Yeah, my alternator was smoking tuesday night, so I dropped it off at Ken Towery's on Fern Valley (conveniently across the street) to have it checked out. They replaced the alternator and the alternator belt.
Thursday - I attempt to drive to Marianne's, my engine starts sputtering so I get off 71-S at the rest stop between miles 12-13. I pop hood to check alternator to see if things are spinning the right way, but my car is dead. 10 minutes later it starts up again and we take it to Kwik 'n Gweasy (probably the only car place I trust) but they don't see anything immediately wrong with my engine and change my oil.
Friday - I get my car back, and attempt to drive to downtown on 71-S. Engine sputters again and car completely dies after I stop in the left turn lane of exit 14 southbound. My battery is completely fried, I can't change gears and don't know I have a manual release (the AAA guy taught me that one) to change it to manual. The guy right behind us offers to help and looks at the engine and suggests that the alternator is either a bad one or not hooked up correctly and that because of that the car has had to run on battery power, and thus now my battery is fried. The towtruck gets here in about half the time AAA said he would; we took it back to Kwik 'n Gweasy and dropped it off there.
They haven't called back yet (I'm guessing they don't do repair work on weekends) but I'm guessing that what our mysterious stranger helper suggested is what's wrong judging from the events that have occurred (that is, bad new alternator). The only problem now is getting Ken Towery's to refund us 380 bucks because they're incompetent. Since it's Fern Valley, which is >30 minutes away, it's unlikely that we can get them to switch the alternator for us, so that'll mean Kwik 'n Gweasy will, yada yada yada, more money I owe Mom and Dad. It's a good thing I'm not going to Argentina this summer like I planned, cause then I wouldn't possibly have enough time to work off all this debt I've accumulated to them.
Good news is I start Qdoba on Tuesday, and our manager seems to like the idea of having me run out to other Qdoba's when they're short on workers. So, hopefully I'll have a pretty full work schedule this summer.
It actually sounds like it could be a botched alternator job, but then I don't know why the car would restart after it sputtered and died. Have you checked the connections of all the ignition and electrical wires? Just give them a once over, make sure everything is secure and clean.
Alternators aren't that difficult to put on, and if you were a little more mechanically inclined I might suggest you do it yourself. It's probably just a belt, couple of bolts, primary and ground wire anyway. At least that's what it has been on my cars, but I don't know much about Accords.
I've never heard any horror stories about Ken Towery, but then again I've never been there. For good deals on tires and general automotive maintenence I highly recommend Michel Tire on Shelbyville Road in Middletown. It's a damn nice place and they do their work very well and efficiently.
Thursday - I attempt to drive to Marianne's, my engine starts sputtering so I get off 71-S at the rest stop between miles 12-13. I pop hood to check alternator to see if things are spinning the right way, but my car is dead. 10 minutes later it starts up again and we take it to Kwik 'n Gweasy (probably the only car place I trust) but they don't see anything immediately wrong with my engine and change my oil.
Friday - I get my car back, and attempt to drive to downtown on 71-S. Engine sputters again and car completely dies after I stop in the left turn lane of exit 14 southbound. My battery is completely fried, I can't change gears and don't know I have a manual release (the AAA guy taught me that one) to change it to manual. The guy right behind us offers to help and looks at the engine and suggests that the alternator is either a bad one or not hooked up correctly and that because of that the car has had to run on battery power, and thus now my battery is fried. The towtruck gets here in about half the time AAA said he would; we took it back to Kwik 'n Gweasy and dropped it off there.
They haven't called back yet (I'm guessing they don't do repair work on weekends) but I'm guessing that what our mysterious stranger helper suggested is what's wrong judging from the events that have occurred (that is, bad new alternator). The only problem now is getting Ken Towery's to refund us 380 bucks because they're incompetent. Since it's Fern Valley, which is >30 minutes away, it's unlikely that we can get them to switch the alternator for us, so that'll mean Kwik 'n Gweasy will, yada yada yada, more money I owe Mom and Dad. It's a good thing I'm not going to Argentina this summer like I planned, cause then I wouldn't possibly have enough time to work off all this debt I've accumulated to them.
Good news is I start Qdoba on Tuesday, and our manager seems to like the idea of having me run out to other Qdoba's when they're short on workers. So, hopefully I'll have a pretty full work schedule this summer.
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Alternators aren't that difficult to put on, and if you were a little more mechanically inclined I might suggest you do it yourself. It's probably just a belt, couple of bolts, primary and ground wire anyway. At least that's what it has been on my cars, but I don't know much about Accords.
I've never heard any horror stories about Ken Towery, but then again I've never been there. For good deals on tires and general automotive maintenence I highly recommend Michel Tire on Shelbyville Road in Middletown. It's a damn nice place and they do their work very well and efficiently.
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