When I arrived at my car, it started. So I thought, “Hey, leah’s with me – let’s see how far we can get to the mechanic’s shop…” It turns out the answer is “about half way”, with the final landing point at the intersection of Fremont and 46th St.
The really interesting things I learned tonight was how to drive a Subaru with almost no functional electrical system. Since the alternator was shot, and the battery all but dead, it was interesting in that “Oh my god, will it just last a little…” sort of way to watch piece by piece of the car cease functioning normally. The first to go was the tachometer. I drove a stick for year, so I actually really watch that thing. Without any battery juice, it’s dead. When it first happened, I thought the car died – but I revved the engine and it was still happening. The second thing I learned is that the automatic transmission is *really* reliant on power – because in park, with the break on, the car wanted to stall unless I was in neutral. That is what finally did me – I didn’t slide the gears into neutral fast enough at that intersection, and trying to slip it into gear and rev forward just didn’t happen.
The last is that even though the car is in “park”, when the battery is completely dead, the ignition key won’t “unlock” (cycle back to where you can take it out).
Fortunately, this really amusing and awesome dude from Cooper’s Towing was there in a jiffy, got the car onto it’s little training wheel platform, and we finished the ride up to the mechanic’s place. And yes, if you’re looking at the map – that’s at 46th and Fremont. Just got lucky – they’re a AAA towing place, and he just hopped across the intersection to get us. I’d recommend them in a second regardless of AAA though – the guy was amusing, knew what he was doing, and had us rolling really fast.
So there you have it – it’s darned difficult to drive a Subaru without power. Now you know. And so do I…
Rhonabwy 