A few weekends ago we went to Bracebridge to go cottaging and zip-lining. I drove a fellow named Daryl up. He lives near Jan and Amy off Major Mackenzie Drive, just east of Highway 404.
Well, when it came time to leave two days later my car idled roughly after I started it. Not long after the Check Engine light came on and the light signifying the Cruise Control was active started flashing. That got me worried to say the least.
Daryl suggested turning the ignition off and restarting the car. That didn't work.
Next I thought I might drive 15-20 minutes into town and see if I could find a garage that was open. I was encouraged when I saw a Canadian Tire as we drove into the city centre. But, that soon turned to disappointment when I saw it was closed because it was Sunday. It figures... the one day of the week that it's not open is the day that I'm there.
I stopped a fellow in a car with his son (or grandson) who was driving by and asked him if he knew of a garage that was open. He told me he lived there in Bracebridge, but couldn't think of one that was. Not good.
At that point I didn't think there was much else I could do, but gingerly drive the 200 kilometres back to Toronto. To tell you the truth... my car sounded pretty much normal after it warmed up a bit. The only thing was that the cruise control was still out of commission.
A couple of hours later I pulled into Daryl's driveway. The drive down had gone without incident.
After dropping him off I headed across the street to the Canadian Tire there. This one was, thankfully, open. I went in and spoke with the service advisor. He told me there would be a minimum charge of $100 to do the computer diagnostics on my car. I had no choice, but to accept it. So he went to see one of the service technicians to find out if they actually had the software for the computer to check my particular vehicle out. Of course, with my luck, you knew they wouldn't (and they didn't). He apologized for that and I left to find another place to help me out.
I thought I'd try Car Wings Auto Service next. It's a Chinese run place on Green Lane which runs off Bayview, half way between Steeles and Highway 407. It was closed on Sunday. Of course.
Next I decided to go to the dealership where I bought my car, Roy Foss. They're located off Yonge a few blocks north of Steeles. They were closed too. So I just drove home. I would try again the next day (Monday).
Next day (Monday morning) I called Car Wings Auto and spoke with the lady there. I told her the problems I had with my car and she said she would ask the mechanic there if they could service it. When she came back she had bad news. They didn't have the required software for the engine computer either. So I was left with no choice but to use my dealership (at a higher cost I was guessing).
I called them next and they said to bring my car in. It took me about 30-40 minutes to drive through the heavy traffic on Yonge. Even in the middle of the day it's quite busy in between the 401 and Sheppard. Pretty annoying.
When I got to the dealership the service advisor that I met with had some bad news for me. He said they didn't have the software to check my engine either. He said the lady who booked the appointment for me didn't know that. So I wasted my time going up there too. He said that Saab on the Queensway was the only dealership that could help me. So I asked for their number and gave them a call. Unfortunately for me they didn't have any spots open today, only from Tuesday on. So I booked one for Wednesday (since I had to work on Tuesday).
After that I went over to my sister's place to cut the lawn and do some yard work. Later in the evening I drove downtown to help with a Sandwich Run. Instead of parking around Knox (Presbyterian Church) where we start out of, I parked in my church (CPC) parking lot. The trip back to the car after the run would be shorter that way.
Long story short... when I came back after we finished the run and started my car up the check engine light was off. And the cruise control light was no longer blinking. I tested it the next day on the 404 and it worked fine.
I don't know exactly what happened, but I was happy nonetheless. My bad luck turned to good. After the many disappointments of either garages or dealerships being closed and/or not being able to check my car out it worked out in my favor. If one of them had been able to look at my car I would have had to fork out at least $100 (and probably a lot more) needlessly. Whew.
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