:( I feel like I've won the lottery (part 1)
with just a couple of minute little challenges.....I didn't know it until yesterday; and now I can't find it!! ~sigh~growl~sigh~
Maybe y'all can help?
Yesterday morning I went out to start my car and nearly broke my neck trying to get down the deck stairs that were iced over. Ok, this was a major aggravation for me because I put those "no freeze, no skid" black rubbery-stuff tread pads down on all those steps last Fall. Do you think it helped? No, the ice froze right over them! Then I got to my car and couldn't get the doors open because they were iced over. This really aggravated me because I'm standing out there battling with a frozen car (that I bought used 3 yrs ago from a little old lady who could no longer drive it...but more about that later) that's parked in front of, outside of, a 3 car garage. DH is gonna hear about this one again tonight!
Now, to clarify, we can't put the car in the garage because DH has his workshop set up in there on one side. The other side is storage for all the furniture and household stuff that came from his house, that we didn't use in my house, when we got married.
And as further clarification of this next part, I've returned a brand new battery to Auto Zone twice in the past 6 months because the new batteries don't seem to be holding up. I keep complaining about it; but hey, they're under warranty so I'll keep exchanging them until I get one that does seem to hold up. Auto Zone, on the other hand is getting rather testy with me, and insist that there is something wrong with my car that is "zapping the hell outta our batteries."
OK, back to getting off to work this morning.....
I stood out there mumbling and grumbling about the cold and not having access to the warm garage as I angrily waved my trusty blow dryer along the door to melt the ice. I finally got into my car and thought:
PLEASE start this morning. I know it's cold out here but I really gotta get to work. Dear Battery, please don't fail me now!
Hmmmm, one great thing I can say about these batteries, they always seem to work great in bad weather! It's just in good weather, after sitting for a day or two without being driven, that they can't seem to start the car. Isn't that odd?!? And what's even odder is that when they go, they take the entire electrical system with it. Everytime I change one of those heavy-duty, way too expensive, batteries, I have to take my car over to the shop to have the electrical system reset and recoded.
So I finally got myself and the car (yes, both at the same time) headed toward work. About half of my drive is winding country roads (that are now icy )going over the mountain. So I kicked in my trusty "winter sport mode" button and trucked right along in my little car as if it were a fine Spring day. I just love my little car! BUT, long about the 13th curve around the mountain, I noticed a slight "popping" sound as I went into the curve. ***Hmmmm, that wasn't there before; I hope that wasn't my CV joint. Nah, it's just the cold weather*** It didn't pop in the next curve so I turned the radio back up. But then it happened again when I turned out onto the main road. ***Hmmm, now THAT can't be good!*** So I made an executive decision to be late to work and stop by my mechanic's shop on the way in to see if he felt I needed to be worried.
It wasn't good news, but it could have been worse. The CV boot was torn and the CV joint was starting to be affected. For about $250 in labor (to take the axle apart to fix the joint and boot) and about $40 in parts, they could fix it. But as Frank explained to me, the car is 10 yrs old which means the other CV boot is going to eventually go too which will mean doing it all again :( The other option is to wait until they both go to save some labor costs. But that's sometimes somewhat risky. Or he can order a whole new axle with all the CVs and junk already new on it for about $150 plus $150 in labor. Only $10 more, much faster and easier, and remove the future need of return for the other 10 yr old CV boot. So I left the car and took Frank's car to work. But before I left, I asked him about the battery. He said there was a possibility that if my alternator was going out or something was haywire in the charging system, it COULD eat up a battery. (Of course, his explanation was much longer and more detailed; but that is the basic summary of it) But he said while the guys were waiting for the new axle to be delivered, he would hook up the handy-dandy computer system and get down into the charging system and see if he could find anything.....
The good news was that he could find nothing wrong with my charging system and/or the alternator. ***See! Those fools down at Auto Zone were wrong! I KNEW it! It's not MY car; it's THEIR batteries!*** Both he and the computer said all was in great shape! :) The bad news was that he was trying to explain another possibility for me to have checked that he couldn't service and I couldn't comprehend. So I argued with the poor man, only to look like a fool and be completely ecstatic all at the same time! The debate went something like this...
