In case you may not have noticed, I’m a little bit protective of my car Maggie.
The thought of teaching #1 how to drive a standard was a huge, huge dilemma for me. I mean, I know the kid should know how to drive a stick, but did I want him to be learning how to do this on my brand new car? I put it off for as long as I could, but eventually, there were no more excuses.
Anyway…. I’ve done my best to take good care of her. She’s gone for her regularly scheduled checkups, oil filter and lube jobs, you know, the stuff I have to do in order to make sure the warranty isn’t null and void.
However, last week she was making a funny kind of noise. At first I thought I was hearing things because, well, you know, the music was playing and I wasn’t sure if it was part of that or what it was. The windows were open and maybe it was coming from the outside? And it wasn’t all the time either. It was just every now and then.
The next day it began happening more. Every time I stopped. And every time I started. I mentioned it at the dinner table that night. #1 and SG both said, at the exact same time, “What kind of noise is it?”
“Well, it sorta sounds like a chicken. You know that ‘brraaawwwkkk’ noise that chickens make? Like that.”
I don't think I need to explain the glances that were flying back between the two of them....
“Where’s the noise coming from?”
“The driver’s side. It’s like its right there, under the front wheel. But sometimes it sounds like it’s coming from the back wheel.”
The discussion continued, along with some slight mocking of my vocal demonstration of the noise, and it was decided that it could quite possibly be a number of different things but more than likely it was the clutch or the brake (really? did the start and stop scenario’s narrow it down for you??) and I should probably call the dealership and get her in to get it checked out.
The next day I completely forgot to call and get an appointment. Which was probably a good thing….she was just a tad untidy on the inside. So when I got home, I cleaned her up a bit, you know, emptied the back seat of various items, the gym bag, the golf clubs, the box of winter survival stuff, I put the scrapers and snow brush away, cleaned out the doors of the crap that the kids stuffed in there. It was pretty cool because I found a few bucks in the bottom of the driver’s door, sort of a nice little "extra" for the cleaning efforts I suppose. I then put a sticky note on the mirror to remind me to call for an appointment.
But when I was driving to work the next morning, the noise wasn’t happening. When I started, nothing. When I stopped, nothing.
Now I was baffled. What the ??? And then I started to go over what may have changed in the last 12 hours that caused Maggie to not make the chicken noise anymore. Let’s see, I drove home, cleaned out the car, emptied the back seat, put a sticky note up.
Wait.
I cleaned out the car. I cleaned out the driver’s door. A lightbulb of sorts went off and as I dug into my purse to find a quarter or a loonie or some kind of coin. I was marveling at the thought that, if what I was thinking was right, I truly am a genius.
I put a quarter in the driver’s door compartment. And when I stopped the car for a red light, she made the chicken noise.
And she made the chicken noise when the light turned green and I took off.
Turns out, the quarter was sliding along the compartment in the driver's door and hence, making the noise of a chicken.
I am soooo glad that I discovered this and not the dealership. Because for certain they would think I was nuts.
And I would be wearing egg all over my face.
No comments:
Post a Comment