping in. But as I drove to work, I saw the battery light start flashing a little, so I made an appointment to take my car in to Carmax next Thursday (my next day off when the service center would be open/had an opening). Problem solved, right? Oh hell no.
Fast forward to the drive home from work. My number one scariest moment in a car happened years ago when I was 18 and driving to Frostburg. The heat shieled on the undercarriage of my good ol' Maxima fell off, sparks flying everywhere, and I was 15 minutes from the university. Well, let's just say that that experience is now number TWO on my (previously non-existant) list of scary car moments. The new number one occured, like I said, last night coming home from work. I'm 20 minutes from home when the battery light finally stops flashing and stays on full bright red. Then the oil change light came on, followed by the anti-lock brakes light, the airbag light, and any other little light that existed on the dashboard. Then the headlights went so dim that I could barely see the road in front of me. And the radio shut off. Pardon the language, but I pretty much yelled out "holyfuckingshitdonotfuckingdothistomefuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCKKKKKKKKKKK." I really was not sure if I would even make it home. It was 11:50pm on a cold night on 695. NOT COOL. I begged my car to stay on while I was at the light, waiting to turn into my apartment complex. It did, thank goodness, and I even made a point of backing the car in, just in case it needed a jump this morning.
I fell asleep around 3am and got up at 7am to call Carmax and try to get in for today. After having no luck with them, I called my step-dad. I always inform him of car issues because, well, if it weren't for him teaching me what little I know about cars, I would have gotten screwed over by mechanics a number of times. I don't know how many times I've asked a mechanic to show me why I need a transmission flush - I know what the fluid should look like when it does and does not need it, and you know what? My car doesn't need it! Anyway, back to the story. I decided to take the car to Meineke because I don't trust the guys at the Midas and Jiffy Lube by me. On the 3 mile drive to Meineke, all the lights come on again. And when turning into the parking lot, the car finally died. I couldn't have been happier to have it die then and there. I think any place else and I would have just burst into tears. The guys looked at it and determined that it's a programmable alternator and that it might be the computer in the car that's causing the alternator to malfunction. In other words, I think I found a trustworthy mechanic. They hooked my car up to the battery charger for an hour and told me to go to the Mercury dealer to have them see if it's the computer causing the problems or if it's the alternator that's bad.
The Mercury dealership got my car in and gave me a ride home. After only an hour (I was expecting multiple hours), they called to tell me that the alternator needs to be replaced. I gave them my warranty information to get approval for the repair, and now I'm just sitting pretty until the car's done. Totally NOT how I wanted to spend my day off.
Fast forward to the drive home from work. My number one scariest moment in a car happened years ago when I was 18 and driving to Frostburg. The heat shieled on the undercarriage of my good ol' Maxima fell off, sparks flying everywhere, and I was 15 minutes from the university. Well, let's just say that that experience is now number TWO on my (previously non-existant) list of scary car moments. The new number one occured, like I said, last night coming home from work. I'm 20 minutes from home when the battery light finally stops flashing and stays on full bright red. Then the oil change light came on, followed by the anti-lock brakes light, the airbag light, and any other little light that existed on the dashboard. Then the headlights went so dim that I could barely see the road in front of me. And the radio shut off. Pardon the language, but I pretty much yelled out "holyfuckingshitdonotfuckingdothistomefuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCKKKKKKKKKKK." I really was not sure if I would even make it home. It was 11:50pm on a cold night on 695. NOT COOL. I begged my car to stay on while I was at the light, waiting to turn into my apartment complex. It did, thank goodness, and I even made a point of backing the car in, just in case it needed a jump this morning.
I fell asleep around 3am and got up at 7am to call Carmax and try to get in for today. After having no luck with them, I called my step-dad. I always inform him of car issues because, well, if it weren't for him teaching me what little I know about cars, I would have gotten screwed over by mechanics a number of times. I don't know how many times I've asked a mechanic to show me why I need a transmission flush - I know what the fluid should look like when it does and does not need it, and you know what? My car doesn't need it! Anyway, back to the story. I decided to take the car to Meineke because I don't trust the guys at the Midas and Jiffy Lube by me. On the 3 mile drive to Meineke, all the lights come on again. And when turning into the parking lot, the car finally died. I couldn't have been happier to have it die then and there. I think any place else and I would have just burst into tears. The guys looked at it and determined that it's a programmable alternator and that it might be the computer in the car that's causing the alternator to malfunction. In other words, I think I found a trustworthy mechanic. They hooked my car up to the battery charger for an hour and told me to go to the Mercury dealer to have them see if it's the computer causing the problems or if it's the alternator that's bad.
The Mercury dealership got my car in and gave me a ride home. After only an hour (I was expecting multiple hours), they called to tell me that the alternator needs to be replaced. I gave them my warranty information to get approval for the repair, and now I'm just sitting pretty until the car's done. Totally NOT how I wanted to spend my day off.