UGH! MY CAR IS DRIVING MY INSANE! (No pun intended) I was driving back from Missouri to Ohio on Sunday, got lost a bit and pulled into a gas station for directions and a 1/2 tank of gas. The gas was strange from the get go, I should have known better. But oh well, my car had bad gas and started falling apart ever since. The Shell gas station somewhere on the 50 HWY heading to Chicago, IL (wrong direction) had plastic bags on the pumps for regular gas, and a second pump labeled with a piece of paper taped to it hand written, "Regular" ~ OK so I guess I'll use this pump for my gas!! (Bad idea) About ten miles down the road we are driving and the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON! NOT NOW! In the middle of a small town, with a Wal-Mart and AutoZone to choose from. We went to AutoZone and they did a diagnostic on my car, guessing it was BAD GAS.
So the result from bad gas is it can affect the catalytic converter, and would need to be looked at.
Tuesday I drop the car off at the dealership service center. They said I needed a new Catalytic converter, (tongue twister ~ I keep on wanting to say Cadillac converter) covered by warranty and my front breaks needed replacing (which I had a feeling that was coming up soon in the 60,000 mile mark) so instead I told them to replace them now while they have my car in the shop.
So the car is done and I am driving home after stopping by Kohl’s Dept. store. I parked my car and smelled a faul oder coming from the hood of my car. LIKE BURNING RUBBER OR GREASE?
First off, I knew not to open the hood in case there was a small fire or something, so I call AAA club, and was on hold for a bit, dropped the call, had to call back, and the operator said she would send out a tow truck, I was telling her it is too late tonight to have it towed anywhere and really just need a fire man to come out and look at it instead, but thought to call AAA first because it didn't seem as important as calling for a fire truck crew to come out because I didn't think it was on fire. I asked for a small car to come out instead with a fire man to check on it. A few minutes later (10:25 PM!) I hear sirens’ going off from a near by fire truck and police car. These flashing lights and loud sirens were headed down the street and into my apartment complex (embarrassing!) disturbing the neighbors, causing curiosity, all arriving for little old me and my stinky car. When I saw an ambulance drive up afterwards I was trying to tell them all to go, it is not this serious, I just wanted "a-one-discreet" fireman to come out and check under my hood, and not a whole, dramatized, rescue crew! (I didn't say it in those words exactly, but thought it)
I was so embarrassed! It was after 10 o'clock at night and there is all of the craziness with lights flashing, fire men, a police man, the damn tow truck guy, and curious neighbors standing around. SORRY! I didn't want this to get the way it turned out. The fire man told me to take my car back to the dealership in the morning to have it looked over and he wasn't able to see anything wrong, plus the stinky oder had dissipated by the time they got there to really see what I was talking about (an hour or so later).
In the end the bad gas was the root to all of this, and the odor may be from the newness of the front breaks or from the Cadillac converter. ,^) I will find out more tomorrow when I go back to the service center! UGH!
All this is happening in my final days here in Ohio, right before I move on Sunday to Missouri! I hope to get this squared away before Sunday.
* On a side note, I rented a Chevy Malibu 2007, and was only the 2nd driver of the rental. I had a fun time driving it to work for the day, while my car was getting fixed.
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