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But first, a little back story.
From a post I made on April 30th...
Christine knew it was almost over between us. Just one more month until I hit that magic 200,000 mile mark, and then she was going to be relegated to the back of the driveway.
So she drove me into a tree on Monday.
Hard.
Deadman's Curve it was, just over the crest of a hill on a back country road.
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I knew it was over the second I crested that hill. I panicked, hit the brakes, and they locked up because I had no ABS, as that was Christines one fault. (She recently developed what was probably a bad ABS sensor or harness that I just hadn't had the time to diagnose yet. I could just kick myself for that now, of course.) That huge tree didn't suffer more than a slight gash in the bark, but I felt every ounce of the collision as I, and Christine, came to an almost complete stop in a split second. The steering wheel and knee airbags deployed. As the roots of that tree were at an angle, Christine literally drove up the tree for a couple feet before she bounced hard and careened off, then coasted slowly around the corner, and down the rest of the hill before coming to a stop.
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Smoke filled the cabin from the airbags, my ears were ringing, and I was swearing up a storm. I knew she was totaled. Dazed, I checked myself and remarkably, had no injuries other than a scrape on my inner arm from the airbag where it took off a few layers of skin as it deployed.
I got out and checked the damage. It didn't seem all that bad on the outside really, so I got back in and tried to start her up again. Nothing. I got back out and popped the hood. The hose on top of the water outlet popped off, spraying me with scalding hot coolant.
I swore again, and jumped back.
After the bubbling coolant subsided, I located the hose, and reconnected it. Got back in and she reluctantly started back up, making a bit of a racket in the process. Tried to drive forward and she died again after a few feet. Under the hood again I go, and I see the radiator fan is pushed up against a couple of hoses.
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Whatever. Got back in and repeated the process several times, and finally...
She came back to life!
So I drove her. There was a decidedly low amount of power under the hood as if the turbo was dead. She struggled to drive up even the smallest of hills, which was strange because the hit was entirely on the left side of the bumper and away from the turbo. Whatever.
In the end, I drove her for over a half hour and almost all the way home before the transmission started acting up, so I parked her at the garage of a local mechanic, and got a ride home.
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I've stopped back in after work the past couple days. She still starts up and moves, but she's got quite a few codes registered. P0796, P0101, P0299, P0700, P1101, and P2176. Structurally underneath, the drivers side front is all jacked up. The lower radiator support is pushed back, and the front rail is bent. The windshield is cracked from the airbag deployment. Between the body damage and the airbags, it's not worth fixing. Just one or the other was enough to total her.
I'm going to take her rims and put my snows on them. The steelies will go back on her. Nothing else is usable for my new hatch, afaik.
So much for that 200k badge! Maybe next time...
From a post I made on April 30th...
For anyone who has read the book, or seen the movie, you would know that "Christine" has a very big jealous streak. In fact, she tries to kill anyone who would try to get rid of her or get between her and her owner. I think Christine was getting very jealous of my new ride, the Silver Ice Metallic Hatchback. In fact, I just lavished "Ice" with a wash in the driveway right in front of Christine over the weekend because she got dusty from me mowing the lawn. Christine probably hasn't had a wash in over a year.
Christine knew it was almost over between us. Just one more month until I hit that magic 200,000 mile mark, and then she was going to be relegated to the back of the driveway.
So she drove me into a tree on Monday.
Hard.
Deadman's Curve it was, just over the crest of a hill on a back country road.
I knew it was over the second I crested that hill. I panicked, hit the brakes, and they locked up because I had no ABS, as that was Christines one fault. (She recently developed what was probably a bad ABS sensor or harness that I just hadn't had the time to diagnose yet. I could just kick myself for that now, of course.) That huge tree didn't suffer more than a slight gash in the bark, but I felt every ounce of the collision as I, and Christine, came to an almost complete stop in a split second. The steering wheel and knee airbags deployed. As the roots of that tree were at an angle, Christine literally drove up the tree for a couple feet before she bounced hard and careened off, then coasted slowly around the corner, and down the rest of the hill before coming to a stop.
Smoke filled the cabin from the airbags, my ears were ringing, and I was swearing up a storm. I knew she was totaled. Dazed, I checked myself and remarkably, had no injuries other than a scrape on my inner arm from the airbag where it took off a few layers of skin as it deployed.
I got out and checked the damage. It didn't seem all that bad on the outside really, so I got back in and tried to start her up again. Nothing. I got back out and popped the hood. The hose on top of the water outlet popped off, spraying me with scalding hot coolant.
I swore again, and jumped back.
After the bubbling coolant subsided, I located the hose, and reconnected it. Got back in and she reluctantly started back up, making a bit of a racket in the process. Tried to drive forward and she died again after a few feet. Under the hood again I go, and I see the radiator fan is pushed up against a couple of hoses.
Whatever. Got back in and repeated the process several times, and finally...
She came back to life!
So I drove her. There was a decidedly low amount of power under the hood as if the turbo was dead. She struggled to drive up even the smallest of hills, which was strange because the hit was entirely on the left side of the bumper and away from the turbo. Whatever.
In the end, I drove her for over a half hour and almost all the way home before the transmission started acting up, so I parked her at the garage of a local mechanic, and got a ride home.
I've stopped back in after work the past couple days. She still starts up and moves, but she's got quite a few codes registered. P0796, P0101, P0299, P0700, P1101, and P2176. Structurally underneath, the drivers side front is all jacked up. The lower radiator support is pushed back, and the front rail is bent. The windshield is cracked from the airbag deployment. Between the body damage and the airbags, it's not worth fixing. Just one or the other was enough to total her.
I'm going to take her rims and put my snows on them. The steelies will go back on her. Nothing else is usable for my new hatch, afaik.
So much for that 200k badge! Maybe next time...
umpkin:
