Sunday, June 24, 2007

Car Problem

Saturday late afternoon, getting into the Ford Granada after a short hike in Harewood. The weather had briefly shown its pleasant side - the rain had stopped on Saturday afteroon, and sun came out on a cloudy sky.

As I turn into the main road between Harrogate and Leeds, I notice a slight smell of burnt plastic. I do not see any smoke outside. Sometimes people burn here weeds or agricultural waste, but I do not see where the fire could be. I drive on, the smell gets stronger. Then I see from the car ventilation light smoke coming into the car passenger compartment.

Immediately I stop the car at the side, turn the engine off, take the ingition key out. Must be a short circuit somewhere. When I open the hood and remove the cover of the fuse box, I see the culprit: smoke comes from one of the relais. Not much that I can do - I start the engine again, and it seems to run fine. All electrical devices seem to work ok, at least the ones I need for driving. So I continue to drive home, window open to let the burnt smell go out. It still seems to create those fumes, but I do not see any smoke coming anymore. Made it home safely.

Then I removed the faulty relais: it was the one for the interval wishes/wiper. The bottom is completely melted, I had a hard time getting it out of its socket. Not sure if I can just plug in a replacement... so for now I drive without interval wiper. That had been not working anywaw since I bought the car, so nothing is lost.

I think it is time to consider getting a new car, before something else breaks.

Anyone wants to buy a 1993 Ford Granada with a few issues? I offer it for just
250 Pounds (ono = or nearest offer).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, getting a car and maintaining it are two things. The age of the car would definitely depend on how one would drive it and utilize it and on how one maintains it. I just hope that your new car wouldn't be bringing you more trouble thouhg.