The trouble with cars.

I have an older model car. It's a 1991 Ford Tempo. It just rolled over the 200,000 km mark about a week and a half ago, and up to that point in time it's been quite reliable. But that has since changed. It began acting up shortly after the milage reached 200,100 km. First it started surging, then acted like it was running out of gas, and finally it stopped wanting to run. I knew I had to do something.

On Monday I decided that I was going to give the car a tune-up. Now as I've mentioned before I'm a mechanic, so this would seem to be a simple task to anyone on the outside looking in. But I'm a heavy duty, large diesel engine mechanic; not a small fuel-injected gas engine mechanic. And trust me, there is a world of difference between the two. Never the less I embarked on what I believed would be a problem-solving mission. Change the oil, the oil filter, the air filter, and the spark plugs and the problem would be solved. Right? Right!?!

Wrong!

You see, not having the knowledge necessary to work on a fuel-injected system can cause a whole lot of trouble for the person making the attempt. I was filling that role nicely as not only did my efforts not solve the problem, they actually seemed to make things worse. This did not impress me.

So I decided to limp the car home and take it in to my local area mechanic in the morning. Now, if you're are familar with Calgary, or really, any other large city, then you'll understand that commuting an hour in rush hour traffic with a car not functioning on a full capacity can be some what unnerving. I truly believe that the entire city was out on the road driving like asses just trying my patience. They wanted me to snap. I wanted me to snap. But I had bigger issues to deal with. My car wanted to blow up, and I just wanted to get it home. Every light turned red when I approached it, and every pedestrian needing to cross the road did so as I approached their crosswalk. I was freaking out. And so was the car.

I made it home intacted, and although I felt like drinking heavily upon arrival I felt it best to just let things go and focus on getting the car fixed. I dropped the car off in the morning and was told I wouldn't get the car back until today. And what a relief it was to get a call this morning telling me the problem was solved. "It was a simple sensor is all" the voice on the other end of the phone said. "She runs like a charm now!". Great! So a couple of days, a whole lot of headache, and $300.00 later, my car is fixed. I may have doubled the value of my car today but at least it's fixed. With my work being so far away I need a decent set of wheels to rely on. Even if it costs a fortune. That just the trouble with cars I guess.