Golden Anvil

My car is finally fixed.

Wednesday while I was on the freeway headed to work the light came on that indicates that the battery isn't charging. Not wanting to deal with a dead battery, I pulled off about halfway there and stopped at a Les Schwab. Interestingly, the light when out when I dropped to city street speeds, although I could get it to come on again by revving the engine. They checked it over (for free, that's why I like Les Schwab), but couldn't find anything obviously wrong. So, I drove the rest of the way into work, gritting my teeth and ignoring the light (la la la la).

Then I called the car dealership where I usually take my car. They got me in pretty quick, and I sat in the waiting area doing work on my laptop for a couple hours while they determined that they weren't sure what the problem was. Most likely because the light didn't come on at all on my way down to the dealership, even with revving the engine. So, no light apparently means no ability to solve the problem. They offered to try one thing that might work for a low, low price of $80. Guess whether or not it worked...

Of course, the light was on the whole way home, even once I got off the freeway. And this morning it was on all the way to work. So I scheduled another appointment and went again today. This time they determined that I needed a new alternator (not sure why they weren't able to figure that out without a light, but whatever). They were nice enough to credit me with the $80 from the prior failed attempt, so I only had to shell out almost $500 for the parts and labor.

sigh

Guess that's life.