I Left My Car In Renton
May. 31st, 2002 03:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2So I'm driving home from work tonight and I think, "Why does it seem like my dashboard lights are so dim?"
I stopped at the Arco station in Auburn 1 mile from work and got gas -- $10.00, all the cash in my wallet. My car started up again fine, but the dash lights still seemed dimmer than usual. But I decided it must be my imagination, or something.
There was also one of the dash light messages that kept coming on -- something about the brakes, but I couldn't guess why it was on. Sometimes, dash lights come on for no reason.
I drove up 167. As I neared 405, my radio suddenly shut down.
Rut roh. Something really IS wrong.
I had a brief moment to wonder if I should just continue on into Renton, or turn onto 405 and try to make it home. I decided to take 405.
Once on 405, my dash lights continued to dim. Emergency lights came on, including the one that told me to service my engine soon. The engine performance was deteriorating rapidly. The radio came back on, but I turned it off. I turned the air fan off, and the engine performance noticeably improved.
I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere near home at this rate. I passed by the first exit because I wasn't sure if there was anyplace to pull off and call nearby. The next exit was the one that went either to Northbound I-5 or, if you hug the right, it makes a u-turn and deposits you on a road heading South towards Southcenter.
I took that exit, and my car completely died as I turned onto the road Southbound. Dead -- no electricity at all. To me, that indicates a bad alternator, because even with a bad battery I should still be recharging as long as the engine is running.
So there was a Denny's and an Arco station nearby. I pushed my car to the Arco station. I had very little change on me, (since when is it 50 cents per local call?) so I had to use my lucky Sacajewa dollar coin to make a phone call. (See? It's lucky that I had it! I've had to spend it several times before, but I always get a new one. ^_^ )
I called Jim, who I work with, and he came out to meet me. I called several towing services that had toll-free numbers (why waste my other 50 cents if I don't have to). The first 2 or 3 toll free numbers had been disconnected, but I finally got someone who only asked where I was, and said it would be 25 minutes.
I hung out with Jim for a while, then the tow truck showed up. He hooked up my car, asked me where I wanted to take it (I decided the nearest Saturn dealership was my best bet, and there's one in Renton), and then he had us follow him there. He didn't ask me for any information, other than to verbally confirm that I had insurance to cover the tow. I told him I had full coverage -- I THINK I have full coverage. All my card says is emergency roadside assistance, not whether they cover just $50.00 for a tow or whatever it cost. But I'm pretty sure they cover everything. I hope. ^_^
And as it turned out, the Saturn dealership was just down the road a couple of miles. I could've turned off at the earlier exit and pulled in there before my car died, if I'd have known. Jim might have been able to tow me that far. Heck, we could almost have pushed it that far. ^_^
Anyway, Jim got me home, which was very nice of him since he lives a little South of where we work in Auburn. It was a long ways out of his way. And I expect I'll get a call from Saturn of Renton in the morning, and if I'm lucky I can escape with only a few hundred dollars in repairs.
And if they can get it fixed by tomorrow evening, then I only have to figure out how to get down to Renton again. If they want to keep it longer, then I need to rent a car, which is covered by my insurance (and hopefully they can bill the insurance company direct like the tow truck company did).
Otherwise, I had a good day. Actually it was a very nice day, because when I finally got home there was an e-mail from my dad about my mom's surgery. They removed the lump from her breast, and they think (initially anyway) that they've removed everything. It was detected fairly early in her annual mammogram, and usually when breast cancer is caught early you can make a full recovery, so right now the news is very, very good. ^_^
I stopped at the Arco station in Auburn 1 mile from work and got gas -- $10.00, all the cash in my wallet. My car started up again fine, but the dash lights still seemed dimmer than usual. But I decided it must be my imagination, or something.
There was also one of the dash light messages that kept coming on -- something about the brakes, but I couldn't guess why it was on. Sometimes, dash lights come on for no reason.
I drove up 167. As I neared 405, my radio suddenly shut down.
Rut roh. Something really IS wrong.
I had a brief moment to wonder if I should just continue on into Renton, or turn onto 405 and try to make it home. I decided to take 405.
Once on 405, my dash lights continued to dim. Emergency lights came on, including the one that told me to service my engine soon. The engine performance was deteriorating rapidly. The radio came back on, but I turned it off. I turned the air fan off, and the engine performance noticeably improved.
I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere near home at this rate. I passed by the first exit because I wasn't sure if there was anyplace to pull off and call nearby. The next exit was the one that went either to Northbound I-5 or, if you hug the right, it makes a u-turn and deposits you on a road heading South towards Southcenter.
I took that exit, and my car completely died as I turned onto the road Southbound. Dead -- no electricity at all. To me, that indicates a bad alternator, because even with a bad battery I should still be recharging as long as the engine is running.
So there was a Denny's and an Arco station nearby. I pushed my car to the Arco station. I had very little change on me, (since when is it 50 cents per local call?) so I had to use my lucky Sacajewa dollar coin to make a phone call. (See? It's lucky that I had it! I've had to spend it several times before, but I always get a new one. ^_^ )
I called Jim, who I work with, and he came out to meet me. I called several towing services that had toll-free numbers (why waste my other 50 cents if I don't have to). The first 2 or 3 toll free numbers had been disconnected, but I finally got someone who only asked where I was, and said it would be 25 minutes.
I hung out with Jim for a while, then the tow truck showed up. He hooked up my car, asked me where I wanted to take it (I decided the nearest Saturn dealership was my best bet, and there's one in Renton), and then he had us follow him there. He didn't ask me for any information, other than to verbally confirm that I had insurance to cover the tow. I told him I had full coverage -- I THINK I have full coverage. All my card says is emergency roadside assistance, not whether they cover just $50.00 for a tow or whatever it cost. But I'm pretty sure they cover everything. I hope. ^_^
And as it turned out, the Saturn dealership was just down the road a couple of miles. I could've turned off at the earlier exit and pulled in there before my car died, if I'd have known. Jim might have been able to tow me that far. Heck, we could almost have pushed it that far. ^_^
Anyway, Jim got me home, which was very nice of him since he lives a little South of where we work in Auburn. It was a long ways out of his way. And I expect I'll get a call from Saturn of Renton in the morning, and if I'm lucky I can escape with only a few hundred dollars in repairs.
And if they can get it fixed by tomorrow evening, then I only have to figure out how to get down to Renton again. If they want to keep it longer, then I need to rent a car, which is covered by my insurance (and hopefully they can bill the insurance company direct like the tow truck company did).
Otherwise, I had a good day. Actually it was a very nice day, because when I finally got home there was an e-mail from my dad about my mom's surgery. They removed the lump from her breast, and they think (initially anyway) that they've removed everything. It was detected fairly early in her annual mammogram, and usually when breast cancer is caught early you can make a full recovery, so right now the news is very, very good. ^_^
