Car Trouble, Yay
Jan. 19th, 2026 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerHawk texted and called me urgently when she was driving home from doing a few errands yesterday. The car was flashing warning messages about overheating and then "Extreme overheating". When I came down to the garage I saw fluid pooling beneath the right front wheel. It was a coolant leak.
We called our trusted mechanic this morning to arrange an appointment then called AAA for a tow. We considered trying to drive the car the 5 miles to the shop but decided since coolant would evidently pour out as soon as we poured it in we'd rather not take the chance of causing it to overheat and getting stranded on the side of the road. Plus, we're paying enough as AAA members. We might as well get the free tow from the comfort of home.
At the shop the service advisor noted, "We just saw this car 900 miles ago," and muttered about how they could've missed a coolant problem. That got me thinking, "Wait, it's been months since we've had the car in the shop!" Once upon a time "900 miles ago" would've been 3 weeks... or less. Today, with how little we drive, it's a few months.
We called our trusted mechanic this morning to arrange an appointment then called AAA for a tow. We considered trying to drive the car the 5 miles to the shop but decided since coolant would evidently pour out as soon as we poured it in we'd rather not take the chance of causing it to overheat and getting stranded on the side of the road. Plus, we're paying enough as AAA members. We might as well get the free tow from the comfort of home.
At the shop the service advisor noted, "We just saw this car 900 miles ago," and muttered about how they could've missed a coolant problem. That got me thinking, "Wait, it's been months since we've had the car in the shop!" Once upon a time "900 miles ago" would've been 3 weeks... or less. Today, with how little we drive, it's a few months.
