AC? Who needs it when it’s cold outside?

As I was driving from work Tuesday evening, I noticed the battery light come. It was the first time I had seen that light come on so I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant. I was on the highway, and I couldn’t just read the manual. So I decided to continue until I got to my exit. After all, the car seemed to be functioning normally.

I arrived at my exit, and I started noticing the dashboard lights dim a little. Still unsure what that meant, I pushed on until I arrived at a stop light where my car promptly stalled out. I was able to restart it, but it was sluggish so I pulled into the strip mall parking lot and called AAA.

With time to read the manual, I found out that the battery light meant that the battery wasn’t getting a charge. Duh! But the larger implication was that there was something wrong with either the alternator, the alternator belt or some battery related part. Worst case scenarios ran through my head, but know one could have guessed the actual cause of the problem.

AAA arrived after 3 hours and towed my car to Carr’s Honda in Chicago… not far from where I stay up there. The place was just closing for the night when we arrived so I dropped the car off and left my keys. The tow truck driver was kind enough to drive me home. He had a cute puppy named Isis with him in the cab of the truck.

The next day I had to drive up to Milwaukee to train the Wisconsin folks on how to import addresses from our database into Streets & Trips. I call to the shop revealed that they wouldn’t be able to look at my car until 11 AM or later so I needed to find some other way to get up to Milwaukee. My roommate graciously offered her car. Though I could have just rented a car, I took my roommate’s offer since it would be easier.

Around 1:00 PM, I found out from the shop that the problem wasn’t the alternator, the alternator belt or some other battery related part. The problem was, in fact, the AC compressor. Apparently, in my car there isn’t a separate belt that powers the AC. Nope… there’s just one belt that does everything. So when the Compressor seized up and stopped working, the alternator/ac belt couldn’t move easily. At first it struggled through and moved, but eventually, this caused the belt to wear much faster than normal.

As an aside, I had noticed something spotty with my AC while driving down to Carbondale last weekend. A weird smell started emanating from the vents, but I thought maybe it was just something outside seeping into the car. It had a hint of burnt rubber… and I guess that was when the compressor died. The smell must have been the belt struggling through its path.

At any rate, my car is designed to have this belt go through all of those areas. There isn’t a way to bypass the AC, at least not with standard parts. The cost of the compressor repair and to replace the worn out belt… $1300. To say that I was shocked would be putting it mildly.

My immediate response was to ask if anything else could be done. The guys at the shop said they were already trying to figure something out, but didn’t have anything yet. The problem was finding a way to bypass the compressor. I mean… who needs AC this time of year anyway? It’s not like I live in Florida anymore… and even when I lived in Florida, most of the cars I owned didn’t have AC anyway.

I called Liz up to get another opinion on the problem. She suggested that it might be time to retire this car and get a new one. That’s a great idea, but unfortunately, starting in January I have to start paying back my student loans (apparently, you can run out of forbearances), Liz gets added to my insurance (ouch), and electricity rates go up 40%. Adding a car loan to that mix just doesn’t seem prudent at this time (even though a car with better gas mileage would be very nice).

The training went well. As I was driving back to Chicago, I called the shop and asked again about any alternatives. Greg, from the shop, said (paraphrasing), “We’re wracking our brains trying to figure something out for you that will actually work. We wouldn’t want to do anything that would only last you a month. It has to be something that we could actually put a warranty on.”

That assured me that they were at least thinking about it. So I went back to wracking my brain at possible solutions to my transportation problems should I not be able to get my car back. I couldn’t think of anything that in the long run would be better than shelling out the $1300 for the repair.

I started to dial the number, but then the phone rang. It was Greg again… they figured something out that might actually work. Unfortunately, they would have to wait for a part to come in the next day. If it worked, it would only cost $268. Now that’s a lot closer to my side of town than $1300 so I immediately said GO FOR IT!

The next day I planned on taking the Metra train out to work, but my roommate (who we will call Longcuts for her propensity to take circuitous “shortcuts”) couldn’t get me there on time so I had to borrow her car again. Thank god for a generous and gracious roommate. 🙂

I was on pins and needles all day waiting to hear about my car.

Called in after lunch: Part had arrived
One hour later: No update
One hour later: Working on it
One hour later: No update
One hour later: Technician is wrapping up
One hour later: Start heading over
One hour later: Arrive at shop… CAR IS READY!!!!

OK… so not only did the workaround that they devised work, but the final cost was even less than the quote. $192. These guys have my business for the duration of my stay in Illinois.

The Super Wagon Rides Again! 🙂
–sam