life problems and the birth of the Review system

So guess who's care wouldn't start yesterday.

A couple of weeks ago I got in my car and it wouldn't start. The radio and heater came on, but the car wouldn't turn over. Sounded like the starter. Embarrassingly I had to call my parents and ask them to come fetch me and drag me home. I carpoole with them every day and they had just left me a few minutes ago. Even more embarrassing was when my father, who assumes in these situations that everyone else is an idiot, told me to crank the car so he could hear what it sounded like, because my discription was clearly wrong. Well, the car started, which ironically pissed me off.

Anyway, the car drove for another whole day and two mornings after it didn't start, it didn't start. I felt somewhat vindicated and at the same time stupid, because there I was without a car again. Well, I have this mechanic, which I inherited from my parents and I reluctantly use him, though his garage is a good 30 miles away. Every time I contemplate looking for a new one I get the same old spiel from friends and family that it is so hard to find an honest mechanic. Blah, blah, blah... technically true, I guess. I've lost money on dishonest ones in the past. But 30 miles is a long way to drive a car that won't start.

Anyway, there are some things that your average person can do himself with respect to car maintenance and repair to save on these mechanic costs. I, however, am not your average person. I am car retarded. Still, I have in the past (with help from my brother-in-law) changed out an alternator and done some rudimentary mechanics. I thought this time it might be worth it to give self help a go.

Problem: I didn't really know what was wrong with my car. It's hard to fix something if you don't know how it's broken.

I called my mechanic and explained the problem. He told me it sounded like the starter, but he couldn't be certain. However, he said, if I could get under the hood of the car with a hammer or a screw driver, or something, and give the starter a good whack, it might reset itself and start.

That sounded odd. Ironically, that was the exact same advice I received about six years ago when my old computer broke down. The hard drive was failing to engage. The husband of a friend of mine said that I should open up the console and give the hard drive a good whack. "Won't that do damage?" I asked. "It can't make it worse." I gave the hard drive a whack and it didn't fix it.

Anyway, the mechanic said to whack off my car, so that was what I was prepared to do. I opened the hood and quickly discovered that I didn't have the first clue of what a car starter looked like, or where it would be. So I got on line and I Googled it. I found one picture of a starter for the type of car I drive (an old Caddy). So, armed with information I went back out to my car. I still couldn't find the starter. A starter by itself I could probably identify now, but crammed into an intricate engine was another story. So I whacked a bunch of things that could potentially have been the starter, but it was a no go.

So I had my car towed for about $108. Then I found out that my starter was bad and it had shorted out the wires around it, which was my mechanics nice way of saying, "You'd have never been able to fix it yourself."

He fixed it and it only cost about $350.00, counting the tow. It was actually more than that, but I had him do some other stuff too. So I got it and I drove it home. And guess what? The next morning it didn't start.

Well, my mechanic was reasonably embarrassed by this and he drove out to my house, mess with the car until he got it started and drove it to his shop. There he fixed the starter issues and adjusted my idle, because it was apparently running hard. He also gave me a free oil change to compensate for my troubles. Oh, and he put on two back tires and a realigned them to compensate for the rough ride. The tires only cost me $140.00. It's a good thing I didn't ask for them.

Anyway. Yesterday, a week after all of that transpired, my car didn't start again. And it didn't start in the same way - by not starting. sigh

REVIEWS:
So all of these events, and some others I'll mention later, have led me to the conclusion that I should vent my frustrations by reviewing people on line. Though no one reads this blog it will make me happy to know I have passed my troubles on to you.

MY MECHANIC:
C-
he could have done better. and he could have done it cheaper. and he could have let me decide if I actually wanted new back tires to replace the old ones that were not worn out.

MY REVIEW OF MY MECHANIC:
B
it is an honest review, but it doesn't help the reader because I didn't give my mechanic's name. he is a family friend and I will probably still use him. if only he wasn't 30 miles away.

MY MECHANICAL SKILLS:
D
I probably deserve worse.

MY CAR:
D
though it is totally pimp it has failed me too many times. if I could use the force and choke it to death I would. but I don't have the force or the passion required to hate something that vehemently.

MY LACK OF HAVING THE FORCE:
F
I spent years praying to God for a special force like ability. nothing. I also prayed for mutant powers. nothing again. it seems God does not want me to be special.

GOD NOT WANTING ME TO BE SPECIAL:
B
it is sorta funny in a cosmic sense.