Car troubles
Dec. 29th, 2005 01:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyesetzI've been putting off getting my Chrysler Voyager worked on. The brakes are grinding a little, the steering wheel wobbles a lot, and there's some hesitation. And the "check airbag" light goes on during high-speed turns. And I can't remember the last time I had the radiator flushed.
Anyway, yesterday the "need fuel" light goes on, but I put off filling it. Today I drove about 30 miles with that light on. As I'm coming back to the office with a bag of Chinese food for lunch, the van starts to hesitate quite badly about ½ mile from my building. So I duck into another building's parking lot, thinking I'll turn around and go buy some gas. But the car stalls out in the parking lot and won't start again. The "distance to empty" computer claims I have 30 miles left (and in the past I've driven it for several miles with zero showing on the computer). But it seems my luck has finally run out and I am out of gas for the first time ever!
I walk to my building, go to my desk, fire up yp.yahoo.com and look for a repair garage that advertises under "towing". Call the closest believable one and ask them to bring me some gas. Go back to the van. 30 minutes later, the garage's accountant shows up in an unmarked car with a gas can. He installs some gas. I turn the key. It starts! Then it stalls out. I try again. It starts! The idle is extremely rough and I have to use a lot of pressure on the gas pedal to keep it going. The accountant suggests that maybe he could call for a tow truck, or perhaps I could follow him back to his garage. I select the latter option, mainly because there has been no discussion yet of costs and I'd rather avoid a towing charge unless necessary. The drive to the garage is successful, although there is a lot of hesitation around 2500 RPM.
The accountant is certain that the problem is in the fuel pump. Yes,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mrcougar, you did warn me not to drive on empty all the time! So the garage calls Enterprise Rent-A-Car for me, who come by and pick me up. I go through the usual paperwork at their office. Problem: my driver's license expired 13 weeks ago. Oops! This is actually the second time in like ten years that I haven't noticed my expired license until I tried to rent a car. So Enterprise drives me to the local DMV office to renew my license to enable me to rent a car from them, but as we arrive they remember that you can't just walk in and renew a license anymore (due to the "Real ID Act" which is part of the horrible US law 109-13 that I've ranted about previously). So they drive me back to the repair shop.
The mechanic has a long flowing beard and lots of gray hair. I'm thinking dog or maybe fox, rather than the usual felines you see with such jobs. He has just spent 10 minutes test-driving the car. The brakes need work. The front end needs work. But he couldn't get the fuel pump to act up. I drive the car home in its current shape. Still no estimate, nor a bill for the gas they brought me; they say they'll call me tomorrow.
I go home and grab my passport and Social Security card and bank statement. The only DMV office that's open late on Wednesdays is in Camden NJ. It takes forever to find it because it's in an unmarked building in a shopping plaza whose name was apparently changed to "Space Available". I get there at 6:05 PM and finally get my license as they are closing the place down at 7:30.
So I guess I should go back to the same repair shop tomorrow, since they did help me out of a jam. But maybe I should skip the fuel pump. I know it's $200 just for parts for a combined pump/gauge (I've had problems with fuel gauges in previous minivans, but never pumping problems—yes,mrcougar, I *know* I shouldn't run on empty so much!). How can the mechanic fix a problem that won't manifest itself while he's looking at it?
And I guess I should rent a car from Enterprise tomorrow, since they drove me around so much without any profit.
Anyway, yesterday the "need fuel" light goes on, but I put off filling it. Today I drove about 30 miles with that light on. As I'm coming back to the office with a bag of Chinese food for lunch, the van starts to hesitate quite badly about ½ mile from my building. So I duck into another building's parking lot, thinking I'll turn around and go buy some gas. But the car stalls out in the parking lot and won't start again. The "distance to empty" computer claims I have 30 miles left (and in the past I've driven it for several miles with zero showing on the computer). But it seems my luck has finally run out and I am out of gas for the first time ever!
I walk to my building, go to my desk, fire up yp.yahoo.com and look for a repair garage that advertises under "towing". Call the closest believable one and ask them to bring me some gas. Go back to the van. 30 minutes later, the garage's accountant shows up in an unmarked car with a gas can. He installs some gas. I turn the key. It starts! Then it stalls out. I try again. It starts! The idle is extremely rough and I have to use a lot of pressure on the gas pedal to keep it going. The accountant suggests that maybe he could call for a tow truck, or perhaps I could follow him back to his garage. I select the latter option, mainly because there has been no discussion yet of costs and I'd rather avoid a towing charge unless necessary. The drive to the garage is successful, although there is a lot of hesitation around 2500 RPM.
The accountant is certain that the problem is in the fuel pump. Yes,
mrcougar, you did warn me not to drive on empty all the time! So the garage calls Enterprise Rent-A-Car for me, who come by and pick me up. I go through the usual paperwork at their office. Problem: my driver's license expired 13 weeks ago. Oops! This is actually the second time in like ten years that I haven't noticed my expired license until I tried to rent a car. So Enterprise drives me to the local DMV office to renew my license to enable me to rent a car from them, but as we arrive they remember that you can't just walk in and renew a license anymore (due to the "Real ID Act" which is part of the horrible US law 109-13 that I've ranted about previously). So they drive me back to the repair shop.The mechanic has a long flowing beard and lots of gray hair. I'm thinking dog or maybe fox, rather than the usual felines you see with such jobs. He has just spent 10 minutes test-driving the car. The brakes need work. The front end needs work. But he couldn't get the fuel pump to act up. I drive the car home in its current shape. Still no estimate, nor a bill for the gas they brought me; they say they'll call me tomorrow.
I go home and grab my passport and Social Security card and bank statement. The only DMV office that's open late on Wednesdays is in Camden NJ. It takes forever to find it because it's in an unmarked building in a shopping plaza whose name was apparently changed to "Space Available". I get there at 6:05 PM and finally get my license as they are closing the place down at 7:30.
So I guess I should go back to the same repair shop tomorrow, since they did help me out of a jam. But maybe I should skip the fuel pump. I know it's $200 just for parts for a combined pump/gauge (I've had problems with fuel gauges in previous minivans, but never pumping problems—yes,
mrcougar, I *know* I shouldn't run on empty so much!). How can the mechanic fix a problem that won't manifest itself while he's looking at it?And I guess I should rent a car from Enterprise tomorrow, since they drove me around so much without any profit.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 08:49 am (UTC)the airbag lighting up during turns is a bad clockspring...covered under a recall,you'll notice your horn wont work either.
the wobbling is either tire balance or the CV shafts which is "normal" for chrysler.
I get the "it wont act up when its at the shop" a lot,you have to rely on what you know about the make and model or just try to make it mess up.if not tell them to bring it back when its doing it.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 11:19 am (UTC)Excellent!!! I guess my next oil change will be at the dealership.
I like the alignment computer they use at "New Tire & Battery" (or whatever they're called these days). It actually eliminates the problem for awhile, although they say alignment is ephemeral and it's gone the next time you hit a pothole.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 11:23 am (UTC)I got an email-reply from you some time back. I didn't realize you were waiting for a response. It's at home so I can't call it up right now.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-29 11:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-30 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 08:21 am (UTC)I've had to replace the transmission in every Chrysler I've ever owned, usualy at about 50k. One mechanic told me he thought it was because I was changing between forward and reverse gears without coming to a full and complete stop, so I've been more careful about that. This van's trany is still going at 61k! As far as I know, my car is Canadian-built, but I have no idea where its individual parts come from.