Oh, my little sassy gassy car. Please be okay.
Well, our beautiful little car may be dying. We're not sure yet. She's in the icc (intensive car care) right now.
She's got 95,000 miles on her, and the heart of a lion within. She's been through a lot...but it was probably her first 100 miles that were the toughest. I dumped lemonade into the console and carpet the first twenty minutes I had her (and quickly learned the difference between a random circular indented design feature and a cup holder.) This gave her a lovely perfume of moldy lemonade/new leather and a sticky shifter that I would sometimes need two hands to move from Park to Drive. Only days later a bum broke her window to steal a Mariah Carey CD that would only play one song because it was so scratched up, the Les Miz soundtrack, and a handful of pennies.
But despite this ominous beginning, and my godawful taste in music, she's become a real city slicker. She's been bumped by drivers trying to pull out of parking spaces so many times (their SUVs ramming while they talk on the phone) that the back doors are sometimes a struggle to open and close. She was rear ended by a ginormous Suburban last year without so much as a dent. She's endured the inevitable gouges to her bumper, and some jerk who decided to bend her license plate up into a right angle.
And what has she given me? Loaves and fishes miracle gas mileage that exceeded all expectations, an excellent sun roof to enjoy balmy days, and a happy comfortable place in which to endure hours of droning travel.
Most recently she has been the home to many a bike shoe, helmet, newspaper, triathlon flyer, running shoes, coats, hats, umbrellas, folding chairs, bike wheels, camelbaks, crushed cliff bars, warm gatorade and gels.
But she's been slowly in decline. Last month, after about four months of the most annoying sound in the world emanating when you used them, our windshield wipers stopped working. I had mentioned the sound on multiple trips to the City mechanic who instead of checking it out properly told us our windshield was probably just dirty. (Very thorough.) And then they just stopped working, which really isn't good in a Chicago winter. So we took it in to the Burbs mechanic. $360. Apparently the mechanism was rusted out--which was what was making the noise. (Although, God, worth every penny now that that sound is gone.)
Anyway, on top of that, for the past few weeks (okay, months) she really hasn't been herself. She's begun falling asleep at stoplights. And, when you try to wake her up in the morning, she's incredibly sluggish. It's gotten to the point where you have to turn her off and then on again in order to give her the power to just keep going. Last week I took her into the City mechanic again and paid $120 for a "diagnostic" and they recognized a problem beyond a need for a car wash, so we at least started strong...
Only they couldn't figure out what was causing the problem (the important part of diagnosing, if you ask me) and cut me a deal to only charge me $80 for their ongoing incompetence. So, I called the dealership and made an appointment but, before I could get her in, yesterday she wouldn't start at all. Just a hiccup and a wheeze...maybe a fart, but I pretended not to hear. I thought maybe a cat had crawled into the manifold and was frantically pounding on the hood.
I tried to make arrangements for her, and before leaving for the train I decided to give her one more try. She suddenly turned over, so I got her out the Burbs mechanic, hoping they could work their magic twice. But now even they aren't entirely sure what's wrong with her.
They say it could be an $85 fix. It could be an $800 fix, maybe more. And I really have no idea if I am getting hosed. (Hell, she's probably missing a Johnson rod.)
Brendan and I are trying to figure out at what point it makes sense to get a new car, or continue to fix these $3-400 problems each month.
So, anyway...after seeing "Who killed the electric car?" which I am now semi-obsessed with and highly recommend everyone seeing, we really want to get a plug-in hybrid as our next car. But they aren't going to be available on mass market for another couple of years, I don't think. So, keep your fingers crossed that my little blue baby makes it (and that it's $85.) I know that is probably too much to ask, but...really, how much can a Johnson rod/car wash be?
She's got 95,000 miles on her, and the heart of a lion within. She's been through a lot...but it was probably her first 100 miles that were the toughest. I dumped lemonade into the console and carpet the first twenty minutes I had her (and quickly learned the difference between a random circular indented design feature and a cup holder.) This gave her a lovely perfume of moldy lemonade/new leather and a sticky shifter that I would sometimes need two hands to move from Park to Drive. Only days later a bum broke her window to steal a Mariah Carey CD that would only play one song because it was so scratched up, the Les Miz soundtrack, and a handful of pennies.
But despite this ominous beginning, and my godawful taste in music, she's become a real city slicker. She's been bumped by drivers trying to pull out of parking spaces so many times (their SUVs ramming while they talk on the phone) that the back doors are sometimes a struggle to open and close. She was rear ended by a ginormous Suburban last year without so much as a dent. She's endured the inevitable gouges to her bumper, and some jerk who decided to bend her license plate up into a right angle.
And what has she given me? Loaves and fishes miracle gas mileage that exceeded all expectations, an excellent sun roof to enjoy balmy days, and a happy comfortable place in which to endure hours of droning travel.
Most recently she has been the home to many a bike shoe, helmet, newspaper, triathlon flyer, running shoes, coats, hats, umbrellas, folding chairs, bike wheels, camelbaks, crushed cliff bars, warm gatorade and gels.
But she's been slowly in decline. Last month, after about four months of the most annoying sound in the world emanating when you used them, our windshield wipers stopped working. I had mentioned the sound on multiple trips to the City mechanic who instead of checking it out properly told us our windshield was probably just dirty. (Very thorough.) And then they just stopped working, which really isn't good in a Chicago winter. So we took it in to the Burbs mechanic. $360. Apparently the mechanism was rusted out--which was what was making the noise. (Although, God, worth every penny now that that sound is gone.)
Anyway, on top of that, for the past few weeks (okay, months) she really hasn't been herself. She's begun falling asleep at stoplights. And, when you try to wake her up in the morning, she's incredibly sluggish. It's gotten to the point where you have to turn her off and then on again in order to give her the power to just keep going. Last week I took her into the City mechanic again and paid $120 for a "diagnostic" and they recognized a problem beyond a need for a car wash, so we at least started strong...
Only they couldn't figure out what was causing the problem (the important part of diagnosing, if you ask me) and cut me a deal to only charge me $80 for their ongoing incompetence. So, I called the dealership and made an appointment but, before I could get her in, yesterday she wouldn't start at all. Just a hiccup and a wheeze...maybe a fart, but I pretended not to hear. I thought maybe a cat had crawled into the manifold and was frantically pounding on the hood.
I tried to make arrangements for her, and before leaving for the train I decided to give her one more try. She suddenly turned over, so I got her out the Burbs mechanic, hoping they could work their magic twice. But now even they aren't entirely sure what's wrong with her.
They say it could be an $85 fix. It could be an $800 fix, maybe more. And I really have no idea if I am getting hosed. (Hell, she's probably missing a Johnson rod.)
Brendan and I are trying to figure out at what point it makes sense to get a new car, or continue to fix these $3-400 problems each month.
So, anyway...after seeing "Who killed the electric car?" which I am now semi-obsessed with and highly recommend everyone seeing, we really want to get a plug-in hybrid as our next car. But they aren't going to be available on mass market for another couple of years, I don't think. So, keep your fingers crossed that my little blue baby makes it (and that it's $85.) I know that is probably too much to ask, but...really, how much can a Johnson rod/car wash be?
posted by Heather Gately at 8:10 AM
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