Dani & Jackie: the endurance team

    Yesterday was... a rough day for Dani.

    I got her back from the mechanics, because they couldn't find anything wrong. Every test drive came up perfect, the transmission repair guy came, drove her, checked the transmission out electronically and manually. She was fine.

    I took her back, and drove her. She still felt weird to me. But I couldn't say for sure, because what did a new transmission feel like? I don't know.

    Then, her thermostat started being weird. Remember how I said she drove eleven hours without overheating?  Suddenly she started overheating. Nothing too crazy, but every time I slowed down, her temperature went up, and every time I sped up, it went back down.

    It was only when I got home and parked that I heard the noise. An ominous sound. I didn't want to look under the hood, I didn't. I didn't. But I was nothing if not very "curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back". I was nothing if not someone who preferred the icy clarity that hurt to the warm wool over my eyes.

   

    I opened the hood. Her coolant was bubbling, spilling all over the place. It sounded like a fish tank, and I wanted to cry, again. I googled it, and it was either an air leak or a blown head gasket. But I hadn't had any engine problems, I wanted to cry. No white exhaust!

    It was too late to take her to my shop, so I borrowed my brother in law's car to go to Habit, my second job. I didn't want to risk mine.

    The next day, today, I called Alex and told him the new information, before heading immediately to the shop.

    With the new information, they figured it out: a coolant relay was shorting out. It seems like every piece of Dani's will not fail completely. Instead, they will just inconsistently attempt to die, and I like to think it's sheer willpower and love that keeps them from dying altogether.

    They fixed the relay. They fixed it for free. They fed me food while they were fixing it.

    The owner came up to me halfway through it. He said, "You just have that kind of personality, I think. Everyone here loves you. Your personality makes people want to go as far as they can."

    I was stunned. Gobsmacked. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open.

 

    "You have such a kind smile, how could we not love you?"

    I wanted to cry. Then a mechanic pulled up, and we went on a test drive. He told me that he liked how my car holds speed. I told him that's the problem, at least in the eyes of Las Vegas Metro. We laughed. He said she runs well for her age.

    Then I was told that her transmission problem was because of the relay failing. With how long I was driving, and an inconsistent relay, the transmission was overheating and kept flooding. The hope was that, with the new relay, the transmission would stay the standard temperature and function like it normally does.

    Which means, I was right: my drive to California was not in vain. Dani does things in her own way. If I hadn't driven there and pushed the transmission-- and relay-- to the max, this problem might have gone unchecked for months, until it finally ruined a bigger part of Dani. She does what she needs to, to get my attention. We are symbiotic. We are connected.

    I drove her around, and so far, I haven't noticed any weird surges. She drives like I'd imagine a new transmission does: smoothly shifting. I'm keeping an eye on every sensor, just to make sure, and I will wait the 500 miles or a month or whatever for a break in period, even though some people say I don't need one and some people say I do. 

    I took her to Valvoline. For all the stress she's been through, she deserved an oil change, a car wash, and a vacuuming. 

    Valvoline Guy was stunned at her mileage. "Does... Does she work?" he asked hesitantly.

    Of course she does, I told him. 

    Another guy checked her transmission fluid, and the first guy asked how it was. Transmission Guy sounded stunned. "It looks... it looks brand new to me."

    "I just had a rebuilt transmission put in!" I told them cheerfully.

    "How much?"

    "$1800!"

    Both men were suitably impressed. "And that's everything? Parts and labor? Where is this place?"

    I shook my head. My secret.

    Dani, so far, loves me still. She knows I am the only one who will check under her hood despite the terror bubbling inside myself. She knows I am the only one who will drive back from California at 20mph and care enough to get her into the shop multiple times.

    Dani has her own style of doing things. She does things in her own way at her own time. And she knows I am the only one who will look her temperamental ass engine in the eye and say, "Get. It. Together. Let's go to the shop."

    She knows there is only one car/driver for us both, and it is each other.

    NOW IF WE COULD JUST MAKE IT TO THE BEACH.