Car Trouble!

After work this afternoon, my wife stopped on the way home in order to check the mail. Our neighborhood mailboxes are in a cluster at the end of our street, so stopping to retrieve the mail whilst in the car is a convenient prospect.

This seems harmless, right? Wrong.

Once the SUV was placed in Park, a micro-switch used for locking out the transmission failed. The net result? Our truck would not disengage from Park. After stopping and restarting the engine, the shifter was still locked in Park. After rocking the car back and forth to try and free up the binding, no dice- the shifter was still locked. No matter what we did, the truck was clearly not leaving it's place on the side of the road, in front of the mailboxes.

It would have been pretty pathetic if we had called AAA for a 1-block tow back to our driveway. But, what could we do? Our truck was unable to move under its own power, and it couldn't freely roll. We were stuck.

After a quick phone call to my brother for advice, we soon found ourselves dismantling the center console surrounding the gear shifter. After awkwardly prying up the cosmetic plate which covered the assembly, a manual override button for the lockout feature was located. Why on earth the Ford Motor Company didn't allow for a keyhole slot, or pinhole to access the override without having to disassemble the center console is beyond me. I'll never understand their logic in that regard. However, after depressing the button, I was able to shift the truck out of Park. Finally, the beast was able to lumber back to its concrete home in front of our garage.

It would appear we now have a few hundred dollars in repairs before our truck is "normal" again. Great (read: sarcasm). This is in addition to the money we've spent on new tires and front brakes this week. To top it all off, we will soon have rear brakes to repair, an alignment is desperately needed in order to preserve our investment in tires, and a regulator for the rear passenger window is still on the "to do" list.

This vehicle has drained us financially over the last year. We absolutely cannot afford a new car payment, nor can we keep tolerating all of these expenses on our current vehicle. We're certainly in between a rock and a hard place, and I don't know what to do. I pray that the Lord grants us favor and wisdom in dealing with such a problem.

"Lord, you said you'd never leave, nor forsake us. I'm taking you at your word, that you're going to help us out. We've found ourselves in a real financial and logistical mess in regard to our families' transportation. We need your grace, favor and blessings in navigating through the days and weeks ahead. Amen."

Good Night