Cars...

My car has been idling fairly high the past couple of weeks and it's caused me no small amount of concern. Seeing as how it's Christmas time, I don't really have a lot of money laying around the house to cover automobile repair costs, so I've been searching the internet for a do-it-yourself site that would help me do just that--fix the problem myself.

Well, I came across one site that suggested that it may be as simple as the car's computer needing to reset. The explanation behind that being that a computer will "sense" that a driver may need the idle normally a little higher for whatever reason. Well, I completely disregarded that and went on to the more difficult and involved explanations and solutions. It got me absolutely no where.

I came home from work tonight determined to give it one more shot and then I was going to take the car into a shop. Well, I propped open the hood, and removed the battery cables while I inspected the vacuum and air flow hoses and connections for clogs, holes, or filth. I found none of that so I put everything back together and hooked the battery back up.

I started the car and it seemed to be idling fine. But the problem is more evident as I drive, so I took it for a short spin. Again, it seemed to be idling fine--when the gas pedal was released the tach went right down to 800 or so rpms whereas before it would hover up around 1500 to 2500 rpms for 10 to 20 seconds. If the car was in gear, it seemed to idle at the high rpms for much longer than that.

So, maybe the solution was as simple as cutting the power to the car's computer which caused it to reset itself. If so, how much money did I save myself?

And, as a special note, Turbo, my bestest girlfriend, was also granted entry into the 2008 Squaw Peak 50 Mile Run coming up in June. She's almost as excited as I am... Happy now?