Repairs For Free - A 2013 Miracle

So, I mentioned in my Birthday #36 post that my car wouldn't start when it was time to go to my birthday party. Either y'all just skimmed over that part or you have become oblivious to my car woes. That's okay. I understand. I mean, I have a lot of car problems and sometimes they kind of just all run together.By the way, Kathy, I saw your comment from a couple of weeks ago, and yes, please let me know when you decide to get a new car. I might just break down and buy whatever it is you are currently driving.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that the power steering seemed a little off one morning and I thought the alternator might be bad; then last Friday when I went to leave for work, old Blue seemed to have a difficult time getting started. So, when I got to work that morning, I backed into my parking spot in case I needed a jump that afternoon. When I left work, she had a bit of trouble starting again but she did start and I, thankfully, made it home. I was at home for all of about five minutes and when I got in the car to leave she wouldn't start. I called my parents and they picked me up so that I could make it to my own birthday dinner. When they picked me up, we hooked the car battery up to a charger and it started soon after so we were thinking it was probably the battery. In the meantime, I had already called my loyal mechanic and told him I was bringing the car his way over the weekend.

Saturday morning after baptizing some folks at the jail, my dad came by to jump off my car so we could take it out to the mechanic. We made the decision to stop for breakfast on the way and when we finished with breakfast, we hooked the charger back up to the battery and it was a no-go. Now, we were thinking it was in fact a problem with the alternator. My dad then pulled his car close to mine and we used jumper cables and were able to get ole Blue started back up after much waiting. I drove out to the mechanic's and left it there and then my dad took me to my grandmother's where I stayed for a couple of hours going over thank-you notes and funeral details and then I went home in her car, which she agreed to let me use until mine was repaired.

While in class on Sunday, my mechanic called and it was in fact the battery that was bad (thank goodness) and he also fixed my lack of heat by replacing the radiator cap. I can't tell you how thankful I was for that because it is cold driving in to work each morning with no heat! The mechanic, bless him, didn't charge me one red cent for his time, and after picking up the car, I drove it to an auto parts store and had a new battery put in to the tune of $130. That watch I returned at Christmas quickly became a new car battery and Blue is running once again.

Some time on Saturday night, I noticed that the air in the house was running and running and running and by Sunday I was quite concerned because it had not shut off in over 24 hours. All I could hear was ch-ching, ch-ching, ch-ching for the utility company. On Monday I called the HVAC man and asked if he could come take a look at the unit. I suspected it needed some Freon and since it had a small leak a couple of years ago, he suspected the same and I braced myself because Freon isn't cheap, y'all!

The HVAC man came out early Tuesday morning and checked the unit and suspected it was either the compressor or some other mechanical thing; but, the unit was too hot for him to know for sure o he turned it off for a while and went to another job and was going to come back later to take another look. He said both things were not cheap and then my stomach groaned. That afternoon he called and miracle of miracles, it was neither of those and something had just gotten stuck and it was working again on its own and I was charged nothing.

So, now I have a working car and a working HVAC unit and heat in my car and my house and I didn't have to pay a penny. I don't know how this happened, but man, am I overjoyed. Finally 2013 has brought along a little good news! Here's to hoping no other repairmen or repairwomen for that matter need to be called any time soon!