The Week From Auto Hell

Every once in a while things get outta hand. I will freely admit that this was the case in the week just past. To keep it simple this past week was complicated. On Monday the Tragic Prince called to ask if I would send a rescue party for him if he didn't get to my house by 8pm. He was driving from Clearlake. I said, "OK". When it became 8:15 with no sign of him I went to pick up a friend and set out on a search. Fortunately my cell rang with news that he'd arrived. I turned around and went home. He spent the night expecting to go home the next day. It turned out that his registration on the car had expired. We went to the DMV and waited forever where we had to pay fines and such. He needed a smog check so we made an appointment for the next day. We drove to the college to tie up some loose ends for his start of college on monday of next week. That day was long. We went to the smog guy and the machine was down for most of the day. We had time to kill. While driving in Yuba City we heard a noise of epic proportions from the right rear tire. We took it across the street and found that the back plate on the brakes was loose. They tightened it for us and $25.00 later we were on our way. We returned to the smog guy and found that it wasnt going to happen that day. We returned home with the new pulley and removed the alternator. We returned to Yuba city with the pulley and the alternator. Bill put the pulley on and noticed that the alternator had a bad connection. We called NAPA parts for an exchange as the alternator was under warranty and they said it wouldn't be in till the next day. We took the pulley off and went home. The next day when the alternator arrived we exchanged it and had Bill put the pulley on. When we returned home and installed it the car started. The Tragic Prince took it for a test drive. When he returned he tried to start it. NO GO! We inspected the ignition and charging system to find that the module, cap and rotor were bad. So we replaced them. The car started. We went to bed confident that the next day we would take it to smog and he'd be on his way. The next day it wouldn't start. So we bought a coil and installed it. The car started and we left to Yuba City for a 4:30 pm smog check. ON the way there the battery was reading a discharge, light on, needle in the negative! So we stopped the car to inspect the cables. We abandoned the trip to the smog but unfortunately the Tragic Prince lost the key to the engine compartment. We couldn't work on it until we found the key. It was late by then so we waited till morning to work on it.On Saturday morning we drove to his brother's place to get an extra key. Sadly he had every other one but the one to the trunk! We bought a new lock and drilled out the old one. We took off the alternator and removed the battery. We had both checked at Kragens. BOTH WERE BAD! Even though they were new. At this point we bought an alternator at Kragens, drove to Yuba City and returned the 7th alternator from NAPA, and exchanged the battery on warranty at WalMart. We got home and installed them. We at last solved the problem! That baby purred. After a long and tense week the Tragic Prince is home. Now Monday he can start college with a car that runs reliably. Let's hope some other part doesn't crap out. If so I know I'll get a call.Did I say School monday? Here we go again.