Remembering, Week 4

Our "nice" car that we bought when we moved here straight up died earlier this year. For a little bit, Jared drove it to and fro and when it worked we were grateful and when it didn't we were still grateful because it worked most of the time. But at a certain point, it just didn't go anymore. We would have been happy to keep it, but the repair costs would have been more than the car was actually worth. We had to figure things out. Could we make life work with only one car? It would take a lot of planning and would be kind of inconvenient. We're just used to being a two car family. But we do live just five miles from the base where both Jared and I work so one of us could easily bike to work. There are also car rental companies around here that rent older cars for cheap. We could rent a car for the rest of our time here for something like £35 a week. Plus, we wouldn't have to pay for repairs or taxes on a rental vehicle. 

In the meantime, we needed to do something with our useless car. Jared arranged for a local junkyard to come to pick it up and they paid us basically for the value of the metal. So not a ton, but at least something? Our friends from church were super, super generous and GAVE US THEIR CAR. It was a car that they were going to scrap in the same way we scrapped our car, but the main difference is that their car was still running. So we were back to two cars again. It's been a good car, not entirely without problems, but we knew that when they offered it to us. Lately though, it's had some hiccups. I'm hoping that some of you out there with knowledge of automobiles can give us some advice because our mechanics are stumped. We've had it in the shop now three times for this issue and we have new spark plugs, cables, and ignition coils

Here are the symptoms:

• RPMs that just go nuts. Dropping super low and then revving up super high. 
• Then the whole car just shuts down. We can get it started again if we pump the gas pedal while turning the key.
• This is more likely to happen when we're driving slowly between 20-30 mph. But it's also happened many times when I've been sitting at a corner waiting to turn.
• It's also more likely to happen when the gas tank has just been filled. When we're below 3/4 of a tank it's not usually a problem. Last time I filled up the tank it died four times in a one-mile drive plus five more times that night. 
• When the RPMs start to act up, I can sometimes fix the problem by going faster. So as long as I'm willing to speed a little it's okay?

But you know what's wonderful? We drove it to the temple and back last Saturday morning and then to the Stake Center and back that evening, about 330 miles altogether. In all that driving, even after filling up the gas tank in between our two long drives, it only died on us once. It was rough going, but we made it. Slowing down for turns I had to strike a balance between not flipping the car on its side and keeping the engine from cutting out. We're so grateful to have this car and it's been a blessing that we didn't expect and don't deserve. We're keeping the car running on constant prayers and speeding. Any car people out there have any idea what's going on?