(to be continued because I have to get into to work this morning and then make some phone calls to follow up on my "feels like the lottery" mystery from yesterday)
Maybe y'all can help?
Yesterday morning I went out to start my car and nearly broke my neck trying to get down the deck stairs that were iced over. Ok, this was a major aggravation for me because I put those "no freeze, no skid" black rubbery-stuff tread pads down on all those steps last Fall. Do you think it helped? No, the ice froze right over them! Then I got to my car and couldn't get the doors open because they were iced over. This really aggravated me because I'm standing out there battling with a frozen car (that I bought used 3 yrs ago from a little old lady who could no longer drive it...but more about that later) that's parked in front of, outside of, a 3 car garage. DH is gonna hear about this one again tonight!
Now, to clarify, we can't put the car in the garage because DH has his workshop set up in there on one side. The other side is storage for all the furniture and household stuff that came from his house, that we didn't use in my house, when we got married.
And as further clarification of this next part, I've returned a brand new battery to Auto Zone twice in the past 6 months because the new batteries don't seem to be holding up. I keep complaining about it; but hey, they're under warranty so I'll keep exchanging them until I get one that does seem to hold up. Auto Zone, on the other hand is getting rather testy with me, and insist that there is something wrong with my car that is "zapping the hell outta our batteries."
OK, back to getting off to work this morning.....
I stood out there mumbling and grumbling about the cold and not having access to the warm garage as I angrily waved my trusty blow dryer along the door to melt the ice. I finally got into my car and thought:
PLEASE start this morning. I know it's cold out here but I really gotta get to work. Dear Battery, please don't fail me now!
Hmmmm, one great thing I can say about these batteries, they always seem to work great in bad weather! It's just in good weather, after sitting for a day or two without being driven, that they can't seem to start the car. Isn't that odd?!? And what's even odder is that when they go, they take the entire electrical system with it. Everytime I change one of those heavy-duty, way too expensive, batteries, I have to take my car over to the shop to have the electrical system reset and recoded.
So I finally got myself and the car (yes, both at the same time) headed toward work. About half of my drive is winding country roads (that are now icy )going over the mountain. So I kicked in my trusty "winter sport mode" button and trucked right along in my little car as if it were a fine Spring day. I just love my little car! BUT, long about the 13th curve around the mountain, I noticed a slight "popping" sound as I went into the curve. ***Hmmmm, that wasn't there before; I hope that wasn't my CV joint. Nah, it's just the cold weather*** It didn't pop in the next curve so I turned the radio back up. But then it happened again when I turned out onto the main road. ***Hmmm, now THAT can't be good!*** So I made an executive decision to be late to work and stop by my mechanic's shop on the way in to see if he felt I needed to be worried.
It wasn't good news, but it could have been worse. The CV boot was torn and the CV joint was starting to be affected. For about $250 in labor (to take the axle apart to fix the joint and boot) and about $40 in parts, they could fix it. But as Frank explained to me, the car is 10 yrs old which means the other CV boot is going to eventually go too which will mean doing it all again :( The other option is to wait until they both go to save some labor costs. But that's sometimes somewhat risky. Or he can order a whole new axle with all the CVs and junk already new on it for about $150 plus $150 in labor. Only $10 more, much faster and easier, and remove the future need of return for the other 10 yr old CV boot. So I left the car and took Frank's car to work. But before I left, I asked him about the battery. He said there was a possibility that if my alternator was going out or something was haywire in the charging system, it COULD eat up a battery. (Of course, his explanation was much longer and more detailed; but that is the basic summary of it) But he said while the guys were waiting for the new axle to be delivered, he would hook up the handy-dandy computer system and get down into the charging system and see if he could find anything.....
The good news was that he could find nothing wrong with my charging system and/or the alternator. ***See! Those fools down at Auto Zone were wrong! I KNEW it! It's not MY car; it's THEIR batteries!*** Both he and the computer said all was in great shape! :) The bad news was that he was trying to explain another possibility for me to have checked that he couldn't service and I couldn't comprehend. So I argued with the poor man, only to look like a fool and be completely ecstatic all at the same time! The debate went something like this...
(to be continued because I have to get into to work this morning and then make some phone calls to follow up on my "feels like the lottery" mystery from yesterday)
posted by Senati | 7:28 AM
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