I LOVE CHIRSTMAS....

'cause it always seems to fall on a holiday.

Anyways, so about Hank (my nissan pathfinder). i took him in for a tune up on wednesday morning and had a piece of shit burgundy sentra courtesy car to take to work. after work, i returned to the service department, paid my few hundred dollars and received the keys to hank who was deemed "as good as new" by the manager in the department.

then the trouble began

off i left in the evening to go pick up heather, but as i was driving down the street i heard a screeching coming from an engine. looking behind me i saw there was an old lincoln towncar tailgating me, so naturally i assumed the sound was coming from that car, since i did get a tune up that very day, it couldn't be me.

but then the lincoln turned and headed off down another street... but the sound was still there

it hit me

IT WAS COMING FROM HANK!

now back when i had Rex (my redneck truck), he usually made this sound every now and then, and all it was was i little loose screw on the fan belt, nothing big, could easily be fixed later on.

"i'll just take it back to the dealership tomorrow morning" i thought to myself

and then the troubles began

so i get onto highway 91, gunning it at just over 100 km/h when the truck starts screaming, and POP there slides off one of the belts and the engine begins to overheat so the truck just shuts itself off. RIGHT ON TOP OF THE BLOODY BRIDGE!!!!!

fearing my life, i hit the emergency lights and quickly veered to the outside lane with whatever momentum was left in hank. thankfully, i had picked up one of those miny yellowpages from an esso about a month earlier (that i leave in hank just in case something like this happens; or if i crave pizza)

so the struggle ensues, i have to get out of my truck on top of the bridge with cars whizzing by me at triple digit speeds, manage to make my way to the back and call a tow truck.

12 minutes later a tow truck appears, so i get him to tow hank all the way back to the service department. the driver was a cool dude so he drove me home as well.

the next morning i call the jackass who fixed my truck and told him he fucked up and better have hank ready by the afternoon... and he shouldn't expect me to pay for the repairs.

turns out it was a stoopid little mistake made by them when they were replacing the engine belts. apparently, the first belt that goes on is the timing belt, but this belt always slips off if the other two belts aren't in place yet. so to keep the timing belt where it is, you have to increase the tension on it; then you put the other two belts on and simply release the tension on the timing belt and all should be good to go.

this fool of a toque, forgot to release the tension, hence the timing was off, hence the slipping of the belt; resulting in the overheating, causing the engine to automatically shutoff to prevent further damage.

bastards!

nonetheless, using the bitching ways of my sister, the communist, i made them turn red faced with shame and as a result, they reembursed me on the towing costs and also gave me $150 in credit the next time i bring hank in.

quite the chaos if i do say so myself.

but hank is doing great now, save for the crack on the windshield

but that's another story