the story of my car

THIS is my car. It is a lovely 1995 Eagle Vision. I have owned it for 3 1/2 years now... and today it almost came to its end. I've had a few close calls with her in the past few years, struggling with thoughts of saying goodbye, but none ever as close as today.

Last night whilst driving home from small group, the car stalled two times. Once when I was parking the car, instead of me turning it off, it decided to turn off by itself. I am not sure yet if it thought it was being cute or funny, but i can assure you that I found it to be NEITHER. The next time it decided to do this was over the bridge on 390 between avon and lima. It was dark, and there were a lot of cars oddly enough.

After that, it continued along at it's usual pace plus some intermittent "jumping" as it was having an issue with shifting into the next gear. *LOVELY*

When i got home, i explained all of this to my dad. He in turn looked very solemn and confirmed my worst fear and exactly what i had presumed. The transmission was a goner.

So this morning, i woke early and cleaned out the car (not the way you think, like when you move into another one. i was just taking the garbage out of it so that whoever had to get in it didn't have to see what a slob i am) and left the house with my mom's car. Which by the way has an automatic starter that i was able to utilize and consequently enter into a fully heated car.

My dad took the car up to the mechanic and they did the diagnostic on it which produced the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with it. That was odd, since there most surely was something wrong with it. They took it out on the road and drove a few miles while it was hooked to the diagnostic and all the while the car exhibited its symptoms and the test kept reading negatory.

So they opened the hood and started poking around only to find a loose belt that has something to do with the air conditioner. Just as an aside, the air conditioner in my car has not worked since before i got it. Hence my alternative of 60x4 (60mph times 4 open windows) and a sweaty back all summer.

to make this long story end, the final conclusion to the problem was to cut the wayward belt that served no actual purpose OFF. And the car now works fine.

I am really really happy about this. I mean i was totally ready to go and buy a car this week, and while technically i can afford to do that, i have been trying very hard to save that money for something else... and i didn't want to have to blow it on another stupid car.