running without

I was traveling along the highway one day last week when my kids and I thought we heard a snapping sound. I thought we’d run over a bit of litter and didn’t worry too much about it till I saw red lights flashing on my dashboard.

I was a little worried as we were quite a ways from home. But we pushed on nevertheless and managed to get home without incident. The mechanic promised to come by first thing and well, as soon as he opened up the hood, he pulled out my alternator belt which had snapped.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. So that must’ve been the snapping sound we heard. To think I drove all the way home with a broken belt and 3 kids in the car ! Scary, huh!

That’s not all. Next my mechanic announced my radiator water had all but leaked out! I could’ve burnt up my car for crying out loud! I can’t imagine how that could’ve happened since I’m someone who religiously checks my car. Then of course, I’m no car expert.

Thing is my mechanic, who works on my car quite often, never alerted me to these things. Maybe it’s time car manufacturers invent something like barcode scanners that women can run over their car engines to detect potential problems like these ?