Tuesday, February 20, 2007

And my car still isn't done yet!

Dh called me this afternoon at 3:47 to see if the mechanic called me yet. um no so he tells me that he'll be home soon so that we can get to the shop before they close at 5:30.

He gets home somewhere around 5ish. My car isn't done yet he says. What do I want to do about it? Well what can I do about it? They have my car hostage until it's fixed (I'm imagining her parts all strewn across the floor) about right at that moment the mechanic calls. DH is wanting me to tell him what I want to do about the car while he is on the phone. I'm really confused about the way men think here.

He gets off the phone. The mechanic has told him that they have been sent 3 wrong parts for my car and realized they can't find a new one...so he's placed an order for a used one (this is to straighten the headlight that was smushed in by the deer's butt!) I'm wondering what is wrong with these people who can't figure out what part to send...but anyway. Oh and DH thanks this guy. GIMME A BREAK!

So now my car is held hostage for yet another day at the Mechanic. This is why I HATE taking my car in to get it fixed. There is only one place in town that will be honest with you and say how long it's going to take them to get it fixed and 9 times out of 10 they have it done before then. I really like that garage, but even then they will try to pull one over on me. They don't realize that they are dealing with a mechanic's daughter. The only thing keeping me from climbing under the hood with a copy of Chilton's and a wrench is DH who thinks that because I'm a girl I can't do it. HA!

I get to spend another day at home going crazy tomorrow. You'll be seeing a lot of me.

UPDATE: The mechanic called Today (Wednesday) at 10:47am to say my car is finally finished! YIPPEE! But DH won't be home to drive me to pick it up until 4pm BOO! But the bill is much less than the guy originally said. YAY! But it's because he had to us a used part. BOO!

Actually I'm not that upset about the used part. It's an old car 1994 so expecting the Ford folks to make a brand new part for it is silly. I went through the same thing with my old Ford car... only with it I had cracked the headlight and I wasn't able to get any part for it at all...no new, no used... so I improvised.

I went to the auto parts store and asked the guy what I could use to seal up the headlight. He showed me the silicone sealer and then said that I would need to dry out the inside of the headlight or it would just burn out the bulb again. He didn't know how to dry it out...but I did.
I asked if he thought using a blow dryer on it would work...or if that sounded too silly. He didn't think so at all.

So I pulled out my battery (because the Ford folks put it right behind my headlight) pulled out the old bulb and it's housing. Put the blow dryer to the back of the headlight housing and let it run for a while. My blow dryer has a cool air setting, so I used that to make sure I didn't cause any more condensation in there. Once I could see that it was dry in there...I sealed up the crack with the silicone. I think I might have used a nail file to spatula the stuff in the crack. Then I replaced the new bulb in it's housing and put it back in. Put my battery back in and checked to see that I had it working. I did, it was just fine.

funny about all of that... I originally cracked the headlight about two weeks after I got the car in my one and only accident. I rammed the car into the back of the car in front of me. That was the only damage to my car...the car I hit only got a few small scratches from my front license plate holder. I was told that I should replace the cracked headlight right away because it would collect condensation and burn out my bulb. That was in 1990. The headlight didn't actually go out until 1995! I did my repair and we sold the car in 1998 with the headlight still working just fine.

My current car has been damaged by me once...I ran over a boulder that I couldn't see...(one of the hazzards of driving a vehicle that sits so high off the ground is that you can't see stuff way down there.) DH has damaged my vehicle 3 times...and he thinks I'm a bad driver.

9 comments:

  1. I feel your frustration. It's tough being at someone else's mercy. (I don't like it when things are out of my control.) That's great that you are trying to look at the bright side :~) Will think of you tomorrow as I'm driving in rush hour traffic.

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  2. I understand how angry and frustrated you must be about your car...I'm still waiting for my computer to be fixed after nearly 3 weeks. That reminds me...since you obviously know your way around a toolbox...how are you at fixing PCs. ;-)

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  3. They have my car hostage until it's fixed

    Haha! Too funny!

    I hate the whole "you're a woman, you don't know anything about..." (cars, sports, etc.) I say kidnap it back! ;)

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  4. I know how you feel. It's a pain to be stuck at home without a car. Of course, if I have a car at my disposal, I'm normally pretty happy remaining at home and writing. Leave me carless, though, and I HAVE to go somewhere. Doesn't it just figure???

    I'm posting links to contest shortly... maybe that will help you get through the day. :-)

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  5. glad you got it back!

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  6. Ugh I hate taking my car to the mechanic. I'm always convinced they are ripping me off, especially when they keep it longer than promised.

    Glad you got your car back.

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  7. Yay! I'm glad your car is finally back - that always stresses me out a lot!

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  8. I'm glad you got the car back. I can't imagine how frustrating that was for you.

    Why do all manufacturers make it soooo hard to change a headlight? I dread replacing the bulbs.

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  9. I'm so impressed with you fixing that headlight! You rock!

    About Google Reader, if it can't find a blog's feed see if you can find it yourself. If you can, put the feed's URL into Google Reader instead of the blog's URL.

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