No trip of mine would ever be complete if it didn’t include something going wrong. This time around I decided to get it over with before my departure. After leaving work at 11:30 my previously completely reliable car decided that it wasn’t going to start. It wasn’t battery troubles, those are easy to fix and don’t even merit mention. No this was far worse; the entire dashboard had lit up like a Christmas tree and while the engine would turn over, it wouldn’t fire. In the old school of car trouble diagnoses you need spark, air and fuel. The car had power, there was air all around me and I had a half tank of gas; I was clueless and this setback was really going to screw up my schedule. And then, just before I was going to call a tow truck, I turned the key again and it started.
The “check engine” light stayed lit as a two pronged reminder: 1. Electrical gremlins in newer cars have you in their grip. The roadside repair is largely a thing of the past. 2. While the car may have started, there’s no guarantee it would stay that way. In situations like this there should be a light that says “Go Straight Home”, which is exactly what I did.
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