...... because I just opened up my checkbook to discover that I have no checks. None. I mean, I HAVE some, but they are at home, where I am not, and I cannot go get them because the car is at the mechanic's. And I imagine I will actually have to PAY said mechanic before he lets me take my car. To go get some checks.
*sigh*
But! To distract me from the Cold from Hell, let's play a rousing round of Automotive Diagnostics! A few days (okay, okay, maybe a couple of weeks) ago, my car started sounding, well ........ LOUDER. I'd start it up in the morning, and instead of a nice, quiet, car-running-normally sound, it was all, ROWWRRRRRRRRRR. You know, like when a kid revs the engine of his parents' car. My car was running fine, no check-engine light, no nothing, it was just, well, LOUDER. And the LOUD sounded a leeetttle, well, metallic. Like steel gears crashing, underneath the LOUD.
And at this point you're like, wait a minute, she waited how long before taking the car into the shop?! In my defense (because I always have a defense), I once had an old Ford Escort that made exactly the same noise for a good two months before the exhaust system finally crashed to the ground one fine day. So when the Saturn started making this noise, I figure, well, it's the exhaust system, it's about to fall off, and I've got about two months. So ACTUALLY, I was way AHEAD of schedule by taking it in after only a couple of weeks.
And now! The car is at the garage! Is it the exhaust system? Is it something else entirely? Is it all in my head, and the mechanic will call and say, "Sorry, crazy lady, we couldn't find a thing wrong with it."? (Oh, and if I had a dime for every time THAT'S happened .............)
Stay tuned! Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN............
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5 comments:
I had an Escort too. The rattling noise it made on acceleration (that ratarataratarata sound) was so distinctive that the other day I was walking down the street and I heard that noise and immediately whipped my head to see an old rusting out Escort that I knew would be there.
Wow- you've got an ear for cars!
It seemed like the Escorts just rusted out at a faster rate than other cars, didn't it? I finally traded in my Escort (for a Saturn - NOT a big step up) when a major suspension part literally rusted in two.
The part that made that noise was a misengineered heat shield that caught air and flapped until the car got up to a certain speed. I finally crawled under and just ripped it loose with my hands, since it clearly wasn't working anyhow.
Mine held up for about 150k and then died the very first time I let my husband-to-be drive it -- cracked block. We got stranded in Michigan City, Indiana, halfway between where we lived (Iowa City) and where we were going (Cleveland). It sucked.
Yours made it farther than mine did - I only got 99K out of mine before it fell apart.
Escorts must have a habit of falling apart on road trips. Mine gave out on the way up to the cottage on the 4th of July.
Thank you for the info. It sounds pretty user friendly. I guess I’ll pick one up for fun.
Automotive Diagnostics
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