Monday, March 27, 2006

Mirth and woe and wrath, oh my!


I 've just experienced yet another vehicular Tale of Mirth and Woe (TM Scaryduck).

Our tale takes us back to Sunday a week ago, when the engine light came on while driving home from weekly brunch with friends. I had choir practice in the afternoon and play rehearsal in the evening. Not a time to have the car break down. I managed to get around and got the car into a garage, where I was told the engine coolant was low (read: almost non-existent). Went to Canadian Tire (any Canucks reading this are now groaning in despair), was told what kind of engine coolant I needed, purchased it, poured it in, went on my way... and the engine light stayed on.

So, get appointment with dealer, as car is still under extended warranty (Mazda 626 - not a bad car, usually) this past Friday. $275 later - $75 of which covered flushing the WRONG kind of engine coolant from the car and replacing it with the right kind - grrrr and grrrr again! - get car back. Park in driveway.

Then comes the real woe... yesterday (Sunday morning), attempt to leave driveway. Car shudders and almost stalls. Make it to second stop sign from house, car stalls out completely in the middle of an intersection at the top of a blind hill. Manage to s-l-o-w-l-y coast to side of road before some loon comes racing over the hill. Try to re-star-ar-ar-ar-art it. No dice. Try again to re-star-ar-ar-ar-art it. Still no dice. (Some curse words.) Try again to re-star-ar-ar-ar-art it. It makes "chuggly-uggly" sounds like, "I'd start if you just gave me more gas," which I did and it started.

Continued merrily on my way, did what I'd set out to do, then on my way home, noticed SMOKE wafting out from under the hood. Looked at engine temp gauge. ON HIGH. Engine light comes on. Manage to get to service station by driving half a block and stopping the car and turning off the engine when the gauge hits high again then going another half block until I reach the nearest service station. Fluid levels all good, belts intact. Total mystery. Manage to creep home half block by half block without engine exploding.

Get car towed (this requires calling Ontario! Ontario? for a tow truck? Sigh. Insurance roadside assistance) this morning IN BLIZZARD. It was just a hose that had come loose. Will not cost more $$. Phew! And the mirth? I can pick it up once the blizzard dies down sufficiently and everything opens up again tomorrow.

Ha.

Ha ha.

Oh, the mirth.

Did I mention wrath?

Grrrrr....

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh dear. The trouble with hose.

How. Just HOW can a car overheat in those icy conditions?

March 27, 2006 at 3:03 p.m.  
Blogger WrathofDawn said...

A. It wasn't very cold yesterday.

B. Unlubricated steel rubbing against unlubricated steel overheats, no matter what the temperature.

Oh.

vw - dyjgkmus - I think I sing that word in Requiem...

March 27, 2006 at 3:08 p.m.  
Blogger Gary J. Wood said...

Mazda is owned by the Ford Motor Company.

Ford = "Fix Or Repair Daily"
Ford = "Found On Road, Dead"

I traded in my Protegé for a nice little Vee-Dub a couple of years ago.

March 27, 2006 at 4:09 p.m.  
Blogger WrathofDawn said...

Gary - GASP!! That explains EVERYTHING!!! I've had a couple of Fords and they were constantly breaking down. But this is the first time the Mazda has failed me in the two years I've owned it. And this turned out to be mechanIC failure, not mechanICAL failure... Nah, nah, nah... I can't hear you!


I drove a Toyota Corolla for 12 years before I finally had to get rid of it and then only because the body was falling off. The engine was still ticking over like new. Never had a Vee Dubyoo though.

March 27, 2006 at 4:28 p.m.  
Blogger Blogger21 said...

Yeah I've just learned all about car failure - I drive a 90 Toyota Tercel and it was super reliable, but over the last few months it's just started to stall out whenever I'm in an intersection, or trying to reverse. I finally took it in b/c I figured one of these days it'll stall when I'm crossing an intersection (and that'll be when that semi with bad brakes approaches), but no luck. Three weeks in the shop, and it still stalls.

Hopefully your car is less resistant to being fixed than mine! :)

March 27, 2006 at 6:16 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ahhhhhhhhhhh nuts.

Our Mazda Protege = 323 = most of a Ford Focus is fine. Absolutelemy fine. After 5 years.

But - radiator leak (under warranty, by a month or so)... trunk lock mechanism = broken, fixed; tires, brakes as usual.

All in all a Good Little Car (TM) though.

Blarg. I say Blarg. To All Automobiles (TM).

Except maybe Ferraris, which are allowed to break down as long as they're Really Really Fast (TM).

/hypocrite

March 27, 2006 at 6:17 p.m.  
Blogger WrathofDawn said...

Jen - A 90 Turcel? Sob! Mine was a 90 Corolla! Maybe they were related... Unfortunately, our climate did it in...

Ricardipus - Blarg. And nuts. So if a Protege/323 = Focus, what does a 626/ um... 626 =?

And if Ferraris break down really fast, do they repair just as fast?

March 27, 2006 at 9:09 p.m.  
Blogger jkirlin said...

Another Blizzard??

I liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiked star-ar-ar-ar-ar-art....

March 27, 2006 at 9:56 p.m.  
Blogger WrathofDawn said...

Just a little one. It should be the last.

It's a stunning display of onomatopoeia, doncha think?

March 27, 2006 at 10:01 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dawn - in answer:

1) My brother put >420,000 km on his Corolla. Not a Tercel mind you.

2) 626 = before Ford took over Mazda.

3) Ferraris repair nice and fast I'm told, but it costs you 5 times what you think it should (only fair, true of the car itself too).

Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooommmmm!!!

March 28, 2006 at 4:00 p.m.  
Blogger WrathofDawn said...

420,000? I had to put my baby down before it had quite reached 200,000. I'm going away to cry now.

Zoom, zoom.

March 28, 2006 at 4:04 p.m.  
Blogger The Aunt said...

I have a Fiat.

Fix It Again, Tony.

March 31, 2006 at 2:48 a.m.  

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