When it comes to transportation, it's a been a frustrating week. I only had to peel $80 total for both the BMW and the Blazer, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Let me give you the story on each of them.
First of all, I had major leak issues on the BMW. Half of the carport floor was covered with fluid that had leaked from the BMW the week after New Years. I put it in the shop last Monday, and it was ready the next day, and only had to pay $80. I'm embarrassed to admit that the leak was self-inflicted. The day before the massive leak, I added a bit too much fluid into the power steering reservoir and it leaked/spewed/poured out onto the floor of the carport and all over the engine and inside the hood. They dried it off, drove it for over half an hour and then let it sit till the next morning and there were no leaks, thank goodness. I was happy because I was getting by with spending less than $100 for a repair on the BMW, and was happy because a shiester shop could have really hosed me on something like this. So all that cost me was some cash and my automotive repair pride.
The second issue wasn't as easily diagnosed and fixed. Flashback to last Saturday. Our old family friend FB, who also happens to be our company President and my department head, volunteered his services to install a new stereo/CD player in the Blazer for me. After removing the old stereo and checking out a few things, he determined that the right front and left rear speakers were bad. Fortunately, the new stereo/CD player came with two new speakers. Unfortuntely, he didn't want to pry the door panels off with a screwdriver and risk breaking the plastic clips that hold it on. No problem, he thought. On Monday, he said he'd talk to one of the supervisors out in the factory who happens to do car upholstery on the side, and ask if he'd help us out. No problem, the guy said. The next day, he brought his tools, and during afternoon break, he popped the two door panels off. A couple of hours later when it was time to head home, I went out to the parking lot and much to my surprise, the Blazer wouldn't start because the battery was dead. WTF was all I could think. After a couple of co-workers came to my rescue and jumped me, it only took a minute for me to figure out that the interior lights had been on, and that's what caused all the juice to drain. I started to think some more, and reasoned that when the guy took off the door panels, he must have torn a wire or something, or maybe even when the panels were put back on, things would be ok. In the meanwhile, I had the sense to pop out the fuse so the lights would go out.
I went up to FB's that night, and he installed the stereo/CD player and the two new speakers, but after fooling with the wiring and checking it over, he couldn't get the interior lights to go back off. No problem, I thought. I popped the fuse out again, and said I'd talk to the other guy the next day and ask him to take a look when he put the panels back on and see if he could fix it. Well, the next two days it was raining so he couldn't check it out until Friday. In the meanwhile, I was talking to a co-worker about the problem, and he called his dad, who ran the repair shop for a major Dodge dealer here in town. His dad told him that the problem was most likely in the door handle on the front passenger side. He said that the wire going to the latch must have been crimped or pulled out during the panel removal. It made sense to me, but when I told FB and the other guy, they wanted no part of the outsider's diagnosis. They refused to believe it. So I called the awesome body shop across the street from work, and talked to one of the owners, and he, too said it was probably the wire connected to the door latch. So on Friday afternoon, the panel removal guy and a car expert from his department spent an hour after their shift ended trying to figure it out but couldn't get the interior lights to go out. By this time, I was ready to just get a big flashlight and keep it in the front of the Blazer and say to hell with it.
Flash forward to this morning. On morning break, I drove the car across the street to the body shop, and kindly asked the owner if he could take a look at it for me. He said no problem. He called half an hour later saying it was fixed. Yep, just as he said last week, it was the wire connected to the door latch. So at lunch, I walked back across the street to pick up the Blazer, and I'll have you know those kind people didn't charge me a dime. So this afternoon, I was able to drive home, and when I got out of the Blazer, I had interior lights that turned off.
I learned a big lesson from the Blazer's interior lighting drama this week. I had to step back and accept the fact that I was in the same position as the Mad Day Care Lady from back in the fall -- the guy out in the plant was only trying to help me, just like I was only trying to help out the Mad Day Care Lady. Even though he messed up the wiring and caused the interior lights to stay on, I really couldn't get mad like the lady did toward me and the plumber. I could have went off on him, but it wouldn't have solved the problem, and it would have only caused hard feelings, and I would have probably lost a friend and an ally. So I'm glad I kept my cool and didn't choose this issue as a battle.
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