My "hardy" Toyota Solara has always been a time bomb. She ticks. Almost like taunting me, and she drinks oil like its water. well, perrier water, that is. 3 qts in about 2 weeks.
"She must be smoking or leaking", you say? not the case. She drinks it all, and then asks for more.
Then she began a steaming trend. I took her in to Jiffy Lube for ONLY an OIL CHANGE. I was clear when I told them, "I only need an oil change", as my Solara sat ticking and taunting and steaming in the pull through lane at Jiffy Lube.
The mechanic looked at it, looked and me, looked back at the time bomb and said, "its ticking"
I paused "I know, it have a valve thats messed up....... just an oil change, I'll be back in 20 minutes"
"wait lets open the hood, how low on oil is it?" the Jiffy mechanic asked me
we both look at the front of the car as it billowed steam from the hood and he says to me, "its smoking"
"......... yeah, it is, ...............I put 3 qts of oil in it 2 weeks ago" I said as he lifted the hood
"WHOA" he steps back as the hood lifts and the steam bursts out from just behind the grill
we both look where the steam is obviously spewing from, a long crack on the front of the radiator
"It has a crack" he said to me matter-of-factly "its steaming from here, its cracked" he says and points to the crack in my radiator
at this point I was done pointing out the obvious with the idiot...
"a crack?" I repeated back to him sarcastically surprised "right there, a crack, thats where the steam is coming from, the crack?" I stared at him blankly until he came to the realization that I was aware of the crack and was mocking his stupidity. "yeah, I need an oil change, I'll be back in 20 minutes"
I drove away with my friend to have lunch and called a certain man.
"so apparently my radiator has a crack", I told FiremanDave.
"Oh, yeah?"
"it must have just happened this week because it has been steaming only for a few days but it hasn't over heated or anything, I would have noticed that and been concerned"
"ok well we can replace the radiator, no problem"
and away he went on the phone and on the internet and the questioning began...
"what make, model, and year is your car?"
"which engine"
"this is the price, you want it? I can put it in"
"YEA"
next day I had sushi on the tailgate of the truck while FiremanDave put in my new radiator (actually it was the wrong radiator they sold him, and he spent the next few hours online looking for the correct one and model number then tracking one down and picked it up the next day, took 10 minutes to put in)
.... where are you going with this, Wendy, you may be asking?
Which at the moment will not start because I have killed the battery.
on Skype video chat
"hey, so is there anything tricky about jumping the Green Hornets' battery?" I asked Fireman Dave with a straight face
"uh, why?" FiremanDave gave me a side glance
"just, checking, I don't want to get stranded on the side of the road?" holding back a guilty smile and keeping a steady voice
"did you kill my battery?"
"I just like to be prepared, thats all" still maintaining a straight face
"did you leave the lights on?"
"maybe for fifteen minutes" straight face "or 2 hours" I smiled and broke
"more like 2 hours" stated and questioned in the same words
"ok, maybe 2 hours" I grinned to smooth over the statement "so, anything tricky?"
I really do take care of the vehicles I drive. Just ask my co-workers in Afghanistan!! Please, someone vouch for me...
