Blog #27 - Fixing Your Car Can Be Super Empowering

This has got to be the second time I've now written about my car troubles and knowing my luck it's unlikely to be the last.

Last Thursday I was driving to work and all of a sudden as I began to slow down for a traffic light the car completely gave in. I lost power steering, the accelerator stopped working and the dash began looking quite festive. Pissed off would be an understatement; I was livid. This Thursday had to be one of the hottest days we have had all summer and I was now stuck in the middle of a 4-lane road surrounded by bridges, roundabouts and freeways.

At first, I thought surely it was just the oil, it had been a while since I had added any. So there I was in the middle of a packed road during a scorcher of a day. Oil in one hand, a funnel in the other. I had cars beeping at me and driving around me as I was topping up the oil just hoping this was all that had gone wrong. Unfortunately this time it was not that simple. I had to get the help of strangers to move the car onto the sidewalk twice as I at one point thought the car was working again.

Eventually, I realised that whatever was wrong was not gonna get fixed on the side of the road in time for work. I was approached by a local tow truck driver who had heard about a little red car stuck on Nicholson and for $150 he brought me and my busted-ass car home. After a much-needed cold pint of cider at my local, I got right into figuring out what was wrong.

If you have read much of my blog you may know how I had to spend around $1500 back in August on the car. I am simply not in a financial position and not willing to spend that kind of money to get the car repaired. I have 0 automotive experience and my only car knowledge is from old episodes of Top Gear but I thought I'd give it a crack.

By the time I had gotten home, I figured that it had to be either the alternator or the starting engine. I was using the AI chatbot on my phone to try to learn about the situation and make a diagnosis. At home, after playing around with the car in my garage and watching some YouTube videos I managed to diagnose the problem. The car’s radiator fan had stopped working. Now the radiator fan is not needed to start or technically even drive the car. But without one the car is likely to overheat especially when you're in this summer heat and you're blasting the AC like I was.

I was really proud having diagnosed the general problem but more was to be done. I then over the weekend had to buy a multimeter to check the quality of the electronics. I needed to figure out if power was not reaching the fan or if the fan needed replacing. After determining I needed a new fan I managed to track down a universal radiator fan.

Currently, I'm trying to install the fan and learning a lot about wiring. The sockets and wiring that came with the new radiator fan are not immediately compatible and require some actual wiring. I'm so lucky that one of my closest mates is a sparky. He and I spent Sunday mid-day getting the job started.

I'm hoping to get the car back on the road before Thursday. I've had to take a lot of Uber to get to and from work recently which is not cheap since I work 30 mins away from home. I'm writing this blog sitting in the back of an Uber on my way home from work. Overall yes I'm upset I have had to spend money on Uber, tows, tools and parts I had never heard of before last Thursday, but I'm also grateful.

Like landscaping, diagnosing and fixing my car problems is something I never imagined myself doing. Learning unexpected skills and seeing myself do things I wouldn't have imagined is so rewarding. I'm certainly no car expert but I've come out of this experience feeling a lot more confident in my ability to solve the problem and a lot less intimidated by the bonnet of a car.

Thanks for reading, I hope your car luck isn't as bad as mine. Let me know if you've had any similar experiences, whether that's learning something unexpected or breaking down in a shit spot.