11 posts tagged “car”
Because everyone cares.
- Get the oil changed in my car
- Counseling appointment (10-10:50am)
- Get tags for car renewed before they close at noon
- Check PO box
- Put more seed & straw down on the lawn
- Get the grass out of the mulch. Bad grass, bad! Grow elsewhere!
- Take the allium bulbs to the basement -- it hasn't been cold enough for long enough to plant them yet
Hmm. It doesn't look as bad on 'paper' as it will actually turn out to be. It's numbers five and six that will be the most time-consuming. Especially six.
On Sunday, a really awesome deal on a wet/dry vac (AKA ShopVac, only it's Craftsman brand) popped up online. It was at Sears and you could buy it online and then pick it up in the store to save on shipping. It's normally $90, and in-store it was on sale for $80 but online it was only $18. No brainer, since we'd been wanting one for a long time now and had been waiting for a good deal.
I bought it and we drove into Louisville to pick it up. The first one we got, the box was all smashed up. I figured, eh, what is there that could really be broken? Tracey, however, was adamant that we open the box and check it before we left. We did that... but not until we'd already lugged it all the way back through Sears and out the parking lot to the car. We opened it up, and wouldn't you know it, but the filter for it was broken. (It has a plastic collar around the top and it was snapped in half.) Grrrr. At least Tracey made me check it before we left, though, otherwise we'd have discovered it only after we'd driven back home 30 miles. Silver lining and all that.
Rather than haul it back through the store, we loaded it into the car anyway and drove around the back to the special merchandise pickup area. I parked at the curb like you're supposed to and turned my hazard lights (or flashers, whatever you want to call them) on. We took the vacuum into the store and explained what had happened. The guy checked his computer and said they had three more in stock, but he kept making excuses and crap, acting like it was almost a foregone conclusion that the computer was mistaken and that they didn't have anymore and that we'd be out of luck -- we'd have to return it for a refund, or take it as-is. (Um, what?)
Well, they checked, and they had did indeed have another one. We were getting ready to carry it out to the car when the same guy stopped us and told us to wait. I thought it was going to be more BS or some kind of stall tactic to get us to, for whatever reason, not take the new wet/dry vac. He said, 'I think... are you... I think... I think you car might be the one that got... scratched'.
Uh oh.
So we all went out to the car, and oh yes, there was a nice scratch. Turns out one of the employees tried to drive a forklift up the curb by our car, and it tipped the forklift so that his load of compressed boxes fell onto my car. The scratch was from the metal band that had been holding all the boxes together which had snapped when the load tipped over. Well, once they moved all those boxes off of the car... we could see that not only was the car scratched, but the boxes had smashed in the rear door on the passenger side. It didn't even look like it would open, and when I did the automatic door locks, the lock on that door didn't open. Heh.
Then we had to fill out paperwork and crap, while loss prevention/security took pictures of the 'incident'.
This morning, I had to borrow my father-in-law's Avalon (again) so Tracey can take the car into the body shop for an estimate and then fax it to Sears.
Suck.
What is your daily commute like? What is the weirdest thing you've seen on that commute?
About an hour to drive into work (~34 miles if I'm going to the shop on Tuesdays/Thursdays, ~46 miles if I'm going to the high school; still takes an hour either way), and the same home, unless there's a bad wreck or something.
The weirdest thing... hmmm. Ooh! The one and only Wienermobile! That was pretty cool.
Should driving while talking on a cell phone be outlawed?
While not on a headset, yes.
When driving alone, what do you do? Sing along to the radio? Think about your day? Something else?
On my drive in to work, I spend a good portion of my hour-long commute praying. The rest of the time I'm in my car, I almost always have a CD playing and I definitely am singing along, loudly. And drumming the steering wheel. hehe
My car has been sounding 'loud' for awhile. It was noticeable when driving anywhere, maybe over 25-30mph, but even worse and louder at freeway speeds. I'd say it was going on for a few months. I could tell (hard to explain, but I was pretty positive) it wasn't the engine.
I got a flat tire a couple of months ago. I thought, 'Aha! It was the tire making noise'. I got a new tire... but the noise persisted.
I noticed my car was out of alignment, pretty badly, too. 'Aha! It's making noise because of the alignment'. I got it aligned... but the noise persisted.
When I got the alignment done, they said I needed new tires (except for the one that had just been replaced) really soon because I was down to hardly any tread. 'Aha! It's bad tires making the noise'. I got three new tires... but the noise persisted.
I read up on some stuff, and from reading, found that it could be that my tires/wheels needed to be balanced. 'Aha! My tires aren't balanced, so it's making noise'. I got the balancing done (which did need to be done)... but the noise persisted.
All this happened over the past few months.
Tuesday night, Tracey, Joe, and I were driving to Wal*Mart. I accelerated... and the engine hesitated, sort of sputtered and acted like it wasn't gonna go and might even stall or die on me.. and then it went fine. Driving was fine. But every time I accelerated, especially with even the slightest bit of rapid acceleration, the engine hesitated and choked. It drove fine other than that, though. But I was worried. I thought it might be a blown head gasket, since that happened twice to me before (on a Ford, though, which sucks sucks sucks) and this is what it felt/sounded like.
