OK, so my day starts with the alram going off at 0245, which is a lousy time to get up anyway.
Then, I'm driving in to work and the damned thing dies - as in, the engine stops running. It'll crank all day long (well, probably not all day...) but won't catch.
I think to myself "Self, that's probably the fuel pump, let's check the relay.". I pull out the fused, switched jumper wire I stuck in my glove box, and the spare fuel pump relay I keep there, and pop the hood. Sure enough, my fuel pressure gauge is resting on the pin at zero, so no fuel pressure. I pull the access panel, pull the relay I was sure was the fuel pump relay, and insert my jumper.
No dice - it will still crank, but no pressure.
Crap, I guess its the fuel pump. No sweat, I'll call my roadside assistance and.... and I canceled that last month, to save a few bucks and since I have a Dodge Magnum equipped with a Hemi and a tow package.
Except it's not even 0500 yet, so the kids are all still asleep, my wife is asleep, the dog is asleep...
Its going to be a good 1.5-2 hours before I see any of them, and we would still have to go find a Y'all Haul and get a tow dolly.
I call a wrecker. Perhaps 45 minutes later he shows up, and we load the 318is up on to the flatbed. He is tightening the chain in the back as I climb in to the cab, and we're headed to the house.
Trying to get on to 295, a kindly gentleman that I hope spends eternity rotting in Hell is in front of us, his Camry stopped on the on-ramp. He rapidly accelerates, then, for some unknown reason, slams on his brakes. The tow truck driver, meanwhile, saw him go and has floored it to try to merge with rush hour traffic.
I mention in a somewhat breathless manner that the kindly old man in front of us is not in fact moving. Tow truck driver slams on his brakes, and then... it becomes apparent to me that the driver was not in fact tightening the chain on the back of my car to secure it to the bed, he was removing it. I have only a chain on the front of the car, none on the back.
We lurch forward, then, as the driver slams on his brakes because the f*$%head in the Camry has stopped, we scream to a halt. I look behind us, and my 318is is now much closer to me. It is, in fact, right up on the winch. My brand new kidneys are now gracing the floor of the flat bed. Camrytard, meanwhile, has departed the scene.
We get up on the freeway, move along a few hundred yards, then pull over so we can check the damage.
The front panel has taken the worst of it - I had fortunately left the hood popped, so instead of it taking the brunt of the cross bar, it didn't even get hit except in the extreme right-side front corner.
"i" spoiler is no longer attached. Foglight lens is gone. Kidney grille broken off, and the support it pins to is bent back. Brake duct is now resting on the flatbed, both the exterior piece and the actual duct itself. Bumper is pushed back in to the panel, I'll have to pull it off to assess any damage behind it. My brand friggin' new underbelly trim panel is munched up from where the front panel was pushed in to it.
{sigh}
Long story short, I'm sitting here at work trying to figure out why I was getting NO power at pin 30 on the fuel pump relay when I tested it after the driver dropped my truck off, and I realize that I was fiddlin' with the O2 sensor relay and NOT the fuel pump relay. If I go home and find that, in fact, the fuel pump relay DID crap out, and that I had a spare and could've been back on the road in minutes instead of getting my car screwed up and charged $165 for the tow, I'm going to have to find a small, fuzzy animal to sacrifice. Maybe a nice bunny...
:mad:
Topic: Today sucks. (Read 5668 times)