The Check Engine light: Weirdest thing, it's not bothering me so much now. Well, it's been on for some time, but from Thursday morning till the first part of Friday's drive home it didn't come on at all. Thought that was great ... but then it came on for the back half of the Friday trip home. It was on pretty much all day Saturday; in particular finding a parking spot for the Minnesota RollerGirls bout that evening with that on wasn't fun. Nor was it great to drive from Bloomington to Columbia Heights with it on Sunday. But today (Monday), it didn't come on once, thank God. So that means it's getting, for lack of a better word, better? I don't know if it's consistent enough for The Mechanic Around The Corner to check on it next week.
Low Oil Level light: Have believed for some time now that it doesn't truly indicate the level of oil in my engine. I think the sensor's bad. I say that because these days it often comes on and off depending on small things, especially whether if I turn the car left or right. I don't think that if my car was running low on oil it would do that. Now, it wasn't great to see that on pretty much all day Sunday or today (Monday), but today (Monday), after a long drive on the highway, it shut off, although it did turn on again just before I got home. Having them check on that, too, finally, for the first time in the many years I've had this problem.
That banging noise: Since I tried changing my taillight the weekend prior I have heard this banging noise from the passenger side of the trunk. I thought something loose fell down under the trunk lining, so I looked; the only thing I saw, chillingly, was moisture and the thing covering up my jack all wet. Where did the wetness come from? I then thought something was loose in the taillight housing assembly when I opened it up, but I still heard the banging. So I finally brought it into The Mechanic Around The Corner Saturday, who told me that the noise I was hearing is something called the sway bar. One of the two bushings and brackets is gone, probably due to rust. I am going to try and wait till I can bring it in and have them solve all my issues in one fell swoop, but I'm kind of scared that the other bushing and bracket, which the guy I talked to said is still attached, will not make it another week, and that the sway bar will just fall off the car while I'm, like, driving on the highway. It's only hanging on by a thread, and it's particularly noisy when I turn left and when I drive over potholes.
The burnt-out taillight: Turns out there were two, one on each side. The left side (the first time I've ever had to replace a bulb on that side) was fixed; the right wasn't. I have this bad habit of keeping old bulbs, so I thought I might have gotten confused and put it in an old one, but I didn't have time to change it back because the car parts store was closing and I had to return the tools I borrowed from them. Still, the noise from the back made me concerned enough to check that Wednesday, the day before the big blizzard, and if I was going to do that, I might as well fix the light bulb. And I did buy a new one and I made sure that was the one I put in ... and the taillight warning light still came on. So I didn't screw up the first time; I have bought two extra bulbs. The guy at the car parts store said it might be the socket, the fuse, or a wire. I'll have The Mechanic Around The Corner deal with it.
Missing bolt: Oh, one more thing, and it's bullshit; when I tried putting the taillight housing back in Wednesday and starting bolting everything down, I was down to my last bolt, and goddammit, I knocked it against the screw and it was jostled out of my hands and into the car somewhere. I tried looking, but to no avail. So not only did I not fix the noise, not only did I not fix the taillight, and not only did I waste money buying a bulb I did not need, I now need a new bolt to replace the one I lost in my car. That day fucking sucked. Maybe The Mechanic Around The Corner can give me one for free?
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