Nancy is being lazy

HI Mary,

Yes I am busy at H&R Block. Really I am. Huh.

Well after you guys left I was a little let down. Then I got a cold and Jim ruined my van and then we went to Clifford (in a rental) and then we got back on Wednesday of this week and now it is Friday. So, busy yes, HRB no.

The van wasn't completely ruined. After my cold was better I drove to work in the van. First time driving it for about a week and the steering wheel was bucking about like crazy at low speeds and I went onto the freeway and couldn't get it up above 55 without a fight. Also the dash lights for the AC and heater were blinking on and off. They worked OK but they blinked.

I came back and cross examined my husband as to what he had been doing to the van during my illness and he claimed he thought the streets were just bad and that was why the steering wheel was jerking around. Hah! He had not taken the car on the freeway so he had no knowledge of the lack of pep. He said the lights didn't blink with him but the van did stop once at low speeds. However it started right up again.

Anyway it was two days till we were going to Clifford and there was no way we could take the van in that condition so we got an appt. with a shop we know here in Minneapolis..Frenz Brakes, and took it in on Friday. They said it wouldn't be done in time so Jim rented a car for us. $240.00 for a week. He got a Ford Edge which we had never heard of. We made a big sensation in Clifford and Mayville as every one thought we had a new car. Many explanations had to be made.

Meanwhile the guys at Frenz called us to tell us the big problem with the lack of zip was the fact that the floor mat was stuffed up under the gas pedal. Hmmmmm. You should have seen Jim's face as he heard this one. The lack of pep was cured. Then the jerking of the steering wheel was one bad tire. (although they were all pretty well worn. So they did our oil change and charged us $34.00. We picked the van up on our way in on Wednesday night. They said the blinking lights was probably the computer module and they didn't work on those. So we went to our tire place and to the dealer.

On Thursday and $610.00 later we had new tires. While I was online trying to find a reference suggestion for tire brands I found a suggestion for blinking dash lights and engine shut off for Plymouth Voyager vans. It said to clean the battery cables. So we took the car to the dealer and we didn't need a new computer module but we did have to have it reprogramed. And we had them clean the battery cables. The module was damaged by low voltage caused by the dirty battery cables. That was $134.00. If we keep the cables clean it will not happen again.

The car runs fine and handles well.

It is supposed to get to about -15 tonight so we plugged it in.

Love,

Nancy