A smoothly running car is a big stress relief. Have I mentioned my car hasn’t been running well lately? It’s kind of amazing that it runs at all, since it’s a 1996 Honda Accord four door. The paint (powder blue) is in terrible shape, blistering and peeling and faded. I don’t have the wheel covers so it’s just bare steel wheels and the cheapest tires I can find. Some of the window seals are in bad shape, and not everything fits together as well as when it was new.
There’s a big oil leak and I never check it, the suspension makes a clunking sound when I make left turns, and the steering is a bit wobbly. The brakes mostly work but take some practice, and I give a lot of space to the car ahead of me just in case. But mostly, it runs.
My joke was that it would probably outlast me as long as I keep the fluids topped up. It’s an inside joke, though, because I know that, being unemployed and often broke even when I’m working, I am barely keeping the fluids topped up. Typically only when I get a warning light, which is probably too late to avoid damage but it’s the best I can do. There are a lot of fluids in a car: gas, oil, brake, steering, transmission, coolant. Even window washer fluid, which stopped working for some reason years ago even though I can hear the pump going when I pull the lever.
All of this is preamble to me and my dad getting in my car the other morning so I can drive him to get some smokes, and the Check Engine light came on. Dad was instantly nervous and I was just annoyed. Really, car? You’re going to embarass me in front of my dad like this? My shame had no limits. I was just surprised it was this, instead of something more noticable, like a wheel falling off (that left-turn noise) or sudden engine failure (lack of oil) or running into the back of the car in front of me (brake failure.) No, it had to be something subtle like a generic warning light.
I know I mentioned this before. I’m just updating. On Friday we got a new air filter and swapped it in. Check Engine light stayed on. So we pulled the battery for 5 minutes and got the light to go out. Worst case scenario, if the problem still existed, the light would come on again, right? But a drive to WinCo and back and the light stayed off. It even felt like the car was running better than usual. It would stumble a bit at idle but not anymore.
Having working windshield wipers even helps; being able to see clearly out the windshield is amazing. I even unclogged the passenger side sprayer, and I know what I have to do to clean out the driver side sprayer — remove and clean it, and check the hose in case there’s a leak. If so, replacement hose is only $4 on Amazon.
Dad figures the oil leak is just the valve cover gasket, another cheap part that I have the tools to replace. Now if I can just figure out the clunking left-turn-sound… And top up the radiator before things get too hot. Oh, and check the transmission fluid. Maybe replace the spark plugs, while I’m under there.