Automotive Excitement

This was the weekend for the family to visit good friends in the Detroit area. A good time was had by all, and their oldest son survived yet another year (three–he’s on a roll!)

Yesterday’s trip back, however, was less enjoyable.

Looking back, we really should have arranged to stay an extra day in Detroit once we heard the strange noise under the hood. But we looked, and the noise went away, and I just chalked it up as something to investigate once we get home. Fast forward two hours: as we pulled off the highway to get gas, we noticed the noise had returned, louder this time (though not so loud as to be audible over the normal driving noise). While filling up, I checked under the hood, and saw smoke rising from the part of the car where the noise had come from earlier.

This morning saw us emerge from our hotel room in Auburn, Indiana, and hazard the few blocks’ drive to Auburn Chrysler, the closest Dodge dealer. The part having trouble turned out to be the compressor for the air conditioning. You’d think you could do without AC in order to get home, but the compressor shares a belt with lots of more important stuff, and if the compressor had seized up completely, it would have likely caused the belt to snap.

I should point out that Auburn Chrysler is the first Five Star Dealer we’ve dealt with in over seven years that actually deserves the honor. They were short-staffed in the service department that day, but they still got to us quickly, squeezed us in for same-day service, and located a rebuilt compressor to save us the difference in cost from a new one. When that compressor turned out to be bad (according to them, it blew apart in the car while idling!), they located a second one twenty miles away and sent a courier to get it, all at no extra charge. Kudos are especially due Alvin, the man behind the counter, for superb task juggling.