My car is even moodier than I am.
Feb. 2nd, 2003 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
same_skyAt some point, many months ago, my car decided it would start flashing the "O/D Off" light at us. After much dicussion with transmission repair people and some minor diagnostics and repair work (about $100 for various things), it was determined that there was nothing seriously wrong with it, but if the light started flashing, just unplug the battery for a few minutes. We've been refraining from driving it out of town for that reason, as the light only comes on after say, forty or fifty miles, but as Magnus's car had an altogether different issue of its own last week, we decided to take it to the job interview last Tuesday. You will remember this from the "I feel so sorry for myself" entry on said day. ;)
Indeed, the light began to flash, but we kept driving. Usually, this doesn't really affect anything, and we have quite some time to turn it off. Magnus drove it nearly a hundred miles the first time it happened, for instance. Twenty minutes later, the car lost all power and began smoking violently. We quickly pull to the side of the road and call my dad. An hour or so later, he arrives, straps chains to it and is about to yank it up onto the trailer when they decide to check if it will start. Given the vivaciousness of the breakdown, it was entirely unexpected, then, that they were able to drive the car perfectly well onto the trailer. (It was also vastly amusing to watch Magnus come out of the window of the car after he was unable to open the door. Inspired by the little Chinese man in Ocean's Eleven, if that tells you anything.)
It's very pretty outside today, and my dad comes down to look at the car with Magnus and see what needs to be done. In the last week, my dad has been talking to some of his mechanic buddies, and was beginning to come to the consensus that we were pretty much out of luck. The transmission could be replaced for just under a thousand dollars, but no one knew what the light was about, so odds were that it would happen again. This would be a decidedly Bad Thing, so we've been discussing it back and forth as to keeping it or getting rid of it. (I really like my car, so selling it would have made me very sad, but then again, not as sad as spending a thousand dollars unnecessarily.)
Anyway, they get the car off the trailer and.. are you ready? There's nothing wrong with it. Apparently, it's back to its normal perky self. Having thrown a pretty major temper tantrum on the interstate last week, in the manner of a sulky two-year old child, it now appears to be back to its previous well-behaved self.
Just the same, I think we'll just drive it around town until we figure out exactly what's wrong with it.
Indeed, the light began to flash, but we kept driving. Usually, this doesn't really affect anything, and we have quite some time to turn it off. Magnus drove it nearly a hundred miles the first time it happened, for instance. Twenty minutes later, the car lost all power and began smoking violently. We quickly pull to the side of the road and call my dad. An hour or so later, he arrives, straps chains to it and is about to yank it up onto the trailer when they decide to check if it will start. Given the vivaciousness of the breakdown, it was entirely unexpected, then, that they were able to drive the car perfectly well onto the trailer. (It was also vastly amusing to watch Magnus come out of the window of the car after he was unable to open the door. Inspired by the little Chinese man in Ocean's Eleven, if that tells you anything.)
It's very pretty outside today, and my dad comes down to look at the car with Magnus and see what needs to be done. In the last week, my dad has been talking to some of his mechanic buddies, and was beginning to come to the consensus that we were pretty much out of luck. The transmission could be replaced for just under a thousand dollars, but no one knew what the light was about, so odds were that it would happen again. This would be a decidedly Bad Thing, so we've been discussing it back and forth as to keeping it or getting rid of it. (I really like my car, so selling it would have made me very sad, but then again, not as sad as spending a thousand dollars unnecessarily.)
Anyway, they get the car off the trailer and.. are you ready? There's nothing wrong with it. Apparently, it's back to its normal perky self. Having thrown a pretty major temper tantrum on the interstate last week, in the manner of a sulky two-year old child, it now appears to be back to its previous well-behaved self.
Just the same, I think we'll just drive it around town until we figure out exactly what's wrong with it.
