My engine with a new shiny belt
in the lower righthand corner.
Last fall after getting back from Scotland and before driving up to DC, my uncle who used to do a lot of car work helped me replace the battery. That may not sound like a difficult task, but Dodge decided to make the Intrepid engine in such a way that someone who didn't know what he was doing would have to take the car into the shop in order to do something as simple as change the battery. The first time I tried to change the batter I felt like a complete idiot. I was talking to my friend on the phone and asked, "How do I change a batter?" "Easy. Just lift the hood and lift out the battery." I lifted the hood and asked, "Uh, where's the battery?" As it turns out, the battery is underneath the fender. My uncle showed me last fall how to raise the car, take off the tire, open the compartment, remove the air filter, unhook the wires, and then slide the battery out of the compartment. As he showed me how to do everything, I asked him as many questions as possible so that I could understand what everything did. I then asked him if he could put more freon into the air conditioner because it hadn't been working since I got back from Scotland. Sure. No problem. He had a bunch of cans in the garage. He showed me how to hook the cans into the hoses, but the air still wasn't cold. We thought there might be a hole in the pipes somewhere, but before we started to deal with that mess, we noticed that the belt connecting the air compressor to the engine was missing. It must have snapped off while I was driving one day. That wouldn't be as easy to fix, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I would just have to drive with the windows cracked whenever it was hot outside. Since it was getting into winter, I wasn't overlly concerned about air conditioning. The bigger problem was the other belt hooked up to the engine. It was getting dried out and cracked so that it was only a matter of time before it snapped off, too. Then the engine fan wouldn't work, and the car would overheat. I decided that if I could make it to DC without any trouble, I'd find work quickly so that I could then get the car repaired. Until then, I'd just keep an eye out on the engine. I should have been able to get a few more thousand miles on that belt. I didn't think it would take until April for me to get my first paycheck, but alas I had to make a list of stuff I needed to buy. Car maintenance was the first thing on my list. My uncle told me how much a new belt would cost, so I didn't sound like an idiot when I took the car into the shop to get the oil changed amongst other small repairs. The shop gave me a quote lower than what my uncle told me I should expect, so I agreed to get both belts replaced. I think it helped that I was able to show I knew what was wrong, what should be done, and what wasn't necessary to fix. That one trip to the shop still ate up my entire paycheck and then some, but car maintenance is always cheaper a new car.
There are a couple other problems that aren't as serious. For instance, the driver's side window doesn't work. I originally thought it was the power window motor, but I now know that's not the problem because it still works from time to time. The problem is most likely the wiring on that side of the car since I have other electrical problems there. I don't see the point in getting that fixed for now. It would take a long time or be very expensive to inspect all of the wiring, and it might not even help. It might be a little embarrassing that my window won't roll down, but I've stopped caring. Maybe someday in the future when I have the spare time and parts, I'll learn how to take everything apart and replace the wiring myself. Until then, at least my air conditioning works again.
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