Aside from having issues with my car’s tires, I have general car woes as well. When I first moved out here, my radiator blew on my way home, and I was stranded in Whittier for a day. Another time, I had some belts changed at Jiffy Lube, and no sooner had I driven a few blocks away from the service center than the belts snapped off and my engine ceased to run. I had to rent a car for a day after that incident. Then, about a year ago, my battery died on my lunch break, and I was an hour and a half late getting back to work.

Now, my car woes continue. As I had mentioned a few days ago, my check engine light came on. I hoped for the best, but, as always, expected the worst. Once in the past when my check engine came on, I only had to replace the spark plugs. I was not so lucky yesterday.

I pulled into the dealership and a service adviser approached me and my car.

“You here about the noise?” he asked.
“Noise?” I replied. I knew then I was in for it. “No,” I said, “I’m here because the check engine light came on.”

After my car was looked over by a repairman, I had another conversation with the service adviser. He told me I needed my idle control valve replaced, as this was causing the check engine light to come on. Fortunately, and miraculously, the valve was still covered under warranty despite my car being over eleven years old. That was the good news.

The bad news: I needed new brake pads on the front and back and needed the front brake rotors resurfaced. I also needed all of my hoses replaced. Yes, all of them.

Overall, this little adventure cost me about 1/3rd of my car’s total value and took over six hours of work. Good grief.