New Car

We bought a new (actually used, but new to us) minivan last weekend, which was a necessary investment so we can cart our whole family around in one car after the twins are born (3 months to go!).

Well yesterday Monica called me to let me know that "a little light" was coming on under the steering wheel.

"What little light would that be?"

"I don't know. It's a little yellow light that came on and I'm afraid to drive it."

Yes, my friends, it was the check engine light. The check engine light was coming on only a couple of days after we bought the car. Which put me in a foul little mood, to say the least. Fortunately Monica had fixed me up a passel of Tacos for supper, which lightened the mood considerably! Just thinking about them now makes me want some more. My wife can cook!

Anyway... so after I ate the tacos off I went on a little venture to our neighborhood auto parts store, where I arrived 10 minutes before closing time to be greeted by an elderly gentleman who was not at all pleased to hear me ask to have my car hooked up to the OBD (on-board diagnostics) device (thingy). Grudgingly he pulled on his coat and stepped out into the cold with me. Without saying a word he leaned under the front seat, inserted what looked like a SCSI cable (aka computer printer cable) somewhere underneath there, and flipped his fingers for me to hand him the keys, which I did as quickly as possible.

More grunting... and then he unhooked everything and stepped back into the store without a word. And back behind the counter. Where he proceeded to look around for something for the next 5 minutes while I stood there contemplating why anyone would ever want their car to smell like Coconut. Or Black Ice. Whatever that is.

And then he approached with... The Printout. I held my breath as he handed it to me and spoke the words, "You gone hafta go ter a mekanic."

"Oh", I said. "It didn't tell what was wrong?"
"No."
"Oh Ok. Well... thanks!"

My what friendly service we get if we arrive 10 minutes before closing!

I took a close look at the sheet of paper as I walked back to my new car and noticed that there was, in fact, an OBD-II problem code on the paper, along with a description of something about emissions. "Oh great", I thought, "it's the catalytic converter."

As soon as I got home I got on the 'Net and Googled for the OBD code, which turned out to not be the catalytic converter, but rather, something about a leak detected in the fuel system! Crikey!

So I Googled that. And I found on an auto-repair forum a mechanic's post that 9 times out of 10 that problem was caused by a loose fuel cap.

Double Crikey! I just remembered... our new car didn't have a fuel cap! I actually discovered that fact the day of the purchase, as I filled up the tank on the way home. I'd had similar problems with my Honda Accord - you've got to really tighten the fuel cap a few clicks or else the check engine light will come on.

What would life be without a little drama to spice things up?