You know it's going to be a bad day when...

[dragonydreams]

I should have known the day was going to suck when I got woken up by a charlie horse 20 minutes before my alarm went off. Then my roommate was in the shower when it did. (I get up at the same time every day - she knows this.) I still was ready to go on time, by skipping my morning OJ.

I go to start the car and it makes clickity noises, but doesn't start. CRAP!!! My car's never not started before, so my heart starts to race and I mildly panic. I try again - the cd player spits out the cd, but that's it. I go back in the apartment and after pacing, I call AAA. Okay, first I called my dad (who's in Wisconsin, but still, my car's never not started before), but he didn't answer - it's an hour earlier where he is.

AAA sends someone to jump my car. I call my dad again and this time he answers and calms me down until the AAA guy arrives. He (AAA guy) says that I still have the factory battery and it needs to be replaced. (The car is a '99 and I bought it used 2 years ago.) He tells me to let it run for 45 minutes and sends me on my way.

I need gas. I knew I was down to a quarter of a tank, but the cheaper places on my way home were busy and I figured I had enough to get me through work the next day. I plan on stopping at a gas station a little past work that has a service, station, just in case. I get there about 40 minutes after the AAA guy got the car going.

The car didn't start. As I said, I purposely chose a place that has a service center, near work in case this happened. I had to leave my car there and they said it should be ready by 3pm. I called work and one of my co-workers came and picked me up.

I'd not done yet though. As some of you know, I eat breakfast at work. They have free coffee and free milk in the fridge, so I keep a bowl and box of cereal in my drawer. I got my coffee, which was fresh - the first good thing of the day. Then I go back to my desk to prepare my cereal, and bump the bowl as I'm getting up, spilling dry cereal all over my desk and keyboard.

I just knew that I didn't want to get up this morning. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't take the service guys long to fix my car, and that it doesn't cost me too much.

Comments

[dragonydreams.livejournal.com]

I, obviously, know nothing about cars, which is one reason I had a very minor panic attack when it wouldn't start. Given that the battery is five years old, it's due for replacement. I meant to take an overview class of how to look after your car around the time I bought it, but never got around to signing up for the class.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

You know it's a good class to have especially when you're female. They run 60 minute specials once a year on how service stations try to screw you (case in point ANY Jiffy Lube I've ever been too who tries to sell me little parts that I don't need). But 5 years, yeah it's probably the battery. That's what happened to me in July. I got it started with difficulty. I thought, damn, the battery's dying. Off to Sears I go which should have just said our express service is going to take 3 hours because we were right behind the theatre and I could have gone and watched a movie while they worked.

Oil changes every 3,000 miles,

Air filter change every year (or if you live in sandy desert places more often than that)

timing belt change (this is expensive but in some cars if you don't do this you can drop the pistons thru the head of the engine and then you're screwed) at about 60-70,000 miles

Does that help?

[dragonydreams.livejournal.com]

Luckily I just had my oil changed six weeks ago. I'm usually a little over the 3,000 miles when I get it done, but not more than 5,000. My car still has relatively low mileage, under 39,000, so I probably won't have to worry about the timing belt for a while.

I had a good bonus at work this month, which I was going to apply to a new laptop, but maybe I should re-think that automotive class. I hate being caught off-guard and not knowing what's wrong and who to trust because I don't know if it's too expensive or really doesn't need to be worked on.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

sounds good. At least there's that bonus. I just got my first pay check and I'm wondering how to live on under 500$ a month...