Hopefully, The End Of Car Hell
5/11/1
So, Aisai leaves work to go to the bank and make a deposit for her work and I leave the house to get a few more gallons in the Focus�s tank before dropping it off.
I called the Focus place before I left to see how much gas was in the tank when I picked it up. The flirty gal from last time remembered me, even after the nearly three weeks since I picked up the car. The car had between � and � of a tank when I picked it up. It was right at 1/2, so I decided I needed to put in a little rather than them charge me $2.50 a gallon to fill it up to whatever they felt was acceptable.
On my way to the gas station, Aisai calls me and tells me she is leaving the bank. I thought for sure that she�d get there before me, but downtown traffic is really bad and I was already on the interstate. I get the gas and then get to the Ford place. Aisai is not there so I put the two 20 oz drinks I got for us on top of the Focus and go in to check out.
The gal isn�t as flirty since there is another person there. Aisai comes in after a while and then we are on our way. On the way out, we get the drinks off the top of the Focus while the cleaning lady is cleaning it.
The Focus only cost me around $86 for the 16 days I had it. The insurance company paid around $350.
We go to the Toyota place and make small talk about how often I�ve had wrecks this year. That�s always such a pleasant conversation. I remember back in 11th grade I had a situation like that where I had many wrecks. At that time, they were all my fault though. Now, only one of the three wrecks that I�ve had this year have been my fault. And besides, I hadn�t had a wreck since 1988 before that. Except the Van towing the Mustang SVO, but that wasn�t my fault either.
I get the car and they didn�t clean it.
Earlier that day, when I called, I was talking to the lady and she said that the car only had to be cleaned. While she was talking, someone in the background said something and she responded �Oh, ok.� and then told me that it was ready to be picked up.
At the time, I had assumed that the person had said, �Oh, I already cleaned it.� but now I think he said �Forget that loser, let him have a dirty car.�
When I got in the car, there was something wrong. I tried to just tell myself that it was such a lower car and much cruder engine. But I couldn�t believe that.
Thinking it was the suspension that was weird, I did some circles in the parking lot while Aisai sat in her car and waited for me. Satisfied that the car was fine, I gunned it down the little street that leads to the bigger street, momentarily breaking the speed limit.
When I got to the stop sign, the car was faltering and sputtering. It was idling at around 800 rpm but not very well at that. I did a U-turn and went back to the body shop. Aisai followed and told me that the car had belched out a lot of white smoke when I had done that.
I talked to the body shop guy that told me that they hadn�t worked on the engine, but if there was any trouble, take it to Kronos. For some reason, when he said it, it didn�t seem so �go away� like it does now.
So we left, again. This time we got out on Wynn Drive and down to the econo-clinic in the pink southwesterny buildings. I pulled over since there seemed to be something rattling around in the back.
I keep my trunk in a certain way. Tools and supplies such as the siphon, air pump, Fixflat bottle, and jumper cables, are stored on the sides in the little trunk pockets. Otherwise, if the three laundry baskets I keep for grocery hauling aren�t back there, which they weren�t, it�s just that funny carpet. But this was all jumbled. I put the spare in place and tightened it down. I fixed everything.
I almost started crying since my car was sputtering when I was doing this, and everything was screwed up. I didn�t, but I thought it would be very appropriate considering my car seemed like a piece of crap all of the sudden.
I didn�t put the jack in place. I just stowed it in the rear seat floorboard and we were off again.
We made it to the convenience store next to the Kronos dealer. Aisai and I looked at the exhaust pipe which was putting and sputtering. The car sounded like an old VW Beetle. We chose to go to Kronos.
It was after five and there were two other cars in front of me. One was another Kronos, but another was a stinkin� GMC sport futility vehicle. I got out and walked to the bay.
A tired but pleasant Kronos person asked me, �Can I help you, sir?� I told him about the sputtering and we looked at the exhaust.
�It�s skipping.� he said, and in a tone of voice like he was saying �My, what a happy day.�
He told me to pop the hood and I did. He looked and then told me to the shut off the engine. I did. Then he told me to crank it again, and it was perfect.
One of the spark plug wires had been unplugged.
After that, the car was very nice and powerful, at least for its weight. And low. I remember why I love my Kronos. Though I could use some leather seats, power windows, a sunroof, and a better stereo. But with it being a salvage vehicle from a tornado, and now being wrecked three times, since the resale value is nothing, maybe I should improve some aspects of it so I stay interested in it and don�t just shrug it off and dive into Hondaland.
But first I need a case and a CD burner for the computer, then I�ll get the CD player for my car. That Focus stereo spoiled me.