Monday, July 10, 2006

Just Call Me Ric Ocasek...

...'cause this is all about the Cars.

Stella has been having some problems, lately. I can feel her brakes wearing out, the A/C is weak, and there is something... off... in her electrical system. To whit:

  • When you turn the ignition, the radio will come on, then turn off while the engine idles. Until you touch the brakes. But if you release the brake pedal, the radio turns off again.
  • The radio works fine once she's in gear.
  • If the light selector switch is on the setting that allows the high beams to stay on, rather than flash, when you click the light stalk, turning the ignition will cause a CHECK GEAR BOX light to come on at ignition. When you put her in Drive, the car goes into 2nd gear, rather than first. The higher gears work fine.
  • If you select REVERSE, there is a distressing *thunk* before the car gets into reverse gear.
  • There have been intermittent CHECK ENGINE warning lights.
Seriously: what the hell?

So, I took her out to S&S for service - I go there for any major auto work, since they have a certified Saab master mechanic on staff. They also have free loaner vehicles. Good thing, too. Stella's been there since last Thursday, and they haven't exactly figured out what is the problem. The loaner is pretty fun to drive, though.



It's a '92 900 convertible with a turbocharger. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to enjoy the recent beautiful weather, since the roof motor has been disabled. I thought it was just a case of removed fuses, but when I cadged some (spares and fog lights), it still didn't work. What a drag - it was the perfect weekend for a convertible.

Now comes the part where I look a little dim. On Sunday I was going to drive into D.C. to see a movie at the Uptown. That did not happen, since I left the parking lights on for 2 days straight. Brilliant. Unfortunately, my friends who were available to help had no jumper cables, and those with jumper cables were unavailable. The good folks at AAA hooked me up, but not in time to make the show. Oh well.

In happier car news, Liz/Betsy just got a new car, a nice Audi A4.


Note that it's even a Quattro model, as you can see from the dash badging in the 2nd picture.
Filed in:

1 comment:

kelly said...

Don't give up on your poor little car. Sounds like you have had it for a while, and you can't ruin that beautiful friendship you have together! I love the older cars where nothing works right, that's the fun of driving them. :) Hope all goes well in the end for you!

I like your loaner looks fun!

THE MIND IS NOT A VESSEL TO BE FILLED BUT A FIRE TO BE KINDLED