However bad it was last night, the car seemed substantially worse today.
More pronounced shaking, and more shaking at all speeds and while idling. And that was going to work. Coming back I heard sounds as soon as I put the car in reverse. Is that the fuel filter? I passed up the first gas station because I didn't think all my problems could be solved just by adding to a very empty tank. But then I regretted it, and I was lucky to pass by another one shortly thereafter.
I filled it up halfway, turned the car on, and ... some of the sounds were still there, although that sucking noise from underneath was gone. Great, it's now the fuel filter and something else.
The rest of the trip I was on pins and needles. I liken my car now to a man trying to jog with an air capacity of only half a lung. There were still no warning lights on the meters, but the vibration was absolutely overwhelming. Continuous shaking like that and I felt parts of the car were going to come loose up the side street I was taking home. Stepping off the gas pedal was a relief; it was the only time the car didn't shake, and therefore was acting like its old self.
But I made it. It helped a lot that I encountered fewer red lights than usual. But I swear, this is the most fearful I was driving my car while it was drivable. The only time I was more scared was the time the transmission busted on my way to my night shift job, and I was stuck in the street.
God, I'm going to have to pour another fucking grand to fix this, too? It's not worth it, it really isn't.
And that's why I have to add that I'm very goddamn fortunate that tomorrow my parents are taking their road trip, thereby allowing me to take their minivan (unbeknownst to them). I need to give my credit card and checking account a break, so I need to reach at least the 23rd (and more likely the 25th) so the billing cycle reaches the next month. I'm leaving out paying for last month's bill, which is due tomorrow, so I'm not going to get that much of a break. But I had no reason to believe that they were going now. Otherwise I would have to bring the car in, like, today or this weekend, and I'd get reamed up the ass, and I still wouldn't be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Now, I'll drive my car only twice while they're gone: Into the garage (so no one fucks with the taped-up window, which now is the fucking least of my worries) and to The Mechanic Around The Corner. My stress is alleviated -- and now that my folks are away doing their own thing, I'll have the house all to myself, which means no demands and I can put anything wherever the fuck I want.
Not let's hope their minivan holds up. Christ, I need it to.
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