Day: February 9, 2010

Crankypantsing

Vrooooom!

Shelly

My car started beautifully, as if nothing had ever happened. I cleared it off and went for a drive, to make sure A) it had time to warm up completely and B) that the battery had a chance to get a decent charge. Huge relief! Plus, it was kinda nice to get out, even though some of the side roads are a little iffy.

And speaking of, as I was driving down Smith Road, which is seriously iffy in spots, some asstrumpet was clearing his driveway with a little tractor. Only, he was pushing the snow into the road. Nice! Between the giant, newborn potholes and the mountain of snow IN THE ROAD, the drive was a little more exciting than I had anticipated.

Crankypantsing

Oopsie!

Shelly

I got home this evening from work, and when I shut off my car, the check engine light came on and the car was beeping at me. I assumed the beeping was linked to the check engine light and ignored it, since there’s nothing I could do about the problem myself. Arrrrgh! What I do not need is car troubles right now, but whatever. I figured I’d cross my fingers and hope that whatever was wrong would wait until payday.

That was at 4:30pm. When it was still light out. About half an hour ago (it’s dark now), my awesome across-the-hall neighbor knocked on my door to tell me that my car lights were on. WTF?! I went out, and it was actually my running lights, not my headlights. Alsotoo, the dome light and the console lights. I hadn’t noticed before, because it was too light to see them. My neighbor and I tried everything we could think of to find the problem, but finally gave up. She offered to unhook my battery and give me a jump in the morning, if I needed one.

Being the obsessive person that I am, I just couldn’t let it go. I knew that the car was working Just Fine when I drove home, and that whatever had happened must have happened when I got out of the car. Meaning, I had to have bumped something. So I went back to the car one last time, and turned the knob on the end of the turn signal controller, et voila! I had somehow turned on the parking lights. Who knew?! I had no idea they could be turned on manually.

So that problem was solved. Better yet, while trying to troubleshoot the problem, the check engine light was blissfully dark, so I think it was just flashing as part of the normal “start up the car” routine. I’m pretty sure the airbag light came on, too, which is also a normal at start up. I don’t remember, but I don’t think it was on before I initially turned the car off. It only came on when I turned the car back on, to see why the hell it was beeping at me.

So, I’ll probably need a jump next time I leave, because my battery is pretty well drained, but that’s much better than having a broken car. Alsotoo, now I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I am sure that I would have been up all night worrying myself sick, because that’s the sort of obsessive person I am.