I got a text message from one of the Sister In Laws this morning at 0830 stating that the battery in her car was dead.
This is the same one who was complaining about her battery a week ago.
She is obviously not smart enough to take care of this on a Saturday, her day off, when most places are open, eh?
No, let’s wait until Sunday Morning and then call Phil and make it his problem.
Fuck me runnin’, this is why it’s illegal to bitch slap people.
Because it should be legal in instances such as this.
It starts out with her wanting to know if there is anybody, on a Sunday mind you, that will come to your house and change out a battery.
WTF?
The ONLY outfit that I know of that does that shit is Triple A.
Fuck no, she don’t have that, of course.
After I explain that, I tell her that Auto Zone will change out your battery in their parking lot if you can get it there.
Of course this still means that I have to drive the fuck over there and jump start the fucking thing.
I thought about all this for about ten whole seconds and said fuck all this bullshit, I’m not dealing with the potential of the thing dying on the way over to the nearest Auto Zone, or them not having the right battery and then me having to go jump start the fucker again, I’m just going to go buy a fucking battery, drive over there and change the motherfucker out in her damn driveway, because again, she is too fucking stupid to take care of this shit on her own.
Now the Wifely Unit chimes in and calls me stupid for doing this and yadda yadda yadda.
Fuck this noise, see ya later.
I go get the battery, drive over there and the very first thing thing I get to do is fuck around with massive corrosion on the hold down clamp, then clean the gross terminals, swap the fucking battery out, test the charging system, have her start it and shut it off and have her try it again.
Nothing.
Not a click, nothing.
I check the connections and they are good. The battery is good, try it again.
Vrooom, it fires right up.
Repeat this a couple of times and it did it again but then started right up on the second try.
Then it started up several times in a row.
I dunno if she has an ignition switch acting up or if she just wasn’t pushing the clutch pedal down far enough.
Either way, I tells her I am done here.
The old battery was older than shit and it was definitely bad so it needed changing either way.
Of course I chewed her ass for not taking care of this shit yesterday and waiting to dump it in my lap on a Sunday morning.
Like I don’t have enough shit to deal with.
She ate the core charge for my trouble so there is that. Then she did pay me in cash for the battery.
I told her flat out that if she has anymore trouble with the fucker that she is on her own. I absolutely do not have time to fuck with it.
A 2008 Toyota Corolla with 245,000 miles on it?
Oh HELL no!
GOTTA WONDER IF SHE GETS THE OIL CHANGED.
damn caps
Well, you got the official OK from wife to push her canoe off the shoreline, so there’s that.
Corolla with 245 sounds like this is just the beginning of the nickel and dime drive over and fix me shit.
It was a quart low, the brake fluid was low and so is the power steering. I filled the other two because she actually had it.
The Putt-Putt (before Dumbunny thrashed it) had a short in the ignition. You have to turn the key s-l-o-w-l-y to get it to engage otherwise it just does the >clunk< thing. I thought it was the battery and screwed myself with a new battery afore I figgered it out.
Hopefully going to find out if I can repair it, depends on the door pillar and frame. Praying it's not too damaged ‘cos its only worth $2k at most. Insurance’ll total it out if’n I’m not careful.
Now, Phil you know you don’t really mean that. that’s NOT you.
but it is good to vent.
Reality says this will not be the last time you are a gentleman, take the high road, and help someone….even though it will piss you off.
Yeah, that’s a tough go-thru, but you did the right thing, made the final call and it’s done. Stick to that, from now on, not your issue.
Sorry, but I did have to laugh at the Kolchak image at the end. Perfect! 🙂
I’m gonna have to side withe you wife here. If you don’t like being a slave doormat, don’t be one. I could feel your blood pressure going up from here, in Tennessee.
Either starter switch or starter solenoid (which can be IN the starter motor in most Japanese models!) – I’d say the ignition switch is most likely burned out due to age and wear and tear.
Easy enough to test by putting a meter (or that “logic probe” you have) and seeing if voltage gets to the starter motor when you have the Ignition switch in the crank position. The advantage of using a meter instead of that probe is that you can see the actual voltage going to the starter solenoid, This is where an analog voltmeter comes in handy becasue the digital ones don’t give you the ability to see a “flicker” on the starter line, the analog ones show it by the needle twitching.
It’s a skill…
That’s what you get for not screening your calls. They can’t make you fix their problems if they can’t get ahold of you to tell you about them.
I recall a few weeks ago, Wifely Unit was appreciaitve that you have knowledge and experience, and can get shit done, what does she think of her sister not having basic car repair knowledge, yeah, I know I don’t have to ask. chuckling
I love those Toyotas because they will run forever IF you stay on top of your maintenance… but… yeah. At 245K the next stop should probably be the car crusher.
………..I guess her husband has moved on & she is not friendly with a neighbor with skills.
My (now ex) wife was pretty good about adding her sister/mom/grandmother/aunt chores to my honeydoos and filling up my weekends, until I gave her a schedule of what days in a month I was willing to do it, with most weekends blacked out. Sure pi$$ed her off at first, but she finally got it.
She’s my ex because I’m not liberal enough to suit her. She’s really a decent woman, we just didn’t get along in politics.
“Fuck me running”. One of my favorite phrases.
Or just tell her to fuck off and die in a fire.