So, I swapped with a co-worker so I could have today off and take my car in for an oil change and checkup. The heater has not been working for awhile, so I wanted to get that fixed too; last winter was super-fun with the heater being unable to keep up with the freezing stuff on the windshield.
So, I get up and take the car in at 7:30. Finally at about 9:00, the technician comes out and lets me know how much it’s going to cost to fix the heat. Then he drops a bombshell on me–the rear gasket is leaking and I’ve been leaking oil all over the place. This effectively triples what I was planning on spending today. Maggie and I have been wanting to replace this car for awhile, so we discuss whether we want to do these repairs or just bite the bullet and replace it. The mechanic tells me that otherwise, the mechanical parts of the car are in really good condition, so we decide to do the repairs and hold onto the car for another couple of years. My 2-hour stint at the shop is now going to take six hours, and planned furniture purchases to help populate the living room are going up in smoke.
The shuttle from the shop has just left, so I decide to just walk home; it’s only a couple of miles. Just for the record, a couple of miles in a hilly place (Omaha) is much more taxing than a couple of miles in a flat place (Ames). Well, I get home… and realize I don’t have my house keys. For whatever unfathomable reason (probably my initial plan to just stay at the shop until the work is done), I left my whole keyring with the car instead of just my car key. Whoops.
Thankfully Maggie remembers the code for the garage door so I can at least get under shelter and not sit out on my front step looking like a flaming idiot. Maggie comes home, we get inside, and find that the cat has decided she needs to be sick for the first time since we brought her home. It seems she enjoyed a little too much of her favorite plant, and decided to redeposit the extra on the white carpet.
We head out to Wal-Mart to get some carpet cleaner and a couple of other things we needed. On the way back home the shop calls and tells me the car is done. She goes and drops me off at the shop, I pay the painfully large bill and start to head home. From the start I hear a little bit of a funny noise, but I chalk it up to the difference because of the repairs that were made and my flaky heater fan. I get about 2 blocks away from the dealership and my check engine light comes on. Knowing that they just removed and replaced my transmission and taking into account the noise, I start to feel a little uncomfortable. Then I look down and realize for the first time that my speedometer isn’t working.
I turn around and start heading back toward the shop. They take a look at the car and realize that the speed sensor was not reattached. However, the noise had nothing to do with this; apparently there is now a loose belt tensioner. The tensioner is on the opposite side of the engine from the transmission, which is apparently where all the work was done, but the fact that I wasn’t hearing the noise before I brought it into the shop and now I am tells me something else is going on. I argue with the shop manager for a little bit, and he tells me to bring the car back in on Monday and he’s going to discuss with the owner what we can do. I’m honestly not expecting this to be completely free, but any fraction is going to be expensive because this repair is going to involve raising the engine out of the car.
So now I have to hope that I can get Monday morning off to bring the car back in, and I have to go out for dinner tonight with people I don’t know, which I am most certainly not in the mood for.
*sigh*.
4 Responses to “Move complete!”
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