Ron Jr

My Aunt and Uncle live next store to me and they are in their late 60's. My Uncle is disabled and of course retired while my Aunt is semi-retired. They have three grown daughters one who still lives at home with her POS boyfriend. Anyway late last Sunday my Aunt asked me to check her tire pressure sure no problem. I get my gauge from the glove box and walk over. I don't even have to check they are all low so back to the car for the comperssor. Tires pressure driver front 6, Passenger front 8, Passenger rear 18, Driver rear 21. All should be at 30 according to the door sticker. Plug the compressor into the aux power and nothing, it doesn't work, so to the garage and get my jump pack. Pump them all up and inspect them. Fronts are totally bald backs still have a bit of life. She thanks me and goes inside her house.
I return to my BBQ and talk to my Wife about my Aunts car. We decide that we will have new tires put on it. So jump to this Saturday that just passed. I drive my Aunt to her part time job at the foot doctor and then take her car to the tire place. While they are working on it I go to the Auto parts store and pick up oil and filter, air filter, pcv valve, spark plugs and windshield wiper blades. Once the tires are done I do a home service on the car. I also clean the inside as much as I can and throw a new set of rubber mats in (it was disgusting in the car). I take it for a test drive and it runs much better than before. The plugs I pulled out were gapped at .60 not .40 like the sticker said and she only had 1 quart or so of oil. I also topped up all fluids.
I pick her up at work and tell her all I did before moving her car from my driveway to hers.
We are having some guests over Saturady night for our usual BBQ so a quick shower and a run to the grocery store. As I am heating up the grill my Aunt comes into our yard and tells me the car won't start. I go out front and try and sure enough it doesn't start, WTF it worked fine a little over an hour ago. I go back and cook, feed our guests then go back to my Aunts with the guys. It is getting dark and we can't figure it out. The next day I'm back over there trying to get it started. I figure it is either the nuetral safety switch or the starter. I gave up as I can't really get to either while lying on the driveway with the car on my floor jack. It is off to a local garage today, wonder how much this will cost me.

C300Sport

Ain't that how life treats ya sometime... Sounds like you did a great thing so hopefully the issue will be self correcting or at least simple to repair. Sounds like she is not even turning over...did you clean the battery posts? maybe broke an old corroded cable while cleaning things up??

Ron Jr

Checked and also tried with my jump pack. Starter just won't turn. Hit it with a mallet (scared of that with the car being held by a floor jack) hoping the starter is just stuck and still nothing. The shop she is taking it to has worked on the car before 1999 Saturn 4 door and he knows her financial situation so hopefully he won't try to rip her off, even though I offered to pay for the repair. So far I'm in about $500.00 for what I've done so far.

Krytech

That was really a stand-up thing to do. Sometimes you can get stung trying to do the right thing, but hopefully this will all work out in the end.

pnpjrm

Total shot in the dark....I had a weird...couldn't figure out how to get my Jeep to start...issue one time. I checked everything, it ended up being the ground cable to the battery.

burnteggroll

what a stand up and classic thing to do... but if i remember correctly, Darth don't do things like that right? really nice of u... when u get old, hopefully someone will do that for you without asking...

Savage c-300

Family first! Now I'm interested in what the problem was. keep us updated!

laguna

It's a beautiful thing you did Ron, keep us posted.

Ron Jr

Just got off the phone it is the starter and they are installing a new one. I told them to just give her the car and I'll settle the bill when I get home. Glad it wasn't anything major. If I was younger and thinner I would have done it myself.

burnteggroll

very good.. glad everything worked out...what goes around comes around... expect to win the lotto soon...