The Silver Lining in the Land of Car Trouble
What I really should be doing is cleaning my bathroom.
But since that's just not appealing, I'm procrastinating by blogging. That way I feel like I accomplished something at least!
This has been the month of never-ending car issues. If you remember my post from last October, we gave up our faithful eleven year old MPV van and bought an Odyssey with 100k less miles in the hopes that we could avoid the expensive repairs that kept popping up all the time with our high mileage MPV. I needed a van that would be more reliable-- my life is spent in the car, and this school year will be even worse. So now we have a car payment (a manageable one, mind you) in hopes that as a trade off we'd have fewer repair bills and less time with the car in the shop.
I've had a few doubts recently about whether or not it was a good trade.
A few weeks back we had to replace the rotors, the brakes, and buy new tires for the van, despite the fact that all of these things were in great shape when we had it inspected last fall. The Odyssey is bigger than our previous van (we LOVED the extra space when we went on vacation up to Pinetop), but apparently bigger and heavier means that the wear and tear is going to be much, much worse. Still, new tires and brakes kind of go along with older car territory so I didn't sweat it too much.
But then the air conditioning went out a week ago. NOT OK. I know it's possible to drive without a/c in the desert in the summer-- our pickup hasn't had working a/c since, oh, about 2007. But filling a van with seven people and running around to school and up to the valley several times a week with everybody about to die of heatstroke even with the windows down? No. Not going to do it. So we got it in and luckily the amount we had in our emergency savings just covered the cost. We had the van back just in time to start school runs again.
This morning it was our family's turn to help clean the church building, and when I went out to load the kids in the car, I found that the battery was dead. It's not at all unusual. (Another thing I had to learn about life in the desert is that your car battery will die quickly-- always get the warranty. Actually, I don't think we've paid for a new battery more than once for each car since we've lived here because they always kick the bucket before the warranty is up.) Anyway, the biggest annoyance was to learn that with a dead battery we literally cannot open the side doors or back hatch of the van. The power doors won't unlock or open. It was maddening because the jumper cables were in the very back on the van and I had to scramble over all the seats and hang over the back bench trying to snag the cable bag. My spontaneous exercise for the day, I guess. Anyway, we jumped the van's battery, herded the kids into the car, and then Terence and I noticed the engine was smoking. What the heck???? Terence popped the hood and something green was leaking and something was burning. Plus, the van died when we turned it off and had to be jumped again.
Not good.
Fortunately, our mechanic was open today and we were able to get the van right in. My parents (who are the most awesome parents on the face of the planet) let us borrow their Tundra truck again. and even drove it down here so I would have a car I could fit most of the family in.
The problem? A relay in the a/c had shorted out, and so last night while we were sleeping obliviously in our beds, the a/c motor was running all night off the battery. Hence why our battery was completely, utterly drained. But the malfunctioning relay had also led the a/c system to overpressurize (I think I'm explaining this right, clearly I'm no mechanic) which led to coolant spilling out everywhere on the engine, causing the smoking. A nice little domino chain. All from a single little relay.
The good news was that the little relay only cost $14, and that's all the mechanic charged us. They recharged the battery and got the relay installed for us and the van back in my hands before the end of the day. On a Saturday, mind you. Thank heavens for little miracles! I don't know how we'd get by without them.
All the same, I'd really appreciate it if we had a nice, long dry spell without any car issues for awhile. Just saying.
But since that's just not appealing, I'm procrastinating by blogging. That way I feel like I accomplished something at least!
This has been the month of never-ending car issues. If you remember my post from last October, we gave up our faithful eleven year old MPV van and bought an Odyssey with 100k less miles in the hopes that we could avoid the expensive repairs that kept popping up all the time with our high mileage MPV. I needed a van that would be more reliable-- my life is spent in the car, and this school year will be even worse. So now we have a car payment (a manageable one, mind you) in hopes that as a trade off we'd have fewer repair bills and less time with the car in the shop.
I've had a few doubts recently about whether or not it was a good trade.
A few weeks back we had to replace the rotors, the brakes, and buy new tires for the van, despite the fact that all of these things were in great shape when we had it inspected last fall. The Odyssey is bigger than our previous van (we LOVED the extra space when we went on vacation up to Pinetop), but apparently bigger and heavier means that the wear and tear is going to be much, much worse. Still, new tires and brakes kind of go along with older car territory so I didn't sweat it too much.
But then the air conditioning went out a week ago. NOT OK. I know it's possible to drive without a/c in the desert in the summer-- our pickup hasn't had working a/c since, oh, about 2007. But filling a van with seven people and running around to school and up to the valley several times a week with everybody about to die of heatstroke even with the windows down? No. Not going to do it. So we got it in and luckily the amount we had in our emergency savings just covered the cost. We had the van back just in time to start school runs again.
This morning it was our family's turn to help clean the church building, and when I went out to load the kids in the car, I found that the battery was dead. It's not at all unusual. (Another thing I had to learn about life in the desert is that your car battery will die quickly-- always get the warranty. Actually, I don't think we've paid for a new battery more than once for each car since we've lived here because they always kick the bucket before the warranty is up.) Anyway, the biggest annoyance was to learn that with a dead battery we literally cannot open the side doors or back hatch of the van. The power doors won't unlock or open. It was maddening because the jumper cables were in the very back on the van and I had to scramble over all the seats and hang over the back bench trying to snag the cable bag. My spontaneous exercise for the day, I guess. Anyway, we jumped the van's battery, herded the kids into the car, and then Terence and I noticed the engine was smoking. What the heck???? Terence popped the hood and something green was leaking and something was burning. Plus, the van died when we turned it off and had to be jumped again.
Not good.
Fortunately, our mechanic was open today and we were able to get the van right in. My parents (who are the most awesome parents on the face of the planet) let us borrow their Tundra truck again. and even drove it down here so I would have a car I could fit most of the family in.
The problem? A relay in the a/c had shorted out, and so last night while we were sleeping obliviously in our beds, the a/c motor was running all night off the battery. Hence why our battery was completely, utterly drained. But the malfunctioning relay had also led the a/c system to overpressurize (I think I'm explaining this right, clearly I'm no mechanic) which led to coolant spilling out everywhere on the engine, causing the smoking. A nice little domino chain. All from a single little relay.
The good news was that the little relay only cost $14, and that's all the mechanic charged us. They recharged the battery and got the relay installed for us and the van back in my hands before the end of the day. On a Saturday, mind you. Thank heavens for little miracles! I don't know how we'd get by without them.
All the same, I'd really appreciate it if we had a nice, long dry spell without any car issues for awhile. Just saying.
Comments