Book of Jamez

55 y/o malcontent, something of a writer

Tag: car

  • Car Trouble

    Car Trouble

    I dropped my car off this morning because the low tire pressure light kept blinking on and off and the air in the tires was fine. Been that way for about a week, but I didn’t want it to suddenly be right about a low tire and not know. I dropped it off at Christian Brothers Automotive, good company that has taken care of my car for a few years now.

    I purchased the car from CarMax and bought a service plan when I bought it. When COVID struck they closed the service department at CarMax and I had to find an alternative approved location – Christian Brothers Automotive was the place. I suppose they’ve probably opened up the service department again since Covid first entered the scene, but I’m just comfortable now. It helps that Christian Brothers Automotive is close to work, whereas CarMax is a little further away.

    It’s $79 just to diagnose the problem. I told them the problem, but they have to use computers or have an expert look at it I guess.

    I dropped the car off at 7:30, got a ride to work from their shuttle service, but I didn’t hear from them until around 12 that my car was being looked at. It was 1:30 before I received the news of what was wrong – the left rear tire sensor stopped responding and that was causing the light to blink on and off.

    Christian Brothers did a full look over of FourTwoMe (my car) and discovered some other issues.

    Air Filter needs replacing
    Fuel System Induction needs serviced
    Torn lower engine mount bushing

    The total to fix everything was over $1000. Which I don’t currently have. So I opted to just have them fix the broken sensor and that alone is $375. I approved the work to be done and I will schedule for the other work to get completed in a few weeks when I have a little extra cash flow.

    So I waited and waited and waited and it was approaching 4:30 and I hadn’t heard from them. I was getting worried. Then I finally got a text but it was bad news:

    “we had to order the sensor for you car and we have it completed tomorrow for you”

    So I called the shop, “Can I pick it up tonight and drop it off again in the morning??”

    Well of course not, they’ve got it all torn apart and would have to put it back together and then take it apart again…. so it’s fine.

    So my next dilemma was getting home from work. How was I going to accomplish that? Well I asked a friend who I had given a ride to before that lives just 2 miles from where I do… she said no…. too tired. Whatever. Another friend volunteered, but it would be 30 minutes after my regular time to go home so I said I would if I couldn’t find something sooner. My manager volunteered, and I live way out of his way.

    So the manager gave me a ride home and when I got out of his truck, I dropped my phone and didn’t notice…. until he had driven a good 15 minutes and he found my phone. ugh. Well fortunately and generously he came all the way back to give me my phone. He’s a nice guy.

    It wasn’t the best day. Had a big deal fall through and all the car nonsense…. but tomorrow is another day and another chance for another sale or two.

  • Whining, Windows and What The…

    I took the car in for it’s check-up and mentioned that the problem I was having with my window (see this video) is happening again.

    My buddy at the dealership said he’d have them take a look at it with everything else and get it fixed. About half way through the day (this was Thursday, the day after my April Fools joke that the car was stolen) he called to say it was taking longer than anticipated and they needed to order a new motor for it but had a loaner car for me.

    So after work they sent a van to pick me up and take me to the dealership where they gave me a Passat to drive. Not bad for a car, but no bluetooth or digital pedometer…. Worst of all… no push button start! OMG it was awful, I had to actually take the keys out of my pocket each time I wanted to start the car… and then remember to take them with me when I was leaving the car… the horror and incomprehensible demoralization is real. #whitewhine

    Friday they let me know the motor still wasn’t there and told me it would be ready no later than Saturday at 12. They called when I was at the SRI office to let me know it was ready, I was happy and after that gig I headed over to the dealership.

    My buddy there assured me everything was fine, let me know they changed filters and also the battery (apparently it failed a test they ran). Thankfully all covered under warranty. Woo Hoo!!!

    So I got into my little convertible bug and pushed the button for the top to go down and it was all working splendidly… and then… the drivers window only went down half way. That’s odd. At first I thought that it might be because it was only half way down when I got in, so I put the top back up and tried it again… Same result.

    So I went back inside and alerted them to the issue, they took it back again to the techs… and over 30 minutes later they still couldn’t figure out what was going on.. they thought it was the coding but it wasn’t, they tested a few other things with no go…

    *grumble, grumble, grumble*

    so he offered me the loaner car again, or he said I could just bring it back on Tuesday morning and they’d have a rental car for me then… that’s what I opted for.

    This post is basically a “Scottsdale problem” what in DC we would call a NW problem… and I should be happy to have a car at all, but sometimes I like to whine.

  • Grass in the Calipers

    My car was making some noises – the brakes were squeaking and there was a “ker plunk, lunk lunk” when I’d hit bumps sounding like it came from behind the driver panel – so I took it to the shop. It’s nice that it’s still under warranty or whatever so they take care of it, when I bring it in they even wash the exterior for me. It was cold out yesterday morning (60 something) so I had the top down, heated seats and heat blasting. The dealership then puts me in a shuttle and got me to work (cute little bear cub driver too).

    Around 11 they called to let me know my car was good to go – seems there was a clip not attached in the back panel on the drivers side which was causing the nosies when I hit bumps – how it got unclipped I don’t know.

    The service guy said “your brakes were squealing cause you had grass in your calipers”.

    “Oh” i said (I have no idea was calipers are – I don’t know much about cars… I can never find the discombobulating thing-a-ma-bobber when I need it)

    The service guy wanted to know how grass got there and I couldn’t remember – until just before I fell asleep.

    (more…)