We bought our beautiful Mazda3 brand new in May of 2010. Her name is Stella. She is part of our family.
In over three and a half years, she has been perfect. We have changed her oil regularly, done her spark plugs only once, replaced a few fans, and new tires a couple of times. I say again, she has been the perfect car for us!! Yes, we even make her work with two kids. I’m not sure how long that will last, but she has become a permanent fixture in our family.
Until today. My faith in her was shaken. I went out to start her this afternoon, for the first time in a while. She was plugged in, but started very hard. As in harder than she’s ever started for me. She turned over probably ten times, started, and stalled. I gave her a second and tried again. Again, a hard start, but this time she held strong. I checked to make sure all the heat controls were cranked and ran back inside to start getting the kids ready.
You know that joke that seems to be everywhere that points out how some people/mothers would rather carry ten overfilled grocery bags inside at once, than to make two trips? I am that mom in the sense of bringing kids out to the car. I hate making two trips. So I have Laela in her bucket, my huge diaper bag over my shoulder, and Dekker beside me, reaching up, saying “hands?” Hold hands. So needless to say, I awkwardly hobbled out the car with the kids. It took longer than I was bargaining for, so once we were all settled, I got out of the driveway and took off pretty quick. I dipped into the post office to pick up a parcel – our new laptop battery!!!!! Finally! So I picked it up, flew out of town, and once on the highway, Stella betrayed me.
No heat. Not a sound. Freeeeezing! And I smelled electricity. I was so mad. How dare she?! I mean, I know its winter, and its really cold. She deserves to have a lame day. But no heat? Seriously, of all things to go during such a cold spell. How dare she.
I considered that maybe something glitched, with the weather being what it is. Everyone acts up sometimes. So I pulled over at an approach and turned her off. Waited. Turned her back on, just as far as accessories. Nothing. I was completely at a loss. I didn’t want to put my kids in any danger, and I didn’t have a lot of extra warm clothes or emergency stuff in the car. But Laela really needed her chiro appointment. Poor little dear is so crooked 🙁 So I called Brady and my mom, and eventually decided to keep on keeping on. The electric smell stopped, and it just stayed cold.
We made it to my moms in good time and I walked the kids in. I had parked really poorly, way too far onto the street, so as soon as I got the kidlets inside, I ran back out to move the car. And Stella was warm inside!! So weird! I told my mom and we decided that I likely had heat, but no fan. Of course that was it!! I was just in panic mode before, and hadn’t thought that far. I just knew there was no heat moving and we were all cold in there. But that was why it was so quiet in there.
I was a bit ripped about that too. We had just replaced a couple fans a couple months ago. How dare my Stella girl blow a fan so fast? I sent the realization to Brady and he was confident it was just a fuse. So our plans for the late afternoon changed. Instead of Brady getting a chiro appointment too, as planned, he came straight over after work. He moved Laela’s carseat into my moms car, and we left for the city to make her appointment. Dekker was napping, and Brady took that time to check the car over. He was going to figure out the problem, text me the info, and I would go purchase whatever part was needed after the appointment. On the road, he texted me and said the fan worked fine. Likely, Stella was SO COLD that the fan froze. The electrical smell was probably the fan trying to turn, and not being able to. SUCH a mess! I went from being somewhat frustrated and annoyed, to being relieved that we could drive our kids home that night in a warm car.
This is Stella’s first infraction. Our trust is broken, and our relationship strained. Hopefully she NEVER tries this again!
Might have to trade her in for something new if she keeps this attitude up…