my car has been whining at me for a while now to check my engine. It had recently gotten so bad that every time I stepped on the gas the check engine light had come on.
that signaled to me that it was probably time to replace the air filter...as it turns out, it was WAAAYYYY past time to replace the air filter. LOL!
So after replacing the air filter the light is still coming on. Bummer! But at least now the light only comes on when we are trying to talk the car into going up a steep hill (like the ones that are just about everywhere in Colorado!)
Seeing as I'm planning to drive up to Mountains this weekend, DH & I figured it would be a good idea to get the check engine light checked out. I thought it wouldn't be a good idea for me to get stuck up there with a problem...can you say "hand over your entire wallet to the nice mechanic"?
So I called the shop Tuesday and the guy tells me I can bring it in Wed, Thurs or Friday. I'm looking at my calendar going... "Wed = Park Day; Thurs = Coop & Friday = help at church!" YIKES! At first I told him Friday, seeing as I could walk to Church if necessary.
But then I reconsidered because what if whatever is making the light go on takes longer than just one day to fix??? Then I'm stuck with no car for the weekend. not good.
So I called him back and switched the appointment (I don't really think they gave me a REAL appointment) to Wednesday.
We dropped off the car Tuesday night and hopefully they'll start the diagnostic test on it first thing in the morning. If so I should know by 8am what is wrong with my car. Seeing as that is normally way before I get out of bed, that should be good...right?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm so Silly!
I called the garage at 9am to see if they had looked at it. AH..NO!
WTH? When I called yesterday they said if I dropped it off they would look at it first thing in the morning.
Now when I called they said that they had a bunch of "Quick Oil Changes" ahead of my car and that they would finish those up in about an hour and then get to my car.
GRRRR!
This is the MAIN thing that I HATE about mechanics. Lying about how long they are gonna keep your car hostage!!!! I've had where I took my car in for brakes and it took then entire day because they put it up on the lift and took off the tires & brakes and then worked on a bunch of other cars!(Sears Automotive in TX) I've also had where they kept my car for 3 days and when I finally called them they NEVER located the noise I was complaining about!!! In other words they never bothered to look at my car or call me either!!! (Firestone)
There's one mechanic in town I've found that doesn't do that. But DH said I shouldn't take the car to them for this... it's Brakes Plus. When I call them, they tell me when they can get my car in AND how long they need it to make the repair. I never feel as if my car is being held hostage.
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Well they finally called @ 12:30. He doesn't expect the parts to get here until 2pm, but says that they SHOULD have my car done by 5pm.
Damage done so far...
Mass Airforce Enter - I think this means that there is a leak in the air intake system (what I suspected too!) and this is $255
Transfer Case fluid is dirty $62
about due for an oil change...yeah, right! I just had the oil changed about 2 or 3 months ago and we don't change it every 3 months...more like every 10 months. ha ha!
a brake light out and a license plate light out. I am thinking that I probably should have just let them change those since he was only charging $2.50 each...but DH said no cuz he can change them AND we don't really need them.
So instead of sitting at the park with my friends...I'm stuck at home. :(
Maybe I can finish my book that is due at the library tomorrow.
I know how you feel. I'm stuck at the Junior College while my son is taking the Driver's Education Training. I'm there from 9 am until noon (M - F) for 2 weeks. This week he does his 6 hours of driving with an instructor so after class we eat our bag lunch and then he does his driving. We don't leave until 2:45. UGH! It's one looooooooooooong day!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain on this one, I really do.
ReplyDeleteI've needed a new car since like, November. I fixed the head gasket, buying myself some time. (This was after a bunch of other repairs.) Well, early June I went in for a routine oil change and they informed me that my muffler needed to be replaced, and because of the way Cavaliers were built, they would have to replace the entire exhaust system... to the tune of $400. Um, no thanks. So I've just been driving it.
Thursday nt/Friday morn, I got pulled over for having a headlight out. So I made an appointment to get the headlight fixed as I have to take the written warning in to a police department and have them sign off on the fact that it's fixed or they will issue me a real ticket. Only... it's not my headlight. It's the wiring in my car. Well, I either had to have them go ahead and try and fix that or have a new car purchased by Monday the 14th. So they fixed that. But after putting $130 in it to do that, and knowing that I still have the muffler issue, I've spent the last several days looking at cars. And going nutso as car shopping is far from fun in my world. In fact, I hate it. Immensely. There are just too many decisions to make. Ugh.
But yeah, my headlight ended up costing a LOT more than I anticipated! :-/
So sorry about this, I live on a hill so I cannot do a thing without a car and I know the feeling...
ReplyDeleteHope you get your car back soon and for a reasonable hostage fee...
I was hoping that you were going to tell us that the light was 'wacked out' or the fuse for the light was broken in such a way that the 'check engine' light was intermittently turning on and off. Maybe if you moved to Iowa, (with no hills), you wouldn't have to fix your car. hahaha
ReplyDeleteJust please tell me you didn't leave my JFK golf clubs in the car.
ReplyDeleteAt least you're not taking your car to a dealership.
I always take my car to the same mechanic. He's pretty good about not telling me to bring it in until he knows he can get to it. But last time, whatever was wrong was something he didn't work on, so I had to take it to another place and they wound up keeping it for like six days.
What book did you check out? It's not Tropic Of Cancer, is it? Or something by John Cheever?
I can relate to you being stuck. We are a one vehicle family and the hubby has the car because I don't want to have to get the kids up to take him to work every morning.
ReplyDeleteThe Glamorous WAHM
I feel your pain. A few years ago my car's Check Engine light came on while we were up in the local mountains for the weekend. I drove it as little as possible and then took my car to the dealer the morning after we got back. Good thing. We had to have our very expensive catalytic converter replaced and we were less than 200 miles still under warranty so it was free. It's been the only time my car hasn' cost me an arm-and-a-leg. Whew!
ReplyDeleteI'm so bad with car stuff. This is one reason I need a husband, so he can worry about that crap.
ReplyDeleteMiss Renee - do you haf your car back? Mommy hates dealing with car people. She once spent 7 hours and over 900 green papers to have work done on her truck - and they didn't do half of it. They just did the easy stuff. No new shocks. No new tie rod ends. No new brakes. NOTHING. She was FUMING mad.
ReplyDeleteAbout Sammy. Yes, he is that lazy. He would not dream of engaging in anything that involves the term "self" like "self scratching" on anything.