The engine just stalled. Quit. No warning lights, nothing. I pushed the ignition button to restart my three-year-old car with less than 60,000 miles on it. It restarted, but then it stalled several more times. I called my mechanic, and he checked it out. After extensive diagnostic testing, he found nothing. He then suggested that I call the dealership as my make and model had several recalls.
I called the dealership. Once the service department checked my VIN, I was informed that my car did not have a recall for that problem. The service manager said, “check the oil.” I responded, “The oil is fine, I’m only about 200 miles overdue for an oil change plus my mechanic just checked it over.” The service manager responded, “Did your mechanic check the oil?” I allowed that I wasn’t sure.
I acquiesced and checked the oil. It was dangerously low. When I called the service manager back to let her know what I had discovered she responded, “I thought so.” When I inquired as to the problem the service manager told me to bring it to the dealership, they would check some things out and tell me what’s next.
When I got to the dealership, a service tech informed me that some of the engines on my make and model had a problem burning oil for no reason. There was also an automatic safety shut-off so that when the oil got too low, it would prevent the engine from blowing up.
I asked, “What’s the fix?”
“You need a new engine,” she responded.
“A new engine! That car’s not worth it. No way,” I argued.
“It’s covered under warranty, it will all be taken care of, just give me four days,” she said.
That was a game changer.
Sometimes that happens in life. There’s a system failure, and you think things are bad. They may seem costly and not worth it. You may want to cash it in and go in a different direction.
That’s when you need the right people who you can trust to get you through. Seek them out and listen to them when they show up. A system failure may not be as bad as it sounds.
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