Old Car Problems

For a couple minutes today I thought I might be running home unexpectedly. Luckily after calming down a bit and thinking things through I figured out how to avoid that.

Previously I wrote about how I love my old car, and really I still do. However not sure I would trust it as our only vehicle anymore. It has some electrical issues and isn’t always reliable. When Caile and I came out to and hop in the car to go home it just wouldn’t start. Before I started thinking I immediately thought I had left the lights on again and killed the battery. This has happened a number of times since the buzzer stopped working to warn me when I leave them on. That didn’t end up being the case and we started noticing a slight electrical burning smell. That can’t be good.

At this point I figured it was something serious so I called Jen and asked her to turn around and come back for Caile and I would try to figure out what was going on and if I couldn’t I’d run home. After processing things for a bit I realized I was getting power no problem so I didn’t need a boost. The only thing was is the car wouldn’t turn over. I wasn’t even getting a click of the ignition when I turned the key. In my head I have it narrowed down to the starter or ignition switch neither of which I’m going to do anything about here in the parking lot.

When Jen got back she jumped behind the wheel, put it in gear with they key on and the clutch in. The kids got a big kick out of watching me push the car to get it moving. Jen let go of the clutch and it started right up. She followed me home just in case but it drove no problem. Now it’s home where I can figure exactly where the problem is and hopefully fix it up myself. It’s been a long time since I’ve bump started a car like that.

Since I last wrote about my car I’ve probably put around $1000 into repairs into it which is cheaper than a car payment, but I’ve also spent time without having the car which can be very inconvenient. If I could afford a new one right now I’d probably do it just for the reliability aspect. It would also make it easier to plan financially without havin unexpected repair cost pop up. But for now I’ll keep fixing it up until it gets to a point where the cost to repair is just to high to make sense.