9.15.2008

All Hail Long Live King Mike!!


Mike and I have a thing with buying cars with little problems.  The first car we bought together  in Hawaii did not reverse, and the driver side door did not open.  If we parked on a slope we had to push the car out.  After the Suzuki died we got a car that had a leaky roof that would shower bits of rusted metal whenever we closed the door.  We had to bang on the starter  with a hammer every time we wanted to start the car.  The doors did not open all the way, and after a kid hit us in the library parking lot, we had a winking head light.  But that car served us well and when we finally donated it for scrap metal I was kinda sad to see it go.  
When we got to California we wanted a car that was a step above our Hawaii cars (not hard to do).  We ended up buying a WV golf from craigslist and got a really good deal for it.  There are some cosmetic problems, the trim is ripped off on the outside, the car is missing a hubcap, the previous owner let his dog ride in the back seat.  But hey we have seat heaters and the windows don't leak.  

We have had our share of problems with this car, but with the right tools Mike has been able to fix all the problems.  And these have been major, potentially very costly problems.  I Have to say Mike is kind of the master of car fixing.  When something has gone wrong with our cars, and he is not sure he can fix it, I have pretty much absolute faith in him.  And the mad does not disappoint.  Therefore, I am sure he can fix our current problem.
For some reason  you have to unlock our car from the passenger side, or else the alarm will go off.  No big problem really, it took a few times stetting the alarm off for me to remember but now I remember to open the car from the passenger side.  Anyhow, last week I went to unlock the car and nothing happened.  Nothing.  The door just did not unlock.  Fortunately we had not set the alarm and I was able to go to the driver side and open the car. However, we have had to be really careful not to lock the car from the door, or turn the key the wrong way when we are opening the door, or it will turn the alarm on, and the only way to turn it off is by opening the car from the passenger side, which is impossible because I broke it.  

To prevent me from accidently setting the alarm when I am trying to open the door I put a hot pink arrow on the side of the dash reminding me when I look in the window, turn the key to the FRONT of the car, not the BACK.  Well, I forgot to look and I turned the key to the back.  Alarm set, no way to turn it off without going through the passenger door, which as you know by now is broken.  I called Mike to see what I should do.  Mike emailed me instructions on dismantling the alarm.  Dismantling the alarm, crossing some wires and resetting the whole thing....  I am not so good with stuff like this.  And so Mike is on his way home to bail me out.  Thanks Mike, I know you will fix everything.

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

wow! so was the alarm just going off all day then while you typed this and waited for him? that is so unfortunate and kinda funny... maybe not funny at the time though...

sheila said...

I kinda miss seeing that little red 'blinking' headlight car around town. You could spot it out of a thousand cars and know it was you guys.

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love it!

I have confidence in Mike's ability to fix your VW.

Do you remember Cat's Acura?
We had to park it on a slope during the winter to keep water from filling the foot-wells.....

And the Civic dad let me drive to highschool needed to be push started for the last 30,000 miles of it's pathetic life........The van, my Firebirdand and on and on and on.

Kinda like we were born into it. Dad's truck the old Toyota ect. ect. ect.

Peter and Amber said...

You are a lucky lady! If something was wrong with my car Peter would tell me to call a mechanic! ;-)