I was forewarned that it was highly likely that my car would experience some sort of problem when I was out in the book field. Saturday, my car didn't start -- twice. It took about 15 to 20 minutes for it to finally cool off or something before it would start and then -- it just did.
The second time this happened I just happened to have pulled into the driveway of the Manager of the GM dealership's service department in Fort Payne. He told me my starter needed to be replaced soon, and recommended getting one at Advanced Auto Parts and doing it myself to save money.
Problem: I have no clue as to how to go about doing the second part of that little procedure.
So, I decided that I'd take it to the Harbin Ford Dealership on Memorial Day because they were open. That took up a few hours of my time and all they did was recharge my battery -- something I could have done at my temporary home.
I decided that I'd trust these Ford Dealership people though and so I went on with my business (literally) until this morning when my car didn't start again. Once again I was in someone's driveway. Once again I had to wait for the lady to finish showering and get dressed to help me. She gave me a jump, but it didn't work. No big suprise there -- my battery is a three-year battery that I've had 14 months now and it had just been tested and charged the day before.
After some time of talking and such I tried it one last time and it started. I drove straight to the Jeep Dealership (I feel better about dealerships than mechanics when I am out of town.) in Fort Payne where the guy I had met on Saturday worked. They had the starter I needed for my Jeep and replaced it in less than an hour, but before that happened I had to wait for four other customers to get service, which took a while because there were only two guys working that day (due to a full Memorial Day.)
Needless to say I was once again off schedule and totally thrown off for the day. I got straight back to work when I arrived in my territory at 3PM, but I was way behind in terms of work stats. So, I did my best to make up for it, but still didn't hit what I am expected to hit for the day. I did, however, find two customers. That was cool.
Posted by David at June 1, 2004 10:40 PMMy Jeep is working well again. I really like this car. It is ideally suited for the area that I am working in. I drive down gravel and clay roads with huge pots holes, six to eight inch articulation in the driveways, fallen trees... you name it. The Jeep handles it all.
Today, I was driving down this potholey gravel driveway over 20MPH, because I'm constantly in a hurry and the driveway took a 45 degree turn on me so I got to powerslide through the turn, which thankfully had no potholes at that point. It was a blast.
This job really has me enjoying my Jeep, which makes sense since I spend about 1/3 of my day in it.
Posted by: David at June 2, 2004 11:39 PM