What's That Noise?

Last week Jordan and I had quite the experience with our car.  While I will admit that our car is getting pretty old (2001 model) the age of the car had nothing to do with the Thursday fiasco.

 

It all started in January when I needed a simple oil change.  Jordan took the car to Firestone and they quickly handled the oil change and did the usual cursory review of the vehicle.  Per Firestone's recommendation, we needed a new serpentine belt (among other things according to the paperwork).  We talked it over for a few weeks and set aside a little money so we could have the maintenance done on the car.  We feel very fortunate not to have a car payment but we also know that with that comes a little extra maintenance on our vehicles.  In February Jordan takes the car in to get the new serpentine belt, new belt tensioner, state inspection, new spark plugs, new fixed a flat (had a tiny nail in my tire), and we were on our way!

 

That's when the trouble started...  Now, if you drive a car that's more than 5 years old, you expect a certain amount of groaning and noises when you drive it but I felt convinced that the new noises I was hearing was NOT simply old age.  We were hearing a rhythmic noise that sounded like something was wrong with the belt.  Jordan checked it out and found metal bracket.loose.inside.the.hood.  That's right.  Firestone forgot to install whatever this bracket was supposed to hold on to.

 

That noise, coupled with the loose bracket we discovered, made us decide to go back to Firestone to have them review their work.  They were very apologetic and fixed everything right away (the bracket was supposed to hold some sort of box that ran my cruise control).  I was glad they apologized and they explained that they were very busy the day we had the work done and it was an oversight.

 

Still, the weeks following that visit I kept hearing this rhythmic noise.  It was most noticeable when the car was cold in the mornings so Jordan didn't always have an opportunity to hear it.  I took an audio clip of the noise and sent it to Jordan.  We both agreed that we would have to take it back to Firestone for a third visit.  At this point I was getting annoyed.

 

Thursday rolls along and I decided that I needed to pick up a quick lunch before a meeting that I had coming up.  I invited some co-workers to join me and we decided to take my car to a sandwich joint down the street.  It didn't occur to me that my car could be compromised because my car was the closest in the parking lot.  I've still been walking slowly due to the sprained ankle 3 weeks ago.  My co-workers and I pick up our sandwiches, hop in the car to head back, and after I start the car I hear a horrible sound under the hood.  My friend said it sounded like a handful of quarters was thrown in the engine!  A few seconds after that, we saw smoke coming from the engine.

 

My co-workers and I get out to inspect and realize that the serpentine belt that was barely a month old was not a shredded mess around the engine.  Here is a picture of the scene as we are looking for the origin of the problem.

We had to have another friend from work rescue me and my hostages and Jordan had to take time out of his work day to get Firestone to tow the car into the shop.  If you've not already guessed, I was late to my meeting at work.

 

Firestone kept the car overnight on Thursday and all day on Friday.  After 20 minutes of arguing on the phone and 30 minutes of arguing in person, we finally got the car back.  I know very little about the inter workings of a vehicle but we did a little googling when Firestone said that my harmonic balancer needed to be replaced.  The folks at Firestone were not happy to see me when I hobbled into their store.  I was gave them a piece of my mind (as lady-like as I could) but I was very ticked about the expense with the car and the inconvenience that all started when they recommended we replace this belt.  By the time we got done talking to the manager, a gaggle of 5 mechanics had formed to listen to our exchange.  On Thursday they had started to tell Jordan that the repairs would be about $500.00.  By the time we walked out on Friday night, we'd worked 'em down to $100.00.  I'm still not happy that we had to even pay that but I'm glad to have the experience behind us!

 

 

Later that same evening, Jordan saw a fancy Cadillac car with a matte finish paint job.  I thought it was pretty unique so I snapped a few pictures for ya'll.  Nothing like drooling over a pretty new car and then driving away in our 2001 get up!  I love our little car but it might be time for something new soon... (wink wink Jordan!)

 

 

If you live in the Dallas area, you know that the weather decided to be a little schizophrenic on Sunday.  After 80 degrees on Saturday, we got sleet on Sunday.  Weird but typical for Texas.

 

That same day my parents came by the house so they could drop off their pup, Sophie.  Mom and Dad are going on a trip soon and we'll be babysitting Sophie for a while.  I love this little pooch!

This was the scene on Sunday evening.  Sleet in the driveway, Sophie vigilantly looking out the window in case the sleet misbehaves, and the 4 of us (Jordan, Me, Abby, and Sophie) all piled into bed to work on random stuff.  Despite the angry weather, it was a nice little Saturday and lovely to see my parents.

 

We've quickly learned to adjust a few things now that we have 2 dogs in our household. Bed time is delicate. Below you see both dogs looking for their own place to get attention. We were able to achieve harmony with Abby sitting on top of Sophie.

and we quickly learned that Sophie loves to destroy kleenex. Like she must shred every possible piece of tissue! Lesson learned. 1 point for Sophie. We'll see how the next few weeks go!