New Digs And Mechanics

Some of you Facebookers know this already, but I have had the blessing of staying with college friends of mine for a week now.  They have an apartment here in Gilbert, Texas, which is south of Mesa.  I was certainly not expecting to stay this long, nor was I expecting to have the huge car problems that I have had in this past week.
On my way to Jason and Jenn's last Friday night I noticed that my car was not shifting into what I thought was 3rd gear.  Luckily I didn't have that far to go, and was able to make it to their house safely.  I started praying for a miracle, hoping to God would fix my car overnight and that the next day I would go out and it would just be fixed.  Well, that didn't happen.  For whatever reason, this is another thing I had to go through in this process of life.
After taking it in to the shop I was told that my engine computer module (ECM) needed to be replaced, and that my car had been stuck in 3rd gear.  This was taken from a diagnostic test that was run on the car.  Well I'll be darn if I didn't already know how to replace that part, because I had done it about 4 years ago.  It's actually very easy to fix.  You just need a socket wrench and to know what you're looking for.  So, I ordered the part, and a couple days later picked it up and replaced it.
I took it out for a test drive really hoping that it would work, but it didn't.  Absolutely nothing had changed.  It was still stuck in 3rd gear.
So, I was really disappointed.  My obvious next emotion was not a happy one, and was directed at the local chain store of auto repair.  I won't say their name, but their initials are AAMCO.  Haha!  Anyway, I believe that they were just more clueless than anything.  I mean, it could be that they saw this poor girl coming in in her pint t-shirt, and figured she had no idea what the difference was and that the $1200 they were asking to fix my ECM was reasonable enough.  NOT!!  Little did they know that I have the ability to take screws off, and replace a computer not once, but twice in my own car.  Little did they know.
So, I took it to another shop after the first "fix" didn't work.  This time it was to another local, but family-owned place.  They ran a diagnostic on my car (the same one that had previously been done) and found that it was the transmission computer or the TCM that was the problem.  My car runs on two computers, and in the last two days both have been replaced.  This time I let someone else do the work, mostly because I believe they had to get under the car to replace this particular computer.  This is something I don't have the equipment for.  Thankfully labor is only 1/2 hour on this part, so the charge for that was small.

This is what the old part looked like. 

If you shake it you can actually hear the water and sand rattling around inside of it.  No wonder it didn't work.

So I called back AutoZone and found out they still had my old ECM unit.  I will be picking it up tomorrow and putting it back in my car to see if everything works fine with the old one.  Ugh.  What a pain in the butt.  However, fixing my own car is very empowering.  Empowering in a good way.  It gives me a sense of gratification to know I can fix stuff like that and I'm not totally without skills. :)

So in all of this, my friends have housed and fed me, and have welcomed me into their home.  Then when things were looking so discouraging with the car...a blessing.

My friends, Jason and Jenn, offered to let me stay in their house until an apartment became available, which could be into May.  Thankful is just such an inadequate word for how I feel.  And to top it off, they moved their kids into a room together so I could have a room for me and the dogs to have some private space.  Wow!  That's about all I can say.  Thank God for friends.

I know I have blogged about this before, but going to Word of Life Bible Institute, and moving around as much as I have has branched my friends over most of the United States and several countries.  There is this special bond between Believers that cannot be broken, and surpasses any physical boundaries.  God uses us to touch each other's lives, to bless them, challenge them and encourage them.  I have been blessed beyond measure.  Even in the chaos of a car that decided not to run, these friends of mine have taken me in and blessed me more than they know!

So, now that my car is fixed my apartment search can resume, and I will shortly be on my way to a place of my own.  Who knows what's in store next, but it has been a crazy ride so far!