Despite the fact that it has taken yet another hunk out of my checking account, I have to admit that after thinking that my old car was done for good, it drives as well as it used to, for the most part.
The mechanic that replaced the head gasket and the brakes (for some unknown reason) gave a six-month warranty on it. The initial thinking, thought up by Mother, was that the old car would become the winter beater while I drive the new car free of the danger of salt and rust for the warm weather months. But winter is six months away, and it'd be kind of a waste not to at least drive the old car on weekends, when I don't have to go to my regular (for now) job to without seeing if the repairs worked or if this mechanic is a ripoff artist.
So far, so good, with one exception. The weekend before the one just past, while (I think) I was starting the car on the way from the Mall of America (and I think it was that Saturday and not that Sunday), the Check Engine light came on. The car seems to drive just fine with it on. It drove fine all those months when it was on and all the sensors in my car were failing. In fact, come to think of it, all these huge problems with the Mass Air Flow Sensor and the head gasket happened after I got all the sensors fixed in an attempt to turn off the Check Engine light once and for all. Maybe I shouldn't've screwed with it. After all, my parents' minivan has run with that light on for upwards of a decade, at least. Hell, when I went to The Other Mechanic Around The Corner and borrowed his Toyota loaner, I didn't notice until the fourth time I used it that there was a square of black tape on the instrument panel; when I looked around it, bam!, there was the Check Engine light on. Now if a freakin' mechanic thinks a car can run with its Check Engine light on, surely the old car can, right?
Well, not if it's under warranty, even if that warranty is for something else. I should talk to my parents about so they can bring it in during the week. But something has come up: Last week's hailstorm which My Fucking Father noticed by did not, much to my shame, of course. He said he was going to call the insurance company Monday. Either he remembered or I reminded him when I texted him Monday afternoon. Either way, I am supposed to leave the new car today (Tuesday) so they can drive it to wherever they need to drive it in order to have it assessed. That means, for old time's sake, I drive the old car to work today (Tuesday).
That brings up a host of things. First, I had to spend a half-hour after dinner throwing shit out of the new car and into the old car, because I know he's going to look at the trunk of the new car and see all the stuff in there and complain about me hauling trash everywhere I drive. Hopefully I can justify everything that's in there right now -- blanket, tissues, ice scraper, jumper cables, etc. Second, although the old car drives fine, I still have PTSD-type flashbacks to when the temperature gauge started to go up while I was driving. I am obsessively looking at that gauge while I'm driving. I know that's dangerous, but so is allowing the engine to overheat, even though the repair seems to be working and I've checked the coolant overflow tank and it seems to be holding the antifreeze just fine. And it would be just my luck that after two weekends of smooth sailing it would overheat at an inopportune time, such as driving to work. Hope this doesn't cost me more time away from work, like it did two months ago. Wish me luck.
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