On Starters

So... On my way to my friend's house last night, I stopped at a 7-11 to grab a couple of snacks. When I returned to the car, the starter died. I know it was the starter as we checked the fuses and relays. So I got permission to leave it there overnight and made plans to repair it the following morning and got a ride home from one of my friends.

This morning, I stopped by Auto-Zone and purchased a new starter on the way to the 7-11 to perform surgery on the car.

After a successful, 2-hour surgery, the patient fired up like a champ. I'm proud of my ability to be handy. :) I probably saved us a few hundred bucks on towing and mechanic labor. I'll tell you this one thing. It is NOT pleasant working on a car in front of a convenience store in the COLD.

At least it's all done now. Cars are such money pits. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters F, I, X, and the number 13.

Have a Fender Bender?

Has the recent horrible weather caused any of you out there to have a collision of any sort recently? Looking for a place to fix up a ding or two from a collision you've had in your car? I haven't - and I'm knocking on wood that I don't - but if you have, check out the people at collisionrepairexperts.com.

I'm the type of person who likes to keep his vehicles looking good and running well. As a result, I'm picky when it comes to who I allow to perform any maintenance or repair work on my cars. I want to know that they have the necessary credentials to perform the work on my vehicle before I hand over the keys.

The people at collisionrepairexperts.com have an extensive network of auto body repair professionals. For example, you can enter "auto body shops denver" into their search engine for a list of members in the Denver area. If you happen to be an auto body professional, they're looking to expand their membership, so give them a call. They check out the people who seek membership so that only the cream of the crop get to be associated with their network.

I'm definitely going to visit collisionrepairexperts.com if I ever need repairs to the body of my cars.

This post was brought to you by the letters R, S, T, L, N, E, and the number 7

Listed.

The car has been listed with a local paper website. Hopefully we'll get some interest in it soon and can get it sold shortly. If there's anyone in the SLC area who is interested in it, please feel free to comment.

The car has served us well for over 10 years. We'll miss you Lizzzie! Yes, the car has a name. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters C, A, R, and the number 7.

Parking Ticket - Really?

So what that the registration ran out on the car at the end of last month. We got a new car and haven't been driving the car that got the ticket, but it happened to be parked on a public street, so it got a ticket after only 4 days. Grrr!

Wish us luck on selling it! If any of you are interested in a 1996 Dodge Intrepid ES, please comment. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters C, A, R, and the number 12.

A New Ride.

Yesterday, we purchased a new ride. I'm sure the Queen will be happy to tell you all about it in depth, so I'll summarize. We purchased a Red 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. It has Sto-n-Go seating, dual powered sliding doors, 3 zone AC and only 31k miles. We're happy to have it and our little princesses are stoked about it as well.

We now have enough room for them and all their assorted stuff without feeling crowded. We're going to sell our old family car (a Green 1996 Dodge Intrepid ES) and part ways with an old friend. We'll miss you, Lizzzie.

Anyway, this post was brought to you by the letters R, O, O, M, and the number 7.

The American Money Sink...

You all have 3 guesses to figure out what the Great American Money Sink is. OK, so you don't really get 3 guesses and this isn't the one at the TOP of the list, but it's pretty close. :) A house is at the top of the list, but the automobile follows closely behind.

The multi-function light/windshield wiper/washer switch in the steering column of our 1996 Dodge Intrepid died today in the middle of what can only be described as a mini-blizzard and when it died, it did so rather dramatically. :)

Apparently, there was acrid, black smoke that poured from the steering column for a while while the switch was in its death throes. This absolutely freaked the Queen out and she called me nearly hysterical. Like a knight in shining armor, I went to her rescue and once the machine was back home (I drove it :), I investigated and found the source of the issue.

Tomorrow she'll be picking up a used replacement part for $35 (a new one runs $145) and I'll install it tomorrow afternoon. Joy! :)

Wish me luck!

This post was brought to you by the letters C, A, S, H, and the number 145.