Friday, February 27, 2009

engine lights

a couple months ago I noticed the engine light on my dashboard. we were pretty busy getting ready for the Disney trip and dealing with competitions almost every weekend. i tell the man i am married to about it... he is so helpful... he says call bobby. i call bobby... explain the situation and then explain how busy i am... he says we will meet up before we go to florida.... then the light went away... HOORAY!!!!

a couple weeks ago the light came on again. crap! (almost immediately after getting home from florida) i call bobby... no answer.

so i go home and tell the man i'm married to... hey guess what my engine light is on again. he does nothing.... except suggest i call bobby... well duh... already did that... ok. my dad is out of town and not just a phone call away at this point. my gas mileage sucks. oh well.

i was talking to a friend of mine and said 'hey guess what... my engine light is on'. this friend is one of those people who probably would have taken care of an engine light problem within 5 minutes of noticing it the FIRST time.... i'm fairly certain that he believes i am an idiot and should not be trusted with a vehicle.

he tells me that i should head over to auto zone and let them hook a thingamajig up to my truck and it will tell me what the problem is AND they do it for FREE. sweet. ok. i'll get to it. :)

i drive around for the past week... passing autozone DAILY. but you know the drill... im always on my way to somewhere and i'm always late! however in the back of my head i hear my friend say that he would have taken care of it if he was here... but he would also be pissed off if i ignored it... which i was doing.... and pissing him off is not ever something i try to do... so finally on tuesday on my way home from work i figure out that i am rushing home for no reason because aaron does not really have football practice (YAY!!!) and realized there was about 30 minutes of unclaimed time that that had just landed in my lap so i just stop at autozone and ask about the thingamajig.

at first the thingamajig does not work. the kid doing it says maybe my hookerupper thingy is bad. awesome. then the manager/owner guy comes out to try it. nothing. dangit! his wife and kids show up. very entertaining. he has 4 kids (at least... cuz there were 4 there) who all climbed out of a mommymobile and were all over the place (they were all under 10 or 12). since dad was in my car messing with my hookerupper thingy the kids were also in my car. the sweet mommy was trying to lasso children and apologize. i just laughed. anyway finally owner/manager guy says hookerupper is not bad... fuse is. easy fix. YAY!!!! he puts new fuse in. hooks up thingamajig and tells me what the problem is.

apparently there is a doohickey called a mass air flow sensor. mine was bad or dirty. i brace myself and ask... ok how much does this cost (it sounded expensive and sophisticated to me... and my luck probably a pain in the butt to fix... where the heck was bobby i wonder) owner/manager guy pulls kids out of my car and explains that the sensor is only about $100. but i may be able to get away with just cleaning it. that is only $8.99 for the can of spray crap to clean it with. HECK YES! at this point it is getting late... i have kids who probably want to eat... (every day they want to eat... a few times a day! go figure) so i say hey cool... thanks! ill be back tomorrow.

i go home and tell the man i am married to what i have learned. he is not impressed.

i got busy on wednesday. did not go back.

yesterday i go at lunch and pick up can of cleaner stuff and kid working says "hey lady you really really really need to change your air filter. um ok.... dont they do that when you get your oil changed? WTH!?!?!?!? (apparently my air filter looked so bad that they wanted to keep it to show other people. poor little filter... it will be laughed at by people like my friend who takes care of this crap within 5 minutes of noticing it. then these same people with shake their heads in disbelief that someone would be so irresponsible. GAH! at least my picture is not attached to the filter.) so about $40.00 bucks later i am out the door with my filter and cleaner and the wise words of the kid working there about a number 10 something or another to remove the thingy over the air hose that connects to my dirty/bad sensor. and if this does not work... we replace the sensor.

i go back to work... call the man i'm married to and say guess what i got the stuff to hopefully fix my truck! he says... sherry i have changes tonight. call bobby. and i think... wow... your helpful. but i have the confidence instilled from the kid at autozone... im gonna go it alone :)

i get home and aaron is boobing about practice... gotta go.... hurry up.

i tell him to relax... we have 45 minutes and the autozone kid said this would only take a few minutes. i pop the hood of my truck. aaron and amy both looking concerned come out to watch... (i did notice they did not get too close... wow... that makes me feel good)

i see thingy that needs to be removed and head to the garage to root around in the toolbox for a #10 something. FOUND IT!!! remove thingy. man i am married to gets concerned. he either thinks im 1. gonna screw something up or 2. the neighbors will see me with the hood up and him nowhere to be seen and realize that i was right about some things along. so he comes out to 'help'. at this point i have the little red hen attitude.... you did not help me when i called about it. you did not help me figure it out. you did not help me when i was buying the crap. so back off buddy! i got this!

i replace air filter... that was kinda easy so my confidence level soars!!! :) then i have to remove big air tube thingy to get to sensor. wait... that is a ring thingy holding on the tube thingy. need a screw driver to loosen it up. man i am married to is really stressing now... cuz i mention that im playing with stuff under there that i may not be able to put back together. i finagle the tubey thingy off and see sensor. can says spray 10-15 sprays. i figure mine is probably filthy cuz the little air filter guy was so shamed. so i spray it with about 50 sprays. then notice the can says crap has to completely dry before starting the vehicle.

HOLY HELL aaron is gonna be late for practice! (kid at autozone lied about this taking a couple minutes!... it took nearly 40 and i still have to put all this stuff back where I think it goes...) so i quickly put the puzzle of my engine back together tighten everything up and inform man i am married to that i have to take his truck as i shut the hood of mine. he ASSumes that i have screwed my truck up. jerk. no. it has to dry. aaron is late.

so aaron amy and i jump in tanks truck and head to football practice. the team they were gonna scrimmage does not show up... scaredy cats :) Aaron does his thing... i try to watch his practice and become even more annoyed with one of his coaches... (that will be another post) meet amys friend nick whose brother apparently plays on aarons team... eat a slice of cold pizza...freeze... and then finally practice is over.

we leave practice, stop by the store.... buy way more than the 2 items we stopped for... then we head home. my truck is still in the street. nice. i park man im married to's truck. head inside. get homework checked for 3 of the A's. call 19 year old to figure out where she is. talk to 10 year old who is suspended from school (yet another post) send 12 year old to the shower and find out from 15 year old what plans are for NCA this weekend.

its about 10:30. now its time to shoo #2 & 3 to bed and text #1 a reminder of curfew. then i clean up the kitchen and put away food man im married to left out. put away some laundry and clean up the living room. man im married to says 'are the kids in bed?' duh its 11:30 at this point... it is a school night... and more importantly i need a break from them!

he yawns and says he has had a long day and is going to bed. wow. goodnight. as i walk into the bedroom to find a checkbook to write a check for #2's school stuff man im married to says... your truck is still in the street. you need to move it into the driveway. ummmm ok.

i hunt down my keys... go out to move truck... it does not start right away. OH HELL! did i screw it up? i try again.... IT STARTS!!!!! and sounds like it is running good as new! i drive it around the block... idk why.. maybe cuz my dad always drove stuff around the block after he fixed it. RUNS GREAT!!! check engine light turns off!!!! YAY YAY YAY!!!! i park truck. go inside. fold some laundry put it away. finish up a few other chores. head to bed. its almost 1 am. man im married to wakes up long enough to say 'did your truck start?' i say not right away and smile as i go to wash my face.

let him stress over that all night :)

sweet dreams :)

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