My moto robs my mojo

Update: The problem, it turned out, was that the positive battery cable was not properly attached. Thankfully, the new mechanic did not charge me. It makes me very thankful that I was well taken care of, and very angry at Walmart. I am trying my best to boycott Wally World now.

There are lots of wonderful things about my car. She has a wonderful heads up display, a fairly decent stereo, she handles fairly well, and she gets fairly decent gas mileage. But right now I am angry with her. And Walmart.

All of this started in November, when I discovered everytime a storm mosied through our area, my battery would have a hard time getting the car started. So, I would be flagging down folks here and there to help me get her batteries recharged.

Well, the frequency of these difficulties became such that I had to take my car in to get a new battery the night before my mother was scheduled to arrive for Christmas. And, the only place affordable to get a battery that was open was Walmart. So I drove up the hill in the beginning of the big blizzard on the 18th to get a new battery in the car just in time for my mother to arrive.

Mom did not arrive until the 26th. And on the 27th we went to a movie and as we came out from the late movie the car was dead and once again needed a jump. After we got home and we could not get the car started the next day, I called a tow truck to get the car to a shop to get the battery looked at again. As the tow guy came out, he recognized that my problem was a loose battery cable and fixed the problem temporarily. He recommended I take it back to the shop I got the battery from and have it reinstalled. When I went back to Walmart they told me that the problem was not the battery but the alternator. In the middle of another blizzard I slid down the road to the nearest Firestone. They ran an electrical system check. Guess what the problem was! Loose battery cable.

Fast forward to this week. This time my car died completely. With passengers heading home from Bible Study. My friend Ken came to jump me, and in order to get it started he had to wiggle the fuse box. Everything seemed fine. Then, Saturday I am showing Jen the clubhouse at my apartment, and we jump in the car to go watch a DVD at my place. Again, the car goes blank. The key is stuck in the ignition, and this time the doors are locked with no possibility of unlocking them. We are stuck in the car! Once again, I had a friend come bail us out, and he gets the car started by moving the fuse box around.

The car died again this morning. Luckily the door was unlocked. And as I investigated the wire work I noticed that the fuse box is completely unmounted in my vehicle, and that although none of the cords seem damaged, the plastic tube all of the electrical wire was bundled in has a clear cut (as opposed to a break) in it for 2-3 inches. In other words, the folks at Walmart not only messed up installing my battery cables, they messed up my fuse box and electrical system in my car. And, from the looks of things they did this knowelgably and without communicating with me what they did. The problem is, I have no recourse since I had to go to Firestone to get the vehicle running right.

So now, until I can get in at the shop I have start the car with the door open, and keep the doors unlocked most of the time. I have to be prepared to go manipulate the fuse box to charge the battery to get myself from point a to point b.

This car is now both embarrassing and scary. The sad thing is....I still have a ways to go to pay the darned thing off.