Paying SATAN to Get My Car?!?!?

Yesterday my car died in the parking lot at my work. Today my mechanic calls and gives me the total…. $666!! WHAT!?!? I told him that was an unlucky number and I wondered if the car might be possessed for that price? He laughed, and I continued on asking if he could add $1 or take off $1 just to get away from that total. After I hung up, I got the idea that some where along the lines I must be paying off SATAN to get my car back!


The car had acted up earlier in the morning yesterday. But I just thought that it might be a dead battery. So after I ran the daily mid-morning errand to the post office for my work, (where I left the car running while I ran in) I turned the ignition off waited a bit and then tried to restart it. Nothing happened except for the normal battery of noises that usually happen when you turn the key. Uuh ohhh~!  I had a major "Oh SHIT" moment.  In hind sight I should have driven straight to the mechanic.  But hind sight is 20/20.

I went in and asked one of my co-workers to take a look at the car. He pulled his car near mine and proceeded to see about giving me a jump. Nope, still the same noises! It wasn’t turning over. He then checked the battery with a volt meter. The battery was good. He checked out a couple of other things and then told me it was probably the starter.

I called my mechanic friend, Jim. He said to have someone get under the car and hit the starter with a hammer. Sometimes it will jar the starter enough to get one more start out of it. By then my co-worker was off to a job site and it was left to just me to do this. When Jim started to explain where the starter was I could feel my eyes glazing over. Mechanical and I don’t mix. I was up shit creek without a paddle, and on top of it I was supposed to go see the doctor later in the afternoon.

So after I rescheduled the doctor’s appointment I then called back Jim. I convinced him to come attempt to hammer my car’s starter during his lunch and I would buy him lunch in exchange. I wanted to avoid the tow charge if at all possible. So while Jim was under the car and hammering the car’s starter with a huge rubberized hammer I keep turning the key. Nope! It was still no good.

So after about 10 minutes with no obvious results and the battery was running low from the strain. Jim called the tow truck to come get my poor dead station wagon. I was disappointed this was the first time since I’ve had that car that it hasn’t started. The only other time that I had any major problems was when the transmission gave out while I was on a vacation along the Oregon coastline about 4 years ago. Otherwise it has been the most reliable car… but I tell you when you pay a total like this you tend to get a little suspicious that maybe in the future things cold go sour. Let’s hope not!