Written 5/11/2024.
Well, that didn’t go as planned.
The good news was that we were able to load most of our daughter’s things last night so that this morning, we were able to take another 30 minutes to pack and clean. Then breakfast at the Inn and off about 1 ½ hours earlier than planned (8:30 am Eastern time).
On the road through twisty roads (perfect for an experienced motorcyclist) and a perfect day. Blue skies with white puffy clouds. Just a touch of coolness in the air for that crisp feeling.
We went along for about 2 ½ hours before the car decided to throw 4 error codes at us. It was chugging, we pulled off the highway to take a look and see what the owner’s manual said along with Suburu forums.
Nothing good, yet nothing saying we couldn’t limp the car along to the closest auto store that had a code reader. Looking at almighty google, we had an Advanced Auto Parts around 10 miles away in Beckly, West Virginia.
With the car chugging every time I stepped on the accelerator, we made it. Codes read and it was a cylinder misfire in cylinders 2 and 4. We needed ignition coils.
We asked the person at the counter where we could get them installed (I couldn’t find them on this car. My car is about a 15 minute install for all 4) and he said “Mr. Tire.”
They could get us in around 45 minutes later.
Just one issue.
Nobody had all the coil packs we needed (best to replace all 4). This store had one, they would have a second pack delivered to the store in about 30 minutes.
Then they directed us to AutoZone who had 2 at 2 different stores.
So, we went to those 2 stores first, then back to Advanced for the other two (the second was delivered while we were at the other stores).
Then off to Mr. Tire. They were so nice and we could walk across the street to Bob Evans for lunch.
I wish that were the end of the story.
30 minutes later we get a call from Mr. Tire. “Two of the coils were the wrong part, you can try O’Reilly’s down the street and maybe ask Advance Auto Parts (a different store than the original one) for a different part – use the car’s VIN number.”
Sigh…
O’Reilly’s had one. The good news was that it was within walking distance. Susan set out and did that while we waited (it was her car).
She then picked up another coil (again within walking distance of Mr. Tire).
Once delivered, she stuck around only to find out that the place she took her car before this trip had screwed up. They hadn’t properly seated one of the ignition coils which caused it to come loose and burn up the other coil.
That’s the bad news.
The good news was that she only needed 2 coils, so saved around $200 on the parts.
The other two coils were returned and we got on the road again.
Total time: 2 ½ hours. Not bad if you think about it.
Only one other minor issue. A traffic accident in Indiana which took about 15 minutes to get through.
I’ll take it.
Finally home.