Car trouble and time I wasn't expecting

[vintagewitch]

Welp, I had awful car trouble this morning and now I guess I have a day off from the Horrid Temp Job, which is good. 

The car trouble itself is actually NOT good. I had known I needed an oil change for a couple weeks now, but because of how money stuff was working I didn't get the chance to get in for the oil change. So after all of my check engine and dash lights started freaking out, I pulled over and called my dad. He said it was likely there wasn't enough oil in the engine, so my first stop after dropping E off was to a Jiffy Lube. I had them top off the fluids and put in new air filters (mine were actually pretty gross). But when I turned the car back on, the check engine light was still flashing. So I took it to my regular mechanic, and they said that when they checked it out there was too much air in the engine. So they "smoked it" to figure out where the air was getting in, and two separate things needed to be replaced in the engine. 

Long story short, I've now spent $1k on the car today. YIKES. 😬

Anyway, all of this means that I don't have a way to get to my temp job. Which is FINE because I have maybe a week left of it and I hate it so much. The temp agent had the gall to ask me if the mechanic could provide me with a loaner vehicle. Like??? I work three days a week for a temp agency. Do you really think I'm going somewhere that will provide me with one of those? 

But missing work today is really important because I have to get some stuff done on the online course I'm teaching, and I feel like I'm rapidly running out of time. So having an afternoon to focus on that will be good. 

The first payout from this course is also the reason why I'm able to pay cash for these large car expenses. I otherwise wouldn't have any savings. So that's super fun for me. 

Anyway, just posting here to try to get it out of my body. Switching gears and getting into a different headspace is going to greatly help. 

Wish me luck on the writing! I need to fly over this keyboard.

Comments

[shanaqui]

Good luck!

And sympathies on the $$$ you've had to drop. Gah.

[vintagewitch]

It was truly SO MUCH MONEY. Like what the fuck. I'm just SO glad I actually had it

[katuah]

um, i know a lot about cars, and i've never heard a procedure called "smoking" the engine. Perhaps they meant a seal or hose had ruptured? And they used an aerosol to find the vacuum leak? Love to hear what they wrote on your service ticket.

FYI, most auto parts stores have what's called a "code reader," which they will do FOR FREE, they plug it into the car at a special port under the dashboard and it tells them what the engine computer says about the Check Engine light. They can also sometimes clear a non-urgent code, and then you can drive it and see if the code comes back.

[vintagewitch]

So IIRC (I don't know much about cars) they couldn't clear the code because it's one that means a ton of different things could be wrong. Like essentially they knew that extra air was getting into the engine but not where.

And yeah IDK about the smoking thing - I'm pretty sure it's that they used aerosol to find the vacuum leak.

It was a whole big goddamn day of stress tho

[katuah]

heck yeah, i'm sure. car woes are ridiculously stressful! i could rail on about capitalism and the alienation of humans from nature that is imposed on us by the built environment of car-dependency, or just say it sucks that we are forced to depend on and spend so much money and time on these inanimate objects that pollute and occasionally kill us outright. And I'm a "car geek"!

[vintagewitch]

It's so intense! My partner co-owns the car with me but can't drive themself, and let me tell you it is *ridiculous* how expensive it is to have to use public transportation, rideshare services, AND own a car. Transportation is probably our #1 expense as a household after rent.

AND I HATE HOW MUCH TRANSPORTATION CONTRIBUTES TO CLIMATE CHANGE. So much.