Damn Toyota Let Me Down

Posted on 31/12/2017 by Grumpa Joe

It is the last day of 2017 and what am I doing? Nothing. I’m writing an angry blog piece about a car that let me down. Lately I’ve been bragging about how good my Avalon has been to me, but today that has changed. I’ve written about the lousy experience I had with my 1969 Corolla, and how it kept me from buying another Toyota, or any other piece of Jap-Crap for thirty-six years. Once I calm down I’ll be able to explain rationally how I really feel about my Avalon. Right now the bitter sting of having to fix a car in -5 degree weather still has my shorts in a bunch.

Yesterday, I left the house on my way to my stepdaughter’s sixty-second birthday party. I gingerly placed her gift on the back seat along with a walnut roll wrapped in aluminum foil along with a fresh bottle of Champaign to help with the celebration. The temperature in the garage was low at thirty degrees. Outside it was six below. We haven’t had a winter like this since the nineteen eighties. You know, the Liberals ordered the world to go into warming mode so they could impose exorbitant taxes on us to feed the tyrants of the world, and to enrich themselves by trading carbon credits. I’m here to say the warming trend is over. By next winter the pundits will be crying ice-age once again. I like global warming cycles they keep me comfortable in the winter time. I hate ice-age like winters when I freeze me ass off. Anyway, I pushed the magic button and the Toyota chattered at me. It is that bone chilling noise one gets when a battery dies and the solenoid clicks away.

This morning I mentioned to a friend that since I have owned cars I have had a streak of bad luck with break downs when it is cold. Below zero cold makes stuff break, it makes weak stuff fail, it makes tires split, and it makes car owners very upset. What can I do? I am so dependent on a car to get around that I don’t even think about walking two miles in below zero temps to get to Starbucks. I could spew another thousand words talking about my winter break down experiences but I won’t, I’ll speak of something good instead, like improved battery life. During my life with VWs, Fords, Oldsmobiles, and Mercurys It was not uncommon to have to replace a battery every two years. Since I bought the Avalon batteries have improved, and now last for six years.  My car is  thirteen years old, has 143000 miles on it, and the second battery failed. So even though I blame the Toyota for letting me down it is the battery that is the root-cause. Since the battery is not what I sit in to drive me places I have to blame the car.

I wish all who read this a very Happy New Year without any cold weather trouble.

 

 

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I Bragged, It Died

Posted on 16/04/2015 by Grumpa Joe

A couple of days ago I wrote a piece called Numbers. In it I bragged about how great my Toyota Avalon has been. For a WWII child that is a hard thing to do. I grew up hating the Japanese, and it took me a long time to finally break down and buy other than US made.

This afternoon, I promised to take my daughter and grand-daughter to see a surgeon. It seems my eleven year old grand-daughter took up playing basketball and broke a finger by jamming it. The ER X-ray showed joint damage and the recommendation was to see a surgeon. Since my daughter is fighting her own demons, and in the past year has lost sight in one eye, and developed severe balance problems she has not been able to work or to drive. Grumpa to the rescue, or so I thought.

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Peg and I climbed into the car with our usual achy bodies, and with my foot on the brake I touched the start button: nothing happened, not a click, not a growl, not a cheep. Don’t panic, I pulled the fob from my pocket and placed it on the button, then I pushed. I thought perhaps my fob was without power. It did not change anything. Suddenly, the light went on above my head. Last night before retiring, I poked my head out into the garage, and noticed the dome light on the Avalon burning ever so dimly. I shut it off and hoped the battery would rejuvenate by morning. Obviously it didn’t. I called my daughter, and she had to reschedule her appointment.

Did I jinx the car by bragging about it? Did I jinx myself by bragging? Was the ghost of WWII punishing me for buying the conquered country’s product? Does it matter?

I calmly pulled out my battery charger and hooked it up. After a couple of hours the Avalon had life again. Then it struck me, wouldn’t it be nice if we could do the same with our own batteries of life? I would  pay dearly to have a gadget that I could hook up to, and become reinvigorated within two hours. Some people say we have that gift from the time we are born, they call the process sleep.

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