Late night rant at my own stupidity

[Badger]

Ok so iv been having alot of car issues lately. Nothing major and iv been fixing them one by one. Well one of the ongoing problems has been my rear brake/turn signal lights. Pretty much iv always had problems with blown bulbs and such but now I have replaced all the bulbs and fuses and nothing. My cars turn signal /hazard lights are part of my trunk and do not work at all. Front ones do, rear ones no. Anywho, I read online that sometimes its a problem in the steering column with your hazard lights switch. I dont know how but I read it on one of those "ask a mechanic" sites that if you spray alittle wd-40 and work the switch alittle, then maybe my rear lights would work again. This made sense to me as I knew most of them were working until I had to use my hazard lights for the first time in a really long time. Well my dumb ass believed it. So I tried it and got no results of course. This was at like 1 AM because I was to excited to wait till morning. Well I take a shower and get into bed when I hear my horn going off in one loud CONTINUOUS blast. I got out and mess with everything and get it to stop. Well I hear it honk a couple of quick times and I think its done. NOPE! starts again and doesnt stop. Well of course my dumb ass doesnt think to simply pull the fuse so I start trying to disconnect the battery....found the socket...NO SOCKET WRENCH ANYWHERE! so I high tail it out of my area because its about 3 in the morning and I knew someone was going to call the cops. I end up at walmart...horn still going strong....go inside to buy a damn wrench...come out.....whatdaya know STILL GOING OFF!! so i ended up in Danas Safety Supply parking lot because for those of you that havent been there, its away from all houses and any business that might be open so i would be alone to deal with this problem. Disconnect the battery, pull up the problem on the iphone, see that i might have f'ed up my clock spring (didnt know that was even a part) and thats the problem and to pull the fuse. At this point i feel like a retard for not thinking of the fuse 45 minutes ago. So I pull the fuse and somewhere along the way cut my finger. not a bad cut, but one of those ones you bump on everything and hurts like a SOB. and of course iv got to be up in 4 hours from now for work and hopefully that stupid part will just dry and i wont need to replace it because ill just go without a damn horn....its not worth the price of replacing to me lol. Anywho, rant over....just wasnt my night....and of course on top of everything only during the times i was out and under the hood did it rain. get in the car, rain stopped. get out, start again. ok, rant over for real this time. that is all.....

Buy a lottery ticket today.

 

[Sully34]

Good luck fixing this.

 

[streetroc]

What kind of car is it?

Late 80's-early 90's GM vehicles often have the wiring harness from the turn/hazard/horn/cruise control etc. draped over the top of the steering column. After 100,000+ miles of turning back and forth the steering shaft can rub away the insulation and give you a short. I had to rip apart the entire dash on my '88 Iroc-Z before I discovered this.

 

[jcountry]

Hope things turn around for you. I've been in your shoes several times before. Just walk away for a few, and come back to it with a clear mind.

Good advice.

I often have to walk away from car electrical problems before I get pissed and break something.

Electrical stuff is the worst!

 

[streetroc]

Good advice.

I often have to walk away from car electrical problems before I get pissed and break something.

Electrical stuff is the worst!

Unless you have owned an MG then you need to STFU about electrical problems, I don't even want to hear it.

 

[woodstock]

Unless you have owned an MG then you need to STFU about electrical problems, I don't even want to hear it.

Or an older Jag....

 

[Patronus]

Good advice.

I often have to walk away from car electrical problems before I get pissed and break something.

Electrical stuff is the worst!

Amen Brother!

Had a Chevy Malibu once that the headlights took turns not working, then both went out. Called an auto electric guy and he told me to pull the battery away from the metal and look for a cut in the insulation going to the headlights. One tiny damn cut had it freaking out...and me too.

Then I bought a beater VW Passat and while test driving it I was pushing buttons, checking oiut the radio, wipers etc. When I got home it wouldn't turn off. Turned it off and pulled the key out of the ignition, but it was still running. Took 30 minutes before I fiddled around and pushed the rear window defroster button and the car shut off.

Unless you have owned an MG then you need to STFU about electrical problems, I don't even want to hear it.

Been there, done that. And WORSE! I had an English WIFE to go with it! Neither one made any sense. She had never had a car but HAD to have an MG. She called me from a convenience store one night telling me her car wouldn't start. I drove half way across town, turned the key on and heard "whirrrrrrrrrrrrr tick tick tick tick" as the electronic fuel pump sucked air!

 

[streetroc]

Or an older Jag....

Yep, done that too. When I go up to my lake house this year I need to change the starter in Dad's 1964 Jaguar E-type. I FINALLY got the fuel system sorted out last year (you want to complain about American carbs? Try tuning 3 SU carbs!) and then the starter started to go. The sad thing is, when he put that car up there after I was born it was in great shape. Freshly rebuilt engine and gearbox, fresh paint, fresh interior... It is a solid car but it just needs to be driven more often. Just putting a few hundred miles on it will go a long way in bringing back to life.

I know, I know... what a terrible burden on me that I have to drive around in a vintage Jaguar E-type all next month. Its a tough job but I will take one for the team.

 

[RIDDLE]

Man that sucks! It might be time to go get another car!

 

[The Bandit]

yeah well all that got sorted out and i just left the fuse out of the horn just in case. i did find out that i probably need to replace my turn signal switch which sucks because i know its going to be expensive. lol didnt expect my pathetic pity party thread to come back around.