Soon? Or Really Soon? Or Now?

The 'Check Engine Soon' light came on last week and I think the car was being polite (even though later he did call me a whining bitch) and might have said something a little more accurate. Since 'Soon' is a very relative term which implies I have a little time to make arrangements.

It might have been courteous of the car to say something like, 'Check Engine Soon (like, in the next 4 days)'. Because as I've made repeatedly clear, I am lazy, and I don't actually want to drive my car to the dealer for service. It might have been nice if the car had said something like, 'Financially, this is totally going to Fuck You Up. Sorry.' I don't really like pouring $850 into my car. Money allocated for groceries or my social life. As such, we won't be eating anything but dirt for the rest of our lives and there will be no retiring and no college and none of my dreams will ever come true. Thank you Mitsubishi!

I'd rather the 'Check Engine Soon' light just turned off and said 'Never Mind, I'm Fine Now'

But it seems the car did not like the 'Check Engine Soon' light being ignored and decided to kick it up a notch and 'Check Engine Soon' suddenly became 'Cancel All Your Plans, We're Going To The Dealership, NOW'

I take care of children all day, every day. I take care of the cats. I take care of the fish. I take care of the house and the yard and the laundry. I really don't want to take care of my car. I want to put my key in the ignition and drive. I don't want to think about the car anymore than that. Needy children are a fact of life, needy cars are not allowed in this family.

I think I must be the most intolerant person on the face of the planet.

Comments

[Katy]

Honda. Very low maintenance cars. Doesn't need to be a new one or an Odyssey per se. Could be an older wagon or something. But those cars, based on personal experience, seem to thrive on neglect. But then I AM in LOVE with our mechanic (who rarely has to do anything more than maintenance) and he only does Honda/Acura. So I could be biased.

[emily]

I'm right there with you.Hate car troubles.Randy swears that I trade everytime I need new tires.But,I have had my Pathfinder for one yr...I'm doing really good.:-)

[Z*lda]

So was the repair $850 then? How old is your car?

Every time I drive our second car, which is 17 years old and of dubious remaining life-span, I wonder, "Will today be the day that I walk home?"

Thus far, I've been remarkably lucky.

[aurora]

my car is a hypochondriac

our mazda is so fussy - the "check engine" light comes on for apparently no reason. i swear, if the baby poops in the car it will turn on. and after a ZILLION trips to the dealership to have it checked out - i've started ignoring the damn light. everytime i take it in, there is NOTHING wrong with the f-ing car and i pay to have the light switched off. they tell me at the dealership that the light wont turn off by itself - it has to be switched off manually. well, they lied!!!
i waited it out for 2 WEEKS and finally, the light gave in and turned off! HA! SUCKERS! I WIN!

[Christie]

I have a Saturn and I have to take it in every 3 months for its check-up. Every three months I know it's coming, it's right there staring me in the face on the calendar. I have 90 days to prepare, to plan, to schedule. I still curse it when the day comes. There is no such thing as a low maintenance car.

On the other hand, if my kids only bothered me every 3 months, and provided me with a useful service the other 89 days of that span, I'd be one happy camper. I guess neither my car nor my kids can win.

Intolerant? You said it. ;)

[JC]

I have a 1998 Saturn SW2 - I bought it used at ~40K miles because it was in absolutely immaculate condition and a very good price, and I'd (notionally, not much research on my part) heard good things about Saturn reliability, etc. Well, I'm at ~69K miles and it has been a relatively good vehicle, other than completely gutless in terms of power, and the annoying "Service Engine Soon" light that, I've since discovered, seems to be prevalent on Saturns. Mine intermittently comes on,usually at the end of a long trip where there's been stop and go traffic. I've learned that it will go off within a day, if not sooner. The mere fact that it comes on when I know there is no problem really annoys me. I don't need more angst in life, over and above my "real" problems. It came on again this morning - NOT after a long trip, so now I have more trauma. I don't need this. Needless to say, I won't buy another Saturn.