Car Problems, 2020 Edition
This will b a shorter blog post than usual as today I need to take the car into the shop. 2020 has been filled with memes of how terrible a year its been so far with Covid, the lockdown, etc. You have but to look at yesterday’s blog and see my retrospective on the untimely death of Chadwick Boseman to see how stressful this year has been. For me, currently car problems lead the way in terms of my own overall stress level for this year.
Beginning of the year: Battery
At the very beginning of the year, the week after New Year’s Day, I came back up to Murfreesboro to do some work, get some preliminary planning for my classes done, and to work on my prospectus. Everything was going fine until that Thursday, when the car wouldn’t start. I tried everything, but finally, I had to walk to school. I called a repair shop in Murfreesboro and they could look at it if I could get it to them on Friday, but not before (and they warned me they had a lot of cars already ahead of me). I thought I was going to have to have it towed, but surprise, surprise, it started on Friday. Now, I could have packed everything in the car and risked the trip back to Chattanooga. I probably would have made it as it was only when the car was shut off that it wouldn’t start. However, I went ahead and took it in and they diagnosed the problem as needing a battery, but it would be Monday before they could get to it. So, I ended up spending all weekend in my apartment, getting nothing done, just killing time until Monday when they could fix the car. I popped home shortly after and then went back up for a truncated week for orientation and other school related things. While batteries aren’t expensive, diagnostics and labor were and I was at the end of my money from the last semester, so the next 2-3 weeks before school started were a bit tense/tight.
Summertime Blues: Water Pump
So, shortly after the Covid-19 lockdown began, and the US government sent out their only set (so far as of this writing) of Stimulus Checks, I felt fairly confident that I could make it through the summer. May, June, July, and especially August are hard months as they come at the tail-end of school year and the money doesn’t refresh until the beginning of school in the last week of Aug. However, right at the beginning/middle of May, when I was going to do a weekly store run, my car began to overheat. I wasn’t far from the store, so I made it to the parking lot, and opened the hood of the car. What was left of the cooling fluid was gone and the rest was steaming and bubbling out. Luckily, a very nice man who knowledgeable about cars came up and helped (we were both wearing masks). I took it to the service place (that was luckily right across the street from the store) and they diagnosed the problem as a water pump failure. It was an outstanding amount of money because of the time and labor involved at getting at the water pump in my particular car. I basically spent my entire Stimulus check on the car, and had to really strain to get through the end of July and the first 3 weeks of August.
Freaky Fall: Check Engine Light
So, now its Fall (well, not officially, but school’s started and that’s pretty much the unofficial start of Fall around here), and there’s yet another problem with the car. Everything was fine until the Tuesday after I got out of the hospital. There were several things that I needed/wanted to do in Murfreesboro for school and so I attempted the trip, having gotten out of the hospital only 2 days prior. I couldn’t make it as I began to feel ill again, I turned around and came home and went back to bed to rest. On Wed., I felt better, so I decided to go for a weekly store run, but, you guessed it, my Check Engine light came on. I drove the car to the store and back with no issues. In fact, I’ve driven all around town with no issues (so far). I took it to the service place that did my water pump and they suggested trying a simple oil change as that’s what the “computer codes” for my particular issue were coming up with. Well, we did that, but no dice, and the check engine light came back on and were giving the same codes. I’m now headed to a different service place as my first one said that they weren’t really designed to handle detailed engine work, so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it isn’t something major.
So, you’re now caught up on my car situation. I have a friend who leases cars for just this very reason, not wanting to put up with issues that crop up. However, my family doesn’t like that because you don’t own anything once the lease is up. We’re a “sweat-equity” type of family who, despite the problems, soldier on and find a way through it, no matter what, keeping the experience and the spoils gained in the process. That’s my life in a nutshell–especially, in the year 2020.
Sidney
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Currently Working On (8/2020):
“Project Wall” (Science Fiction Story)
Drafting: 2nd Draft
Unhallowed (Weird Western Story)
Revising: 2nd Draft (Working Draft)
KnightWatch Graphic Novel (Fantasy Graphic Novel)
Drafting: 1st Draft (Issue 1)
