Woeful Car Problems

I drive a 2003 Ford Taurus with 158,000 miles. After selling my beloved Cavalier in Hawaii and being more than a little stressed about finding an inexpensive, but reliable car for my 11 month stay in Maryland, my in-laws offered up their Taurus. My father-in-law had recently upgraded to a new Ford Fusion and so it was a bit of timing magic. That is, if this "timing magic" didn't involve over $1,000 in repairs before I could even drive it. So. The saga:

May 10: So, the Taurus was in rough shape. Think in terms of needing four new tires, new hoses, new brakes, air filters, and on and on. I spent about $1,000. This, however, is a bargain if you consider that this car was just given to me and I would have paid quite a bit more to purchase any other car, which may have come with many of its own problems. So, I'm WINNING on May 10th. I'm even winning on May 15th when I pay the Maryland MVA over $160 to title it. I'm even winning on May 16th when I pay $60 to inspect it.

Now, this part gets FUN.

All summer the car worked fine. I did some routine oil changes, but overall, the Taurus was a road-trip beast. We went to Ocean City, DC, Pittsburgh, and Ohiopyle. Come September, a problem that my father-in-law had experienced starts cropping up again. To put is shortly: In order to start the car, I had to have my right foot on the brake, my left foot pushing around on some exposed wires, and my hand cranky the key over. Whatever, it started. The REAL issue was while I was going 70 MPH and the car would. just. shut. off. Seriously. Lose all power. Die. ON THE INTERSTATE. And it didn't just happen there. It would occur in the drive way, in the middle of the night, just whenever it decided it would like a quick snooze. So, two weeks ago, I took the ole girl in to have this issue fixed. Cost $177.00 and it included an upgrade on some old spark plugs.

So, I leave the mechanic office that afternoon and within 5 miles, the car is overheating. What? New problem? BUT WHYYYY? Figuring that this had something to do with them having the car idle for long periods of time in order to test part two of the above problem, I happily filled 'er with coolant and went on.

And then it overheated 4 days later.

And then 2 days later.

And then twice in one day.

Oh, and did I mention that it shut down on I-68 the day after I got it back?

So, as winter approaches and my coolant usage is almost abusive, I call the mechanic and explain the issue. This time, though, I can't be without a car for days in a row as I've got many obligations this week. So, he offers a "loaner" car that I can have free-of-charge while he solves all these issues. Great. Perfect. That is, if I can wait until Thursday. That means Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday my car sits and I carpool with my dear sister to school and hitch rides to work. [Lame.]

WELL, then today is Thursday! I pump the radiator full of water, pack an extra jug, and leave Ellie with Uncle Brooke. About half-way, I realize that my car temperature is rising quickly so I stop, fill it back up with water and continue. I make it there safely, thank God, and I get the keys to the loaner.

It's a 1985 Mercury. Whatever. It only had 114,000 miles and it was only temporary. You have no idea how temporary...

I drive .9 miles and all of a sudden, the rear-view mirror crashes to the seat. The glue is SHOT. I turn myself right back around and bring the mirror in with me to the office. Their reply, "What?! We just put that on there!" [My thoughts, "Yeah? When? In 1996??"] The guys even asked me if I could drive without it. Really? You know, sure. Why not just do that with my child in the car. Oy vey. In replacement, they load me up with a 1990s-something Subaru Legacy. Now THIS is actually okay with me. I love Subaru. Well, I should rephrase. I love Subaru's that have gas in them. This one did not. They pump me with a gallon and I drive to the nearest Sheetz. After putting in $10, I realize that the fuel gauge doesn't work. WHATEVER.

I get home, safe and in a single piece. After 4 1/2 days without a car, I'm itching to do some errands and Brooke, Ellie, and I head out. We have a lovely dinner at Fratelli's and the car is handling fine. We leave there to go to a Magic: The Gathering shop for some Andrew essentials and when we try to start the Subaru, the battery is dead. Well, okay. No biggie. A couple geeky Warhammer 40K guys help us out and we take the long way to Walmart, thinking that this was just a minor glitch and won't be a recurring problem.

Insert Walmart nonsense that included a noticeably transgender man and a cranky 8:30PM Ellie.

We go back out, car dead.

Lisa, Rhett, his sister, and his foreign exchange sister are all at Walmart. Glee.

They come by, jump me up but when I turn on my head lights. Dead.

And a second time.

And a third time.

Well, I'm no dummy, so for the fourth time, I don't turn the headlights on. I drive around the parking lot a bit to be sure I'm safe and as I go to leave, dead.

Take a guess what it is? Any takers? That's right! It's a bad alternator.

So, tomorrow, I have to call my incompetent mechanic and tell him that his second loaner is a piece of junk and that I'd kindly like him to have it towed back to him on his dime. Kindly. Oh, I'd also like my car to be fixed. And, I'd also like to you reimburse me for the shotty work done two weeks ago. And, I'd also like you to never touch another vehicle that I own.

In conclusion: I wish Allegany County had better public transportation.