This is the week of breakdowns. I might be next! First it was having to take the dogs to the vet for the cough drop incident. Then yesterday the encryption blew on the pin pad at the shop. I cannot take pin-based debit cards until I replace the equipment. I don't think the $150 is worth it, so I am going to run them all as credit. Yes, it will cost me a few pennies extra, but I don't think the extra fees will add up to the $150 before March.
The past few days the truck was giving me trouble. I would hit the gas from a dead stop and the engine would rev as if it was in neutral and then a half-second later it would catch in gear. It only happened once each morning (for a total of three days), so I didn't think much about it. I planned to mention it when I brought the truck in for an oil change Monday morning. I was a little nervous because yesterday it did it as I was making a left onto Blue Angel Parkway. Luckily there weren't any cars oncoming, because I very well may have caused an accident if I had stalled in the middle of the turn. I thought it might be because it was cold and the truck wasn't warmed up. Today it was 50 when I left the house.
Today I went to make the left onto Bellview from the subdivision and the engine revved. It did not catch. The engine light came on and an error message came up on the dash. It said something like "insufficient shift place in N to reset". So I put it in neutral and then back in drive and it never caught. I called OnStar and got transferred to the diagnostic center. They couldn't figure out what was happening, so they had me turn off the truck and restart it. I did and started driving. Sure enough, it slipped again. They offered to send a tow truck to take it in for service, but I decided to just turn around and park it in the driveway. I took the Honda to work. Luckily I have that option. I'll try to drive it to the dealer on Monday. If I get stuck again, I'll pull over and get towing assistance. Apparently I have roadside assistance with GM and that is included. I won't have to go through my insurance again, like I did when I did the diesel mixup. That was also a covered tow, but still, I'd rather use the GM one.
I called Paul at the dealership and told him that I would need the tranny looked at as well as the oil change. That may throw off my plans for lunch with Angela. If they are going to need some time with the truck, I'm going to ask either for a ride home or a loaner vehicle. The 3 year/36000 mi warranty is up, but I have a 5 year/100,000 mi powertrain warranty, which I believe should include the transmission. Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed to add this to my plate.
A few minutes ago I got an email from the Mobile yarn shop advertising some pre-Christmas sales. At the bottom of the email I saw that she is selling her shop. This just can't be good. She said it is because she isn't able to be there all the time and she feels she can't give it what it needs. Her other option is to close one more day a week. I told her to go ahead and do that. I think her customers will understand. She's either open four days a week or not at all. I think that's the better option.
To end this horrible morning on a good note, Angela called and offered to bring me Jordan Valley Cafe food for lunch! That made a lot of stress just fade away. How awesome! The other thing I need to do, which should put me in a good mood, is to set up the Christmas tree in the shop. I'm going to do that now.
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