Heeeere, Old Blue ...
... You're a good car, you!
Old Blue is the NiiceLaadyMobile, a Honda Accord RB (Rust Bucket) that is old enough to vote in the United States and drink in Canada. I bought her last spring and with the exception of one inexpensive exhaust repair, she has been trouble-free. Yeah, she's got issues -- leaky sunroof, nonfuctional gas gauge, dome light and trunk latch -- but she gets me from Point A to Point B.
Until a few days ago.
She started losing acceleration at random moments, which I thought might be the clutch slipping (been there, done that with a previous vehicle). It got worse. We limped and sputtered all the way to work on Monday and I brought her to the Firestone shop on Route 9 in Queensbury. No pseudonyms here to protect the innocent; this is a shop that you should avoid like the plague, especially if you are female.
The diagnosis: Needs new cap, rotor and wires. Now I'd had this done on another vehicle in the past, many times. It cost about $150. They want $330.
I tell NiiceDuude this and he asks, "Has this guy ever been arrested for rape?" Consensus is that this is one of those garages that can smell a clueless female coming a mile away. ND says we're talking about $40 worth of parts and a 15-minute job, which he offers to do.
ND buys the parts, can't get the cap off but replaces the wires. I take it around the block and it seems OK, but a spin around the block isn't enough to reveal if there's still a problem. Which there was. We sputtered and limped back to Glens Falls again today, and I decided to have ND's mechanic (who is honest to a fault and besides, if he tried the take-advantage-of-clueless-female thing, I could sic ND on him) check it out.
Ron (RON'S SERVICE CENTER, ALTAMONT, NY -- GREAT GUY, TELL THEM I SENT YOU) replaces the cap and rotor -- at no charge, yaay! -- but the car STILL runs like crap. His judgment: Nothing he can diagnose quickly because it's so old, but probably something that will cost more to fix than I paid for the car. OK, so Old Blue has had it. But for what I paid, I got my money's worth. Eight months of trouble-free transportation.
I limp and sputter to Stewart's and call ND, then call DC, who has spare cars, to see if I can borrow one of his while I save up for another.
He says yes but it's in the shop (his shop) but he can have it ready in a couple of days. Cool. I can bum rides to work in the meantime if absolutely necessary.
Then I fill the tank, which had been quite low on gas for the past few days. I'm the type who empties the tank and fills up again when the "low fuel" light comes on. I also add a bottle of drygas and fuel injector cleaner.
And I drive to Malta. And Old Blue runs as smooth as a baby's butt! No hesitation, no deceleration, no sputtering. I do my errand in Malta and drive to Schuylerville. Again, no problems.
So either there is a God, or there was crap in the bottom of the tank that clogged the gas line and caused the problem (or aggravated the one caused by the worn cap, rotor and wires). Being an atheist, NiiceDuude goes for the latter theory. Me, I could go either way. All I know is, problem solved for now at least. But I will be saving for a slightly newer NiiceLaadyMobile, because nobody, not even a Honda, lives forever.
Old Blue is the NiiceLaadyMobile, a Honda Accord RB (Rust Bucket) that is old enough to vote in the United States and drink in Canada. I bought her last spring and with the exception of one inexpensive exhaust repair, she has been trouble-free. Yeah, she's got issues -- leaky sunroof, nonfuctional gas gauge, dome light and trunk latch -- but she gets me from Point A to Point B.
Until a few days ago.
She started losing acceleration at random moments, which I thought might be the clutch slipping (been there, done that with a previous vehicle). It got worse. We limped and sputtered all the way to work on Monday and I brought her to the Firestone shop on Route 9 in Queensbury. No pseudonyms here to protect the innocent; this is a shop that you should avoid like the plague, especially if you are female.
The diagnosis: Needs new cap, rotor and wires. Now I'd had this done on another vehicle in the past, many times. It cost about $150. They want $330.
I tell NiiceDuude this and he asks, "Has this guy ever been arrested for rape?" Consensus is that this is one of those garages that can smell a clueless female coming a mile away. ND says we're talking about $40 worth of parts and a 15-minute job, which he offers to do.
ND buys the parts, can't get the cap off but replaces the wires. I take it around the block and it seems OK, but a spin around the block isn't enough to reveal if there's still a problem. Which there was. We sputtered and limped back to Glens Falls again today, and I decided to have ND's mechanic (who is honest to a fault and besides, if he tried the take-advantage-of-clueless-female thing, I could sic ND on him) check it out.
Ron (RON'S SERVICE CENTER, ALTAMONT, NY -- GREAT GUY, TELL THEM I SENT YOU) replaces the cap and rotor -- at no charge, yaay! -- but the car STILL runs like crap. His judgment: Nothing he can diagnose quickly because it's so old, but probably something that will cost more to fix than I paid for the car. OK, so Old Blue has had it. But for what I paid, I got my money's worth. Eight months of trouble-free transportation.
I limp and sputter to Stewart's and call ND, then call DC, who has spare cars, to see if I can borrow one of his while I save up for another.
He says yes but it's in the shop (his shop) but he can have it ready in a couple of days. Cool. I can bum rides to work in the meantime if absolutely necessary.
Then I fill the tank, which had been quite low on gas for the past few days. I'm the type who empties the tank and fills up again when the "low fuel" light comes on. I also add a bottle of drygas and fuel injector cleaner.
And I drive to Malta. And Old Blue runs as smooth as a baby's butt! No hesitation, no deceleration, no sputtering. I do my errand in Malta and drive to Schuylerville. Again, no problems.
So either there is a God, or there was crap in the bottom of the tank that clogged the gas line and caused the problem (or aggravated the one caused by the worn cap, rotor and wires). Being an atheist, NiiceDuude goes for the latter theory. Me, I could go either way. All I know is, problem solved for now at least. But I will be saving for a slightly newer NiiceLaadyMobile, because nobody, not even a Honda, lives forever.
posted by niicelaady @ 7:52 PM
3 Comments:
At 6:04 AM,
The Bean said…
maybe gas guage not working is what's setting it off. my did a similar thing and it said i had a 1/4 tank left and no light - well guess what, I had no gas - riding on fumes. now I fill it when it says 1/2 full
At 6:09 AM,
niicelaady said…
My gas gauge has been broken as long as I've owned the car. It perpetually reads empty. I've been relying on the trip odometer to tell me when to fill up (I usually do it when it gets to around 300, 320 miles). Then when I discovered I had a working low-fuel light, I started waiting until it came on to fill up.
At 4:52 AM,
threecollie said…
It sure is hard when a car that you like to drive begins to badger you with mechanical problems. My tired old minivan has about reached that point and I hate it.
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