It was time for an oil change. I'd been putting it off, opting for just refilling oil every so often. It got even more complicated with the new job, knowing I had to make an appointment and not knowing the changeable schedule sometimes more than hours in advance.
I got a very pointed reminder yesterday morning, however. I was warming up the car to take off for the job. It was a chilly morning, but the weather people - and I do check several - said the nearest frost was about 80 miles away. Need I say they lied? A very solid layer of frost was glued to every car window.
Luckily I keep a tool in the car, the same one from back before we moved to Arizona, that has a window squeegee on one side of the end of a short handle and a hard plastic scraper on the other side of the same end. It was definitely a scraper morning. A short handle to reach across a full windshield is not a perfect solution, especially with my shoulders. It was fine on all the other windows, and fit the side mirror surfaces.
I know you're about to say just use the washer fluid and get rid of the ice. This is where our years in Arizona said "Not so fast!" My last oil change happened there, and in the Phoenix area washer fluid is called "water". No anti-icer. After all, why? When would it be needed? Fortunately I'd bought a gallon jug of the stuff about a month earlier, and still kept it in the car. Not in the fluid tank, but back in the hatch. Before you get all superior about how stupid that is, it's been warm, and the washer fluid tank was still full. I've been squirting it out way more than dust and dirt required, but still, there's been no place to put in enough washer fluid to make a difference. Since I had it, though, I just opened it and splooshed it across the outside of the windshield straight from the jug. Instant melt!
I still had just water in the tank this morning, and was making sure to get rid of it as fast as possible, barring just letting it run while idling on the driveway. It was another frosty morning, and I left the house so early that I couldn't see across the local lakes for all the fog rising off them, enough to block lights across the way. They were just black.
But as soon as I finished my short job duties this morning, I headed over to a close Walmart where I'd scheduled an appointment the day before. Yes, it would provide clean oil, and a full washer fluid tank instead of a water tank. But that reminder I'd mentioned? Yesterday being the first near to sub freezing morning since we moved into the area, I also suddenly had my low tire pressure light come on. I don't mess with those. I made my appointment, knowing they would at my direction pay special attention to tire pressure, and I'd find out how serious it was. We all hoped the problem stemmed from the fact that the last air fill in 4 brand new tires was the day before leaving AZ for good. It was spring. It was warm. Perhaps the air pressure had lowered with air temperature 50 degrees lower, first cold of this season for the car. One could at least hope, right? Air is free, the cheapest fix of any potential issue tripping the warning light.
An hour and a half after sitting in the waiting room my car was ready. While paying for the oil change I asked if they had made a note of what they'd found. They had. After checking the air pressure in all four tires, (in their warm bay), they pronounced all four tires properly filled. I had a bad tire sensor.
So it was going to keep registering low pressure? I wouldn't know when it lied, or I needed it replaced, or even which sensor it was?
Yep.
Well, that could get to be really nerve wracking. I started to plan a trip to the metro dealership for a big bill. I need to go there anyway after getting yet another recall notice. I'd fixed all the previous ones, but the irregularity of the job has kept me from making that appointment. Now, however, I at least know one day off I have each week. The next one of those will be devoted to getting stitches removed from my hand before they totally disappear under my skin. So maybe the following week? I'll have to call them.
By this time all those musings had brought me to my car. I sat down, turned the key, and... no tire pressure light. Seriously? Is it just warm enough still that it's all it took to flip it off? If so why didn't they catch that while it was in the nice warm bay? Did they top up the tires enough to get them back to normal pressure? Did they somehow turn the light off completely after determining it was faulty? All I can say for sure is it registered perfect, i.e., no light, all the rest of my errands this morning. I guess I won't know until tomorrow morning when I start it, if, of course, the morning temps are as cold as the last couple of mornings. Or maybe not until I get a flat tire, which of course will be at the most inconvenient time possible, since life just works that way.
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