Into every life a little annoyance must come

I guess I was feeling too good about life after my last posting because of all the blessings, and something had to be done to take me down a peg or two. Well, it's working, I'm sorry, and PLEASE FIX IT!

Anyway, here's the deal. We have a five year old Malibu that we just finished paying off (see previously referred to blessings) which is the "good" car. We also have Mike's brother's 10 year old Cavalier which somehow has 160,000+ miles, which we don't like to drive long distances, for obvious reasons, and which has no A/C. I drove the Cavalier until it got too hot, since Mike had to drive 45 minutes each way to school last semester and I didn't want him breaking down somewhere. And fortunately, it didn't get too hot till the semester was over.

Last Tuesday, Mike and I left for work at the same time, which is unusual for us. The Cavalier was parked down behind the apartment, and the Malibu on the street, making easier access for me. I get in the car, turn it on, and hear a weird ticking noise coming from somewhere low in the car. Well, I didn't like that, so I flagged Mike down, since he had to drive past me to leave, and he stopped and we tried to figure it out. We weren't sure where it was coming from, but noticed the right taillight was burnt out and thought maybe it had something to do with it. So he headed back to his car, and I got in, and started to go to work.

Except the car wouldn't shift. It would not get out of park. So I called back to Mike, and he tried it. We turned it off and on again, and played with it, but it wouldn't work. So Mike drove me to work.

Mike did some research that day, calling the dealership and researching online, and determined what might be wrong with it. The dealership quoted $400 to repair it, if that was the problem. He also found out that we had towing insurance on the Malibu, though not the Cavalier (which we have since added since it was so handy) so we wouldn't have to pay to get it towed somewhere. We got a couple of numbers of car repair places and got quotes on how much it would be to fix it if it was the problem the dealership thought it was, because we figured if that repair was cheaper, whatever it really was would be cheaper too.

Thursday, after dropping me off at work, Mike went back home and called the tow truck. When the tow truck showed up, he asked Mike to turn the car on and turn the wheel all the way to the side, to make it easier to get it on the truck. Well, when Mike tried, the car wouldn't start. But the two truck guy was able to shift the car into neutral. Weird!

He towed it to the car place, who determined the battery had died (probably thanks to our haunted CD player which tries to work when the car is turned off). When they re-charged the battery, the car worked fine. No ticking noise, shifted, everything. They held it for awhile to see if the battery was bad, and determined that nothing was wrong. They figured the computer pysched itself out into not working, and when the battery died, it rebooted everything. Go figure.

So Friday, we went and picked the car up (no charge, since all they did was charge a battery). We dropped the other car off at home, and went to get a pizza at Papa Murphy's to take to Lizzie's house. When we got back to the car, it was stuck in park again. No problem, we figured, they told us if it happened again to disconnect the battery and reconnect it. Oops, though, problem. We hadn't figured on it happening again so fast, and didn't have any tools with us. So Lizzie drove out with her husband's tool box and we disconnected the battery.

Only it didn't fix it.

We called the car place, and they suggested leaving it disconnected for 20-30 minutes. We didn't have the time to wait around, since we had plans, so we disconnected it, and went with Lizzie.

Later that night we went back and tried again. Not only did it not work, but the trunk kept popping on it's own.

So we disconnected the battery again, so the trunk would stay closed, and Liz drove us home. The next morning, Mike drove out in the Cavalier to get it towed. Only before he called the tow place, he tried the car. And it worked. Still ticking noise, but able to shift. He didn't dare turn it off, so he pulled a move from the God's must be crazy by leaving it in reverse (it was on a slight hill) and sticking the tool box behind the wheel while he locked up the other car, and drove home to get me. We drove back and picked up the other car, and decided to take them both home, since the car place was closed til Monday and we didn't want to leave the car there over the weekend.

Monday Mike drove the car to the car place, and they looked it over, but said, basically, that as long as it is able to shift, they can't determine what is wrong with it. They can do the repair we thought it was originally, but if that's not it, we are out $250. So now we are stuck with an unreliable car that we can't drive long distances, because we don't want to be stranded, and my baby could be born any day now.

I've been driving it to work, since I live 15 minutes from work, and Mike could pick me up if it broke down, but we can't drive it to our birthing class, which is a 45 minute drive, and I don't feel safe driving it to my weekly check-ups, since I don't want to be stranded in in the city. Although, there could be worst places. I mean, if go into labor or something, the hospital is right there.

Fortunately, Liz and Bruce have a second car which Bruce hardly ever uses, that they let us drive to my birthing class (since a 45 minute drive in the kind of heat we are having does not seem like a good idea without A/C right now). I have to drive it though, because it's a manual, which Mike hasn't ever really driven (our next car will be a manual and we'll fix that). And they have let me drive it to my mid-wife appointments as well.

I just want the car to die though so we can get it fixed. It's been a bit of a hassle figuring out how to do stuff without driving the "good" car, since we can't rely on it anymore. And I'm sure the moment we start trusting it, something will happen and we'll be stuck somewhere. Yuck!