No more going to Tucson on Sundays. Bleh.

[missroserose]

So, the intention yesterday was to have a nice laid-back trip to Tucson, go renew our Costco membership and pick up some stuff, go have lunch at the tamale company, go to Trader Joe's and get the good-quality food for the cats, maybe see a movie, that kind of thing.

The tamale company ended up being closed, but that was okay - we ended up going to BJs and having some of their excellent avocado eggrolls and deep-dish pizza. Got a calendar at Barnes & Noble, too, which was nice.

Then we got back out and started up the car. And it was vibrating. Oh, yay. Two hours from home on a Sunday when the dealership's not open. Just where we were hoping to be.

Fortunately there was a Meineke a couple miles down the street who were able to read the error code - surprise, one of the cylinders wasn't firing correctly. They replaced the spark plugs (which needed doing, so yay for that), but it still wasn't going, which meant the cylinder needed a new ignition coil. Which they couldn't get for us 'cos the dealership was closed.

The car still runs, so we got home just fine, but Costco was already closed by the time we got done with all the rigmarole. And now we're out $270 for the spark plugs, plus whatever the coil costs us (fortunately they're supposed to be fairly cheap and easy to install).

We can cover the cost okay, but really, I'd like to get through just one month where we didn't have some unexpected expense cost us hundreds of dollars and set us back on our savings goals. I've been wanting a massage for months (my stupid neck and shoulders have been stiff and sore), and it keeps not happening. I hate being a fiscally responsible grown-up, sometimes.

Comments

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

That's frustrating alright.

Being a fiscally responsible grown-up sometimes has advantages, like having the savings to pay for things like this. Still frustrating.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I know that unexpected expenses are the rule rather than the exception, and we're working on saving up an emergency fund, so it's not like we're not making any progress at all. But it's frustrating to watch the cash you'd been planning on saving for a new TV go towards fixing the damn car over and over and over again.

[bkleber.livejournal.com]

Wait... ignition coil? That doesn't seem to make sense. The ignition coil makes the sparks for all the cylinders, if it's bad, it's not likely that it will express by only one cylinder not firing.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

True...unless you have a fancy European car, where each cylinder has its own separate ignition coil (and, therefore, if one stops working, it can freeze the cylinder entirely and run on the other five). Seriously, it even adjusts the fuel-air mixture and puts the engine into a lower-power mode (so as not to strain it until you can get it fixed). Woo for high-tech vehicles.

[bkleber.livejournal.com]

Oooo. Snazzy. I don't think I've ever played under the hood of a car that smart. Neato!