That's the sigh of relief you hear from Oregon, meaning I don't have to buy a new car. Last night I was driving home from the OAJC event when I noticed my headlights were out. No problem, I figured I'd just take the car in today and get a new light.
Well, it turned out to be much more serious than that. I couldn't make the dashboard and other lights turn off when I closed the car door, and there was that persistent hum that happens whenever I leave my keys in the ignition (even though I'd taken them out). Drew disconnected the battery with some help from AAA, and we all assumed it was an electrical short, with me assuming that it would cost $2,000 to fix. No way would I pour that much into a car whose odometer broke last October -- at 217,000 miles.
I managed to take it to a Nissan dealer in Salem today...and it turns out I just need a new headlight switch that will only cost $300 (plus the annoying tendency for my signal wand to make a clicking sound at random may disappear, we don't know yet). Now if only I could figure out why white smoke occasionally curls upward from the steering wheel. The service guys couldn't figure that out.
My new financial plan is to keep the car running with spit and Duct tape until Rachel starts kindergarten (or, more likely, first grade) and we pay much less for full-day kindergarten and aftercare than we do for her preschool. So, at this time next year, I'll be in the market for a new car, just around the time when the dealers will be trying to unload the 2013 model year. If I can grit my teeth and wait until 2014 -- and celebrate the car's 15th anniversary -- I will. It's long past being an annoying tween and is well into the cranky adolescent stage. Time for it to get a new family.
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