A Change in Profession, Perhaps???

I like to keep my options open. And really, I don't think there are many of us that would argue that point too much, right? But this particular profession didn't even land at the bottom of my list! I mean, really...me...a mechanic? A mechanic's daughter yes, but an actual, bona fide mechanic? I think not. But, that's exactly what hat I ended up wearing today.

My van has been broken, very broken, for the last 2 weeks. Michael & I figured it was the battery, since we could jump-start it and drive around...for a few minutes anyway. After about 10 or so minutes, the engine would start skipping, the dash lights would go haywire, and the gauges on the dash would all drop to nothing, like the car had been turned off. And, every now & then, it would just die. But still, we figured it was just a bad battery. Never-the-less, I wasn't willing to risk getting stuck out on the road with 3 kiddos, so we've been home-bound for 2 full weeks - fun stuff!

Anyway, we still figured it was the battery, until last Tuesday when we were told differently. We managed to gimp the car to the auto parts shop where they ran a quick test...it was the alternator, not the battery. Ok, fine, so we'll buy an alternator. But, do you think an alternator is the same price as a battery? Heck no!!! An alternator is about double the cost of a battery!! But, we were assured by the auto parts guy, our mechanic, and my father (the mechanic) that it would be easy to replace, and much cheaper than the $300+ quote we received from our regular mechanic. So we figured we'd give it a shot.

Cheaper, sort of. Easier? Um, yeah, not so much!!!!

Ok, keep in mind that my hubby is tech-savvy, not car engine-savvy! And, I'm a girly girl that can change a tire, check my oil and put gas into my car...that's it! Replacing the alternator turned out to be a total pain the rear, very difficult to get to then to get out of the engine (took more than 2 hours!), and even harder to install!!! Not only did Michael get totally frustrated to the point of throwing in the towel (and maybe a few other things while he was at it!) then figure out he was turning the screw in the wrong direction (thus figuring out the problem), but he later ended up drafting me to crawl inside of the engine to help get the belt put back in the right place...well, almost crawl into the engine, but if it counts for anything, I had grease all the way up to my elbows...and was all sweaty! EWWWWW!!!!

Anyway, we have both decided that from now on, we will pay to have any & all car repairs done on our vehicles, no matter how much money we could save by doing it ourselves...we are not do-it-yourselfers!!! And I will definitely not be crawling into anymore engines in this lifetime :)

Somehow we managed to get the car put back together, having to ALSO replace the battery that turned out to be bad too, and to stay married. It was a true test of "for better or for worse". If you can repair a car with your significant other, you can do almost anything, I'm completely convinced of it after today!!!