May I Whine?

Today went so well until my drive home. As I'm leaving the parking lot, my battery and brake lights are on. I call Karl, tell him - but really don't know what to do (the parking brake was disengaged). Call my dad to ask him what's up and they turn off.

Drive further home, chit chat with Adam, then talk to Judy a bit - my air bag light starts blinking and I tell Judy I'm afraid it's going to deploy.

Then my speedometer stops working and then I go to give the car gas and nothing. Drift over to the turn lane and it completely dies - as well as my cell phone battery dies. So I'm stuck in the middle of the room trying to figure out where the closest pay phone is.

Police officer sees me stranded turns around with blue lights on and kindly offers to push my car through the turn in the intersection and into the liquor store parking lot. I thank him with a handshake, and the gal working at the liquor store is amazed he helped me and lets me use their phone to call a tow to the Firestone, which is about 1000 yards away (on a very busy four lane road, so no drifting there).

Get to Firestone, the batter reads 120 CCA's, they replace the battery, still have to jumpstart it, but the new battery now reads 842 CCA's (it better, they're charging me over $100 to replace it) , but it dies as soon as they take off the cables. So, tomorrow morning they're going to test to see if it's a cable from the alternator to the battery or the alternator itself - another $300!

Yay me! :(

I left work at 4 pm, got home at 8 pm.

Yea another car trouble buddie I just put min in the shop tonight cause I was stuck in drive..

<<<Sends good luck vibes you way>>>

That really is horrible luck, sounds like your car needs replacing! Hopefully when it is fixed it will be as good as used and you can start spending money on reptiles and not fixing cars:banana:

That's bad luck, sorry your day was so crappy!

Hope everything gets fixed and you get your car back soon. Car trouble can be a "beach" if you know what I mean.

I am glad you are ok. Wow I hope things turn around for you. Car troubles are the worst.

Thanks everyone!

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

<<<Sends good luck vibes you way>>>

That really is horrible luck, sounds like your car needs replacing! Hopefully when it is fixed it will be as good as used and you can start spending money on reptiles and not fixing cars:banana:

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Hecky no on replacing it! It's paid off, I'm driving this sucker into the ground! :P

awwwww ... i'm sorry that you had such a crummy night Rabs. :( ... if it helps, I had a lot of fun yappin wit ya. ;) :D :love:

-adam

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Today went so well until my drive home. As I'm leaving the parking lot, my battery and brake lights are on. I call Karl, tell him - but really don't know what to do (the parking brake was disengaged). Call my dad to ask him what's up and they turn off.

Drive further home, chit chat with Adam, then talk to Judy a bit - my air bag light starts blinking and I tell Judy I'm afraid it's going to deploy.

Then my speedometer stops working and then I go to give the car gas and nothing. Drift over to the turn lane and it completely dies - as well as my cell phone battery dies. So I'm stuck in the middle of the room trying to figure out where the closest pay phone is.

Police officer sees me stranded turns around with blue lights on and kindly offers to push my car through the turn in the intersection and into the liquor store parking lot. I thank him with a handshake, and the gal working at the liquor store is amazed he helped me and lets me use their phone to call a tow to the Firestone, which is about 1000 yards away (on a very busy four lane road, so no drifting there).

Get to Firestone, the batter reads 120 CCA's, they replace the battery, still have to jumpstart it, but the new battery now reads 842 CCA's (it better, they're charging me over $100 to replace it) , but it dies as soon as they take off the cables. So, tomorrow morning they're going to test to see if it's a cable from the alternator to the battery or the alternator itself - another $300!

Yay me! :(

I left work at 4 pm, got home at 8 pm.

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Ouch :(.Here is a wish that its something simple and cheap(replace cable) ;).I hope everything goes well from here on out for you Robin :gj:

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Yea another car trouble buddie I just put min in the shop tonight cause I was stuck in drive..

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Thats no fun :O.Here is the same wish for you that its something cheap ;)

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

awwwww ... i'm sorry that you had such a crummy night Rabs. :( ... if it helps, I had a lot of fun yappin wit ya. ;) :D :love:

-adam

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Same here! You're an awesome and loyal friend! :love:

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Yea another car trouble buddie I just put min in the shop tonight cause I was stuck in drive..

