So Saturday afternoon I was free -- actually I had no work Saturday so I was totally free; I just had a roller derby bout I bought a ticket for that evening -- and I decided to work out for the first time in at least a couple weeks. With my folks gone, I decided that I would alternate between using their minivan and my car because if you don't use a car with any regularity, the battery dies. Anyway, Saturday was my car's day.
Since the start of the snow and cold, I've noticed that whenever I started my car, it takes a little while to, um, act like normal. Do you know when you turn the engine on, and some of the lights in the dashboard light up for a little bit before turning off? Well, the past few times I've turned my car on in the morning, those warning lights stay on a little longer than they normally do. But eventually they turn off, so I assume that it's the cold that's making my, uh, car's brain take a few more seconds to connect everything together (I think) and do its quick diagnostics.
Unfortunately, on my drive back home, on the highway, I look at the dash. My oil level light comes on intermittently all the time nowadays, and I initially thought that was the case here. But I was wrong: It was the Check Engine light. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought this was the first time that light has ever come on, but actually I now remember that it happened once before, one night while I was working holiday season overnights restocking a department store. I freaked out then, and I kind of freaked out here. But the car was working smoothly, and I was able to reach the off-ramp and the side streets home.
I may have the money, but I am in no mood to bring the car in again. The kicker to this is that before they left, Father insisted that he bring in my car to get it fixed even though there was nothing to fix. They did a tune-up, amongst other things, so I assumed that everything was going to be fine. If that's the case, why in the hell did this happen?
I wanted to make sure that this car was not working, so before I left for the derby bout (in St. Paul) I was going to turn my car on one more time. If the Check Engine light came on, I was going to use my parents' minivan -- not just for that night, but for the foreseeable future, until I have the time and the wherewithal to bring it in and gird myself for the huge expense to shut that fucking light off.
But it didn't come on. I really didn't want to mess up my system, so I took it as a sign that hey, maybe that light coming on was an anomaly. It is old, after all. So I drove it -- a long way; I had to turn back because I stupidly left my phone and gloves at home -- all the way across the river, and the light didn't come on. Whew! And, Yippee!
But it came on while I was driving on the highway coming home. Shit. Drove fine. I was running out of gas, so I thought that the fuel pump might be the issue, and maybe filling the tank with gas so it could cool the pump might solve the problem. Besides, gas is relative cheap these days, and all day I was debating whether I was taking a risk in waiting to fill up my car because the prices could go up any time, so I put those events together, and I decided to put in more than half a tank. And while it was only less than a mile from this gas station home, the Check Engine light was off.
I'm going to try and drive it today (Monday). I have to go to the doctor's, but that's on the way home. But ***e* wants me to see her at a house party, and that's a far ways away. Depending on if and when the light comes, I can decide to freak out and whether I should shelve the car for the time being. The luxury of having two cars, as well as no parents complaining about my car's troubles, is that I can take my time getting one of the cars fixed without one of my parents nagging at me about throwing it away or something. But of course it's best if this fucking light just goes away for good.
One other thing: I don't like that this light is on my car, but seriously, the Check Engine light has been on in my parents' minivan for, like, years. In fact, I don't remember a time when that light has not been on. But I realize that even with that amber icon staring at me every single time I drive it, I feel totally comfortable driving the minivan. I'm used to it. On the other hand, this is the second time I see it on my car, and since I'm not used to that, I get really concerned. Hey, maybe it's something I can live with, like what seems to be happening to the minivan. Or, if I don't bring the car in, it'll result in my engine blowing up at the worst time, like while I'm on the highway.
Bottom line: I need to see how my car acts tomorrow. But even though I will not like paying this, I need to remember that I have use of another car so my schedule won't be interrupted, which is important.
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