Car Stories

Several days ago I filled up the van with gas and came home.  When I arrived at home I realized that the gas fuel door was open and the gas cap was missing.  I went back to the gas station right away, and the young girl who pumped my gas said she was sure she put it back on.  "Where did you put the gas cap when you were pumping?" I asked.  "On the roof of your van, " she said.  Now she didn't appear quite as convinced that she had replaced the cap.  


So I went to AutoZone and asked for a gas cap for a 2003 Chevolet Astro.  "What kind, one that clicks in or one that screws in?"  As if I know.  I never fill up my van here, it's all mandatory full serve here (with the appropriate tips appreciated).  "Screw in, I guess."  I'm not a good guesser.  I returned back home and tried to put the gas cap on.  No dice.  


Life overtook me for a few days, and I just got around to getting a replacement gas cap for the replacement gas cap.  I went to AutoZone again and said, hey, sorry, I was wrong, can you get me one that clips in.  The rather annoying gentleman at the computer informed me that there were three different options for my Astro.  He also bawled out the other guy who sold me the screw on cap.  "Where did you find that in the system!"  I repeated that I had thought that it was a screw-on cap.  I was the one who screwed up, so to speak.


"Do you have your vehicle here?"  No, I don't.  "Well, I would suggest you bring your vehicle here so you're not making trips in vain.  I'm thinking, well, I've already made two trips in vain, what's a third?!  But on the way home, in the red car, I stopped at another auto parts store to avoid confronting Mr. Autoparts Know.it.All at AutoZone.  Guess what.  They only had screw tops.


I wouldn't even really care, except that my van has to pass inspection in TX next week, and I'm pretty sure I need a gas cap to pass inspection.  So...another trip to AutoZone.  They close at 9 p.m.


In other car news, when I started the van yesterday I heard a rather high pitched noise like a bearing going out.  It lasted for about 5 minutes, then went away. I took the van to my incredible mechanic friend Mardonio, and he listened to each of the motor bearings using a garden hose...  The two bearings that fail most are the tension bar bearing and the middle "crazy bearing" as they call it here.  Turns out my tension bar bearing was going bad, but he removed both of the above mentioned bearings just to be sure.  


In my "truth is often stranger than fiction" section of this post, I'll mention that we bought the new part and he replaced the bearing for and put the belt back on for a whopping $11.20 (this includes labor).  Me being the generous chap that I am, I gave him double that.  If that isn't strange, the fact that he invited my wife and myself into their house to sample some mescal from his home state of Guerrero should be.  If you don't know what mescal is, well, all the better.  Let's just say it's like tasting kerosene.  Kerosene is probably tastier, and not quite as flammable, as mescal.