Had a scary experience yesterday. Well and today. But mostly yesterday.
I got off the subway, walked to the car, started the car, drove towards daycare. At the second stop light where I had to stop, I had my foot on the brake when the car lurched forward. The idiot behind me hit me, I thought. No really I did, it’s not just a poor way to build suspense.
Nope. Meanwhile I had to keep my foot on the brake. Huh, thought I, not the swiftest light in the bucket.
Traffic was going pretty quickly so I was just sort of cruising along a bit over the speed limit when I came to another stop light. Took my foot off the gas. The car did not slow down at all. Braked. Had the same jerky problem.
Next leg I didn’t really press on the gas pedal, although I had my foot over it. Got up to 60 km/h no problem. Huh. Had to really press on the brake at the next light, during which I called Carl and told him to pick Noah up (fortunately he was working from home).
Never had to do anything but brake all the way home because the damn car was accelerating on its own. There is a safety lecture to come but I was about 5 minutes from home and blissfully ignorant of the potential issues. It was a high adrenaline experience though, riding the brake and keeping my hand on the (automatic) clutch to pop it into neutral if necessary. Or turn the ignition off.
Anyways, got home, turned it off. Called dealership. They did not really believe me, but we agreed I would have it towed in.
So this morning the dealership calls me. The car would not start. Because it is, duh, flooded with gas. Apparently the sensor thought it was -30 and decided it needed a lot of gas to keep going. $350 later, we have new sensor, sparkplugs, oil, etc. And the service manager calls me himself ’cause I’d asked him to.
“Is this for sure the problem?” says I, “because I do not want to put my toddler in a carseat in the back seat in the car.” There’s a long pause. He finally says, “I don’t think you understand what the risk was to you. The oil was full of gas. The engine was full of gas. It wouldn’t have taken much for the car to get set on fire.”
!!!! when the service manager tells you your car almost blew up, that’s not a good thing. So I can now strap my child in the back seat in a 5 point harness? Oh yes, it’s fine now. Not sure what I think about this.
He did not charge me any labour, nor did he charge me for all of the parts. I think he was running a little scared, since I’ve had it in a few times for issues that were probably related.
But, PSA, if your car accelerates on its own, don’t be stupid like me. STOP DRIVING. RIGHT THEN.
I am mulling over how much further I want to go with this car. It’s one of those situations where I kind of know that we have been making decisions more to protect our original decision to buy the car than out of what I Would Do If I Did Not Owe $4k On It Still. But I’m thinking it might be time to liquidate some long-term savings investments and buy it out and then trade it in to somewhere that will do diligence on it. Or sell it, since it works fine. Ha ha. Just not sure what I think about the ethics of that.
Anyways, quite the excitement.
P.S. It is a 2001 Volvo V40 1.9 litre turbocharged station wagon, in case anyone wants to know.
OhMyGod. Well. Thanks for the PSA and, um, drive safely. Please.
I am glad you are save and sound.
If this helps: We sold a van when it began making awful sounds and bucking at high speeds. Our service station could find nothing wrong, nor could Car Max (large used car dealer). We couldn’t bring ourselves to drive it and certainly not with the boys. We never regretted loosing a good deal of our investment.