Sunday 11 January 2009

Unexpected expenses

After my outing yesterday doing some moving, I went home and relaxed, had a shower and puttered around for a bit, before getting ready at about 8:00 to go back out briefly. A friend of mine has asked me to let her dog back in each evening for the next couple of days, so she's not out all night (my friend works until 11:00 pm at the hotel).

I noticed when I went out to the parking lot that I hadn't plugged my truck in, which is unusual (she's been plugged in almost 24/7 for about 3 weeks!). Anyhow, as it hadn't been that long since I'd arrived back, I started my usual routine of nudging the gas pedal for ease of starting, but noticed that the gas pedal was solid. Not a good sign. I tried turning the truck on without the gas and it made a couple of ugly noises, so I decided to push the gas pedal anyway.

Big mistake.

The throttle stuck wide open and the engine started racing at the highest RPM, making an awful screaming noise, so I shut it off immediately. I remember this from last year and made the expensive mistake of letting it RUN then, blowing out my water pump and causing about $500 worth of damage. I'm not touching the truck again and am calling a towtruck when I get home this afternoon. I'm very thankful right now that I renewed my BCAA membership in the fall! One tow ($125) is almost double what I paid for a year membership!

I'm hopeful that it won't be as expensive to repair this year because I stopped the engine as quickly as I did. The shop that will do the repairs semi-prioritizes BCAA members and gives a 10% discount if you pay with cash, which is something.

My friend is very kindly going to loan me her car for the day as I have both my vet appointment and college appointment in the morning and then have work until 9pm. At some point, I'll also have to go and pick up my truck somehow. But...*argh*

Strange that it's been almost a year to the day that this happened. It was January 19 last year. I remember because I had to get to a course the next morning and ended up taking the bus (my first and, so far, only experience on Whitehorse transit) Weird!

7 comments:

Canadian Saver said...

Oh no :-( sorry to hear that... I know how usually baby your truck to make it last longer... hope it's not too much $$ to fix it!

Sharon S said...

Hi there-oh what a pain, I hope its not too expensive for you.

Anonymous said...

Oh no!

Hope it all works out, and doesn't cost you too much!! Let us know how it goes :-)

Saver Queen said...

Yuck, I hate unexpected expenses. I hope everything goes well for you though. It turned out that our blown-tire debacle only cost about $250 for the tow, the new tire, and the labour - still quite a bit of money but way less than we thought. I am hoping for just as good luck for you with your truck!

Northern Living Allowance said...

Hi everyone!

Well, good news! The truck is fixed and it only cost me $125.00. The tow was "free" because of the BCAA membership, but what a relief! And, boy, were they FAST. Two hours and it was done!

The funds are coming out of the car account, which is for situations just like this.

Thanks for all your good wishes! :)

Anonymous said...

$125 is not bad at all!! I'm glad it worked out for you!! :-)

Canadian Saver said...

Well this is good news!! Still $125 more than expected, but better than a bill in the thousands!