Four New Things About The Old Car

• I keep worrying that's going to break down, and I still can't help myself from peeping at the temperature gauge to make absolutely sure it's not going above straight horizontal.  I mean, I will have to pull it over if it starts to overheat, so I have to get on top of it.  But it hasn't, once.  And everything else is working fine.  In other words, it's back to normal.
• Well, not really.  I continue to have to add coolant to it.  I drive it on weekends and I always check all the fluids underneath the hood.  The oil, in fact, was changed when the head gasket was replaced the brakes were "fixed," so that's holding strong.  I remain paranoid about the transmission fluid, too, but it's still maintaining its level, which is overfull.  But the antifreeze overflow tank is consistently empty.  I could chalk it up to the air conditioning I'm using during our recent stretch of hot and humid weather, but if everything else was like it was before, I wouldn't have to fill up the antifreeze tank.  But I do -- and for the past two weekends I've had to fill it up on Saturday and Sunday.  Weird, and maybe permanent.
• The Check Engine light went on a few weeks ago, but when I started my car from the Megamall Sunday afternoon (to eat at Hooters -- again), it was off.  And it stayed off all the way home.  Man, I don't get it.  But it was nice to see my dashboard without any warning lights.
• One final thing.  I've complained in the past that when I turned the vent on and put it on external mode, I would get this gassy smell.  No one was able to point out the issue, even though I spent hundreds of dollars to replace parts a couple mechanics said were the culprits.  But in the spring I got the radiator replaced, and when I turned on the fan or the AC, nothing but pure (or relatively pure) air came in, and I could breathe in deep without feeling like I'm going to pass out over inhaling carbon monoxide.  Well, ever since I got the car back the gas fumes have come back as well.  The new radiator's there, and I don't think the mechanic changed anything besides the head gasket, brakes and oil.  So home come the smell is back?  Too bad -- it was nice to be able to use the external vent normally.