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THAT had to be fun! Not! Hope your repair is inexpensive!

An add on to this, after all was said and done I told Karl "I'm not cooking - swing by Church's Chicken and we'll grab something".

So, directly across the street from there, there was this little Mexican fast food place with police cars and police SUV's surrounding it and blocking every entrance. Firetruck and ambulance, and I mean a LOT of police just swarming the place. We see a guy in those pretty plastic cuffs sitting on the curb, and we're trying to figure out why there's a guy arrested and a fire truck is necessary (no fire).

Watch the news later, and they had chased an armed fugitive there, he tried to get away, dragged an officer and exchanged fire. So, yeah - an interesting day to say the least! LOL

But - there's a rosy side to everything - reflecting back, I remember how awesome the police officer was who pushed me, how sweet the girl was at the store that let me use their phone, how nice the tow truck company owner was that he picked me up himself so I wouldn't have to wait, and how the Firestone worked late to try to help me. I was struck with just how NICE everyone was and how that kept me from getting too frazzled.

:Hug: I'm sorry to hear about your car blues. I can completely relate! I just finished spending $700 on car repairs last week (which was a HUGE dent in my non-existent University student wallet). It's no fun, but an unfortunate part of owning a car. I wish it was as simple as "put gas in it, drive it, get the oil changed". I'm sending you simple, inexpensive repair vibes!!!

Awwww Robin what a horrible drive home at the end of what was I'm sure a busy workday. It's good though that you are recognizing the blessings of those that stepped up to help you but still, that must have been terribly frustrating for you.

I hope the repair is as low cost as possible (low cost? car repair? yeah right! :rolleyes:) Anyways, I'm hoping for your sake and the sake of your wallet, that it's only a cable gone wrong or something easy like that.

Do you drive a White Bug.... possibly named Herby? :cool:

So sorry Robin... just when you least expect it, everything you DIDN't plan or budget for breaks of goes wacky....
Murphy's Law.

Best of LUCK!!! :)

It's done, and I needed a new altenator (sp?) and new battery - to a very hefty tune. But still less than what a few months of a car payment would be. :rolleyes:

Robin,
I got to ask this...
Was your battery a "maintanence" free battery?
IF it wasn't you would notice two "blocks" or block looking things on the top of the battery.
NEXT time you seem to be low on juice. AND important to check during the hot summer..
You can use a screwdriver OR a butter knife to pry those blocks up.
You will see a set of 3 holes in each. You need to be sure those are full, of...
water.. yes water. If not, you can't get the charge you need to start the car.
If it doesn't have the "blocks" on top it should say "maintanence free".

I am a girl.. LOL
I was a jet engine mechaninc in the navy, and learned alot about fixing my own cars.

I was going into work this morning. I let my hubby take his car. I was going to drive my truck.. it has a flat tire.. major flat.. squishy into the frozen snow type flat.
So my roommate got woken up to drive me to hubby's work to get his car.
So now I have to go home, take the tire off, find a replacement. And get new tire on truck. bleh..
LOl
Carol

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Originally Posted by Montessa Python

You will see a set of 3 holes in each. You need to be sure those are full, of...
water.. yes water. If not, you can't get the charge you need to start the car.

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They shouldnt be "full" their is a plastic grate usually inside the battery cells. Water should not be higher than the grate, but yes, not having water in the cells will cause the battery to not fully charge. Glad everything is taken care of and it was nothing major.
Now go back to spending that money on snakes!!:gj:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

It's done, and I needed a new altenator (sp?) and new battery - to a very hefty tune. But still less than what a few months of a car payment would be. :rolleyes:

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Glad it wasn't too bad (though any car repairs always tick me off for some reason LOL). I remember the day you paid off that car and were so happy to not have any more payments! Drive that sucker till it dies! :banana:

My car is one of the Nissan's that has trouble when you slow down and they are known for shutting off. I need to take it in to my Nissan deal 'cause Nissan finaly figured out the problem. It sucks 'cause it's only a 2000! Sheesh, it cost me 900.00 to replace the sensors that went bad. So hopefully they can get it fixed and I'll get it back in no time!