Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Batting A Thousand

Well, my luck with cars is holding steady. We got the Oldsmobile but The Man won't let me drive it until he decides it's mechanically safe. Can't complain. The last thing I want to do is break down halfway to work. So for at least this week I'm driving his van & he's giving the Olds a shakedown cruise. He took it to the mechanic because the tires aren't in very good shape. There was a guy near us that had 5 tires for sale for $50 that were the right size. The Man was very happy. Until he drove up there to get them & found out that even though they were the right size, they didn't fit. Stupid tires. The assistant mechanic recognized the car from a front end job they just did, & they both said it's in real good shape. They'll give it a tune-up for about $100-150 & then it's all mine.

Or all The Man's. I really think he's going to end up driving the new car & I'm going to be driving the van. Which is fine by me, as long as whatever I drive gets me to work & back.

The van, on the other hand, suffered from my touch of death. I went out yesterday morning to go to work. I scooted the seat up so I could reach the pedals, & put the key in the ignition. Yes, I made sure it was the key to the van, not my Camry key. All it did was click.

ClickClickClickClickClick.

At least I wasn't locked inside. I went back in the house & got the man. He turned the key.

ClickClickClickClickClick.

He opened the hood & checked the battery. Looked good. Just to make sure he tapped the connections with a hammer.

TapTapTap.

Our new neighbor just happened to be pulling up in his driveway at the time, so he came over & gave us a jump.

No more ClickClickClick. It started right up. The Man told me when I got to work to shut it off & then see if it would start again. I'm not sure what his plan was if it didn't start up again. Maybe more tapping with a bigger hammer. Luckily, it started right up, & then started again when I was done for the day & ready to go home.

I'm off today, so thankfully I don't have to worry about driving anywhere, but tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

1 comment:

  1. Don't know if this will help or not, but after we bought a new battery because Grady wouldn't start, Mark said probably all we needed to have done was to clean dirt off the terminals. Just love all this advice-after-the-fact!

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