I drove it to work the next morning, and it went okay, but acceleration was still iffy. I called the Toyota dealer down the street, and they said I could bring it right in. I took it over there and explained to the guy what the engine had started doing the night before. I also mentioned to him that my brake pads had all been replaced a few months ago, but that I still heard a lot of noise when braking and wanted them checked out. Lastly, I mentioned to him that driving was 'noisy', especially the faster I went, but didn't think it was the engine. I described the noise to him. He said they'd test drive it and check it all out.
Before I left, he pulled up my records, and saw that my car was due for some routine maintenance, namely the transmission service that's supposed to be done every 30,000 miles, and the radiator/coolant flush/rust inhibitor that's also supposed to be done every 30,000 miles. I'd had it done, but it'd been almost twice the recommended amount of miles. The quote was costly (almost $400) for the service I needed done plus the engine diagnostic, but I decided it was worth it, and we could use some money from savings. Better to put a little money into the car now, than to have it break down and need replaced altogether.
I got a shuttle ride back to work. The guy called me a few hours later. He asked me a strange question. He said, 'Has your car been underwater recently?' What the hell? Wouldn't I have mentioned that little detail?! I told him, no, definitely not underwater. He then asked, 'Have you washed your engine lately?' and I said 'No'. He said, 'Well, there's water in one of the spark plug tubes, and that's what's causing the hesitation'.
I think water must have gotten in there when Tracey drove through some flood waters a week or two ago. He said it'd just be a tuneup with new spark plugs, about $50. I told him to do that. He told me about the brakes, too, which was that when Big-O Tires did my brakes, they used aftermarket brake pads and didn't put on the shims like they were supposed to (most cars don't require 'em, but mine does). He also said it didn't appear that they'd turned the rotors. He said to do the shims would be another entire brake job, about $225 or something. He said it wasn't a matter of safety, though, that my brakes were working fine and that it would just be a nuisance with the noise and all. I told him to not worry about it, and to just do the brake adjustment and cleaning and turn the rotors, since that was only like $30-40.
Then he said, 'The main problem, though, which is causing the noise when you drive, is that your right front wheel bearing is going bad. It's going to eventually wear out altogether and lock up on you and that should be replaced immediately'. Ack... I asked him how much it would be, and it was almost $600! Ouch. I told him I'd try to call my wife first and talk to her about it... but he stopped me, and said there was more!
He said it also needed a drive belt and the drive belt tensioner. He said it wasn't a matter of safety, though, and that it was 'okay' for now but needed replaced 'soon'. He told me what to watch/listen for to know if it's getting worse. It was going to be another $400+ to fix that.
I called Tracey and we decided, of course, to do the wheel bearing, but not the drive belt and tensioner.
So, that was $600 on top of the already $400 for the transmission, brakes, radiator, and engine diagnostic. All told, the total bill was $1,052 and some change. Youch. Thankfully, we were able to pay that out of savings.
My car now, though, is like new, I swear. It is SO quiet to drive, it's almost pleasurable to drive it! I'd gotten accustomed to the noise as it had slowly gotten worse, and didn't realise just how bad it was. Now that the noises are gone, it's really smooth and quiet and nice.
And it's one less thing to stress over.
Driving home from work. Light turned green, but not a green arrow, so I had to yield to the cars across from me. The first car in line was turning, so I went ahead and started my left turn. From my left, this old woman in a big Buick or Cadillac or something runs the red light by about 5-10 seconds. Horns blare -- but not mine -- and I jam my foot on the accelerator and crank the wheel to the right, trying to somehow avoid her.
I wait for the sickening crunch I know is coming, remembering how it felt when I was in my last car accident four years ago... but it never comes.
I still don't know how I avoided her, how she missed me.
She was practically on my lap and she didn't even end up hitting the back part of my car at all.
incredible.
I still feel a bit shaky, but it also seems like it never happened.
I called my mom last night to let her know that I'd had my car looked at, because she's been all worried about it. I told her it just needed the wheels balanced, which I'd had done, and three new tyres.
She called me back later and said her and Dad are gonna pay for the tyres. w00t!!!! That's $286 we can put toward Tracey's van work instead.
So my tyres just needed balancing, which cost $49.95. I do need three new tyres, though. I called Big O, and they're 3k miles out of warranty. So, they lasted as long as they should have lasted, so I can't be upset about that.
Three new tyres (one is brand new as of a week ago) will cost me, including labour, taxes, etc., $286.
I'm worried about the shuttle coming from the Toyota dealer at which I dropped off my car this morning. Last time, I waited at least fifteen or twenty minutes past my "requested time". This time, again, I called at 3:30pm (as they suggested) and told them I needed a shuttle at 4pm. The shuttle driver hasn't even called back yet to get me on the schedule. ugh ugh ugh
Wait! He just called and is on his way now. He should be here on time! w00t!!!
