Thinking of you…
My good old friend the POC, that is. There are no leaves in our street right now, just some sorta moldy looking piles of snow. And I don’t own that vee-hickle any more.
I had a love/hate relationship with the POC, which I won’t recount in too much detail for the moment, except to say that it was the Queen of Dashboard Lights! (((Er, and serpentine belt failures.))) I *hate* dashboard lights. Especially dashboard lights that either tell me what I already know or don’t tell me anything at all. There was the time I went outside the morning after an ice storm and tried to open the POC’s right sliding door and COULDN’T. Because it was frozen shut and would not budge. Or so I thought. I loaded the beach urchins and all of their kid paraphernalia into the old gal (i.e., “Get in the car!”) through the front passenger door and we got about a half mile away from home and… Ding! Door ajar! And then the “door ajar” light went out again. And about 10 seconds later. Ding! Door ajar! And again. And again. Clearly, I *had* managed to just barely budge the blasted door just a bit open and now that the vee-hickle was thawing a bit, the door was opening and shutting as we accelerated or decelerated or turned or whatever. I got over onto a side street and slammed that sucker shut! And we won’t even talk about the light. On. Or off. Or on and off. Or…
The Dogha is probably my favorite vee-hickle ever. It has 125K on it and it has been almost virtually problem-free except for the kind of wear and tear you would expect on an 8-year-old vee-hickle with 125K on it. The “side airbag” light has come on occasionally throughout the vee-hickle’s life. Whenever somebody sits in the passenger seat in some strange position or when whatever work-type pararphenalia I am taking to work is just a bit too heavy for that seat. I actually think there’s a related recall but we haven’t ever been inclined to do anything about it. Today. I was driving to work and I had one laptop and my lunch on the seat and for whatever reason, they weren’t situated correctly and the blasted side airbag light kept coming on. And going off. And finally I shifted my stuff so that it went out permanently. And then. The “check engine” light came on. All right. I had a moment of panic, got off the freeway an exit early, and called the GG to report. Remembered that a yellow check engine light doesn’t mean get off the road immediately unless it starts flashing. Calmed down. Drove the rest of the way to work with no problem whatsoever. And then home, after a day of intense analysis, which is at least partly what I get paid to do and I earned my pay today, boy oh boy. The light probably indicates a bad oxygen sensor or some other benign condition. I could probably drive forever with a bad oxygen sensor. So why the HECK does my vee-hickle have to light a blasted *light*?!?
And yes it was your favo-rite blahgger who did the loverly parking job in the photo. Back right wheel on the curb. Yes!
April 7th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Your car has a “service engine soon” or “check engine” light that is programmed to come on every 17,000 or 20,000 miles or so. You are supposed to go to the dealer and let them run a diagnostic test on your car to see if there is anything wrong with your car. You only have to pay $100.00 or so for the test. I think that the $100.00 goes toward any repairs that you may have to do to the vehicle. If your car does not have anything wrong with it, you can rest easy knowing that there is nothing wrong with your car. Me? I fell for it once and there was nothing wrong with my car. I did not rest easy because I was POed that I had spent $100.00 to find out that nothing was wrong. You can read the manual and it tells you how to turn off the light if you don’t want to pay the money. You, of course, risk having the car explode when you least expect it, but I now prefer to listen for noises and warning sounds and smells before I pay my friendly Honda dealer to check out the light. Also, read in the manual about that Airbag light. It will come on if you put 10 to 50 pounds or so on the seat. If it does not weigh enough to be an adult, it will light up to warn you to shut off the airbag because the small person could get hurt or killed if the airbag were to inflate. In other words, it is supposed to be a built in safety feature to protect small children.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I too prefer to have my car explode when I most expect it.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:11 am
HAHAHA! The “Engine Light” may be coming on to tell you that it’s time for its oil change, too. Nook’s Civic does that – we aren’t even supposed to bring it in for oil change or service UNTIL the “service” light comes on!
As for the “AIRBAG” light in the Honda? Mine comes on whenever I have something inside that set weight range in the front seat… like Alfred or Ernie (and occasionally even my flute bag has enough stuff in it to trigger it). Always got it to light with my “going to work” bag back in the Long Commute To Oakland County days. All it does is switch OFF the passenger air bag (just in case it’s a kid in a kid seat in the front). In fact, if someone (or one of the dogs) sits just off to the side enough, the “SIDE AIRBAG OFF” light comes on (so no one sleeping against the door gets their head blown off, I guess).
April 8th, 2009 at 7:20 am
In the Dogha (Dirty Old Green Honda Accord), there is a “service engine soon” light that comes on every 6000 miles. In fact, it is flashing right now! We have been diligent about taking the car in for service although we often procrastinate a bit. Like we’re doing right now. The “check engine” light is a different thing and does mean that there’s some kind of condition or problem that needs to be checked into. In this case, it seems benign. Butchya never know. The airbag light I can easily ignore.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Hondas are good cars; I wish I had one! I had a car that had electrical problems from the get go. I was driving once and electrical smoke was coming out of the steering column. Not good.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Thanks for “translation” of Dogha; I always wondered—never asked. Don’t get me started on right seat beeps. From library books-rrrrrr. And, yes, the service light is on in our car. And, yes, an oil change is on the todo list….