Car Troubles: When My Car Broke Down, Read The Diagnosis and How I Interacted with the Locals

The moment I knew something went wrong with my vehicle was actually rather poetic. Being a full-time RV'er I never, ever, leave things plugged into outlets when we leave the motorhome. If God forbid a fire occurred because I left the coffee pot on, I don't think I could handle that! So, I take appropriate precautions. We were heading out for lunch with friends on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon. We were planning on being there at approximately 2pm, and it was an hour away. At about 12:30 we jumped in the car. We headed off down the winding country road, until I realized I forgot the coffee pot plugged in. We had 25 miles until our car ran out of gas, and we were 5 miles from a gas station. So, I turned back around, thinking I could make it.

I got to the motorhome, unplugged the coffee pot, and my computer from the wall plug. I then was able to add some gas from my gas cans to the car. The gas cans did not even slightly change the miles until we ran out, so I knew that there was not much in there. Perfect, I thought.

We drove on, and as soon as we pulled out onto the highway the gas pedal felt like it lost all power. I kept trying to "floor it" but no matter what it kept slowing down. I eventually steered the car off the road, and tried troubleshooting.

I couldn't figure out the possible cause, and the car would not restart. The nearest gas station was 5 miles away, but I figured if I had to I would push it the entire way there. I hopped out, and started pushing. My daughter offered to help me steer the car so that we did not end up pushing it into the ditch!

Now in Texas, people in these small towns will stop to help. We had probably 6 people on the side of the road helping. Even the homeowner of a nearby ranch came out and offered for me to park my car in their driveway for the time being.

I kept letting it sit, put more gas in it. About 4 gallons. And kept trying to start it. We sat there for nearly 3 hours, and eventually the battery started to die. Now that the battery was dying I turned off the A/C and any lights, only to realize my phone was at 4%. I decided to call it, looked up a quick tow truck, and called the first one that pulled up on Google.

After getting off the phone with the tow truck company, almost poetically, my phone died right then. Someone else drove by and gave me a jump, but my car still wouldn't start all the way. I began crying because I was just at my witts end.

45 minutes later the tow truck pulled up, loaded up the car and hauled us back to the motorhome. I wanted to cry when I was given the quote of $217 for a 5 minute trip.

That night multiple people came together. We put more gas in my car, HEET in case there was any water, and charged my battery. Nothing would work. There was a local mechanic who kept wanting to take my cars engine apart to look at the fuel plugs, and I kept telling him no. I knew that if the car was still covered under warranty, it wouldn't be anymore the moment a non dealership person began taking it apart.

So, we called it a night. The next morning at about 8am, I began calling the tow truck companies to see who had availability that day, and what the cost would be. I reserved a tow truck for noon, and then called the nearest dealership. I was scheduled for 1pm at the dealership.

At 10:45am I got a call from the tow truck driver who said he had a cancelation and could come early. I agreed, and my daughter and I quickly packed a bag with snacks, drinks, and simple things to do (along with a phone charger).

When the tow truck driver arrived he tried jumping the car, because that would be $85 instead of $250. Well, the jump did not work so we loaded up the car and drove the 45 minutes to town for the dealership.

Upon getting there I went inside to check in, and asked where they wanted the car parked at. They gave me directions and I walked out to finish paperwork and pay the tow truck driver.

A service manager for the dealership, roughly my age and rather attractive, came outside to drive another vehicle in but my car and the tow truck was blocking the way. His name was Daniel, and he stayed to chat for a few minutes. He smile was very alluring.

I finished up my work with the tow truck driver, and after overhearing my conversation with Daniel about me having been in the Marine Corps he charged me $200 instead of $250.

Thank goodness.

I headed inside, and Daniel walked by to ask if we had gotten all squared away. I smiled, and said yes. Then our service guy walked in and said we need a new fuel pump. The fuel pump itself, plus labor was going to cost me $1200, but he was going to see if we were covered under warranty. I agreed, even knowing if it wasn't covered under warranty I couldn't afford a $1200 payment in full that day. He said he believed I was covered under warranty, so I told him he was probably my favorite guy!

Our service guy, Richard, then came back to me again and said I needed a new battery as well. I asked what that charge would be and he said between $150 and $350. I must have given him a look of surprise because he said, "Don't give me that look!" I came back with, "Well, if it's $150 I won't have to!" We laughed.

He came back about 45 minutes to an hour later with a quote of $245 for the battery. I said, "I kind of don't have a choice, so let's just do it."

They got the fuel pump in from San Antonio (just a few minutes away from where we were), and got to work. Roughly 4 to 5 hours later, and lots of laughs from the waiting room as my daughter and I kept each other entertained... I kept getting notified on my phone that my car was turning on. My phone is hooked to my car, so anytime it turns on it notifies me.

I thought this was a good sign, and so I looked over to our service specialist. It looked like he was doing an oil change, but I figured if he wasn't it would be a perfect opportunity to request one before he finished.

I walked over to where Richard and Daniel were working in the service area, and I asked about an oil change. Richard said, "Oh, he's going to be so mad at you." I was like, "No, no, no. I'll wait over here then." Richard told me to come with him to ask so that he could be mad at me instead of him.

He opened up the door and said, "He is already doing an oil change." He then went over to speak with the guy about what was wrong, and he said that I had 4 inches of standing water in my gas tank. How that happened, no one could definitely say, because that was a lot.

Richard then gave me some horror stories about people who had purposely ruined their gas tanks to get a new car, but he asked if maybe someone had done this to our fuel tank. Having towed the car all the way here, it had not been driven since leaving those awful peoples property in Oregon. So, I would not have put it past them, or maybe the gas went bad on the drive down, or maybe just simply running out of gas did it. Who knew.

But we got a fuel pump, new batteries in the key fobs, alignment checked, internal system of the car restarted, car wash done, new fuel put in the car, oil change, and new battery in the engine all for $183. It had supposed to be $245 for the battery itself, but he discounted that as well and split the rest between warranty and being covered by the dealership itself. It was written on the invoice as "internal."

Upon leaving the service tech came over and gave me a thumbs up to let me know he was done, I had about jumped out of my chair because I was so excited. And yes, Daniel, got to say goodbye (😅).

We then later went to McDonald's for dinner, because it was late and I didn't want to have to cook after having to spend 2 hours navigating how to get out of San Antonio during rush hour. At McDonald's they messed up our order by giving us 3 sides of fries, instead of 1, and giving us 4 cheeseburgers and a happy meal instead of 1 burger and a happy meal.

Once we were back in town and at the motorhome, we opened up the bags and I about cried.

The sunset was beautiful that night, and it felt like the skies had cleared on purpose since it had rained the night before.