Heidi’s Double-Whammy

Around 3:15 Tuesday I got a phone call from Brianna. She said that Nich, her fiancé, had just called her and told her Heidi broke as he was leaving work. “He says something is dragging on the ground under the rear of the car and he’s afraid to move it. He’s sending you pictures from his phone now.” The pictures Nich sent me confirmed my diagnosis of a failed link at the end of the transverse leaf spring.

I called Nich to assure him he could move the car out of traffic (it was partially blocking the entrance to his work’s parking lot) and into a parking spot. We briefly discussed how we were going to deal with the breakdown and he decided he’d leave the car in the parking lot until the next day, call his parents, and beg a ride since his car was in the shop with a dead transmission (yes, when it rains, it pours). As soon as I got off the phone with him, I called Clark’s Corvair Parts and had them overnight two new link assemblies to Nich’s parent’s house.

Then I crafted an e-mail with explicit instructions (with drawings) on how to make the repair. The only risky part is the removal of three nuts that hold the retainer to the control arm. If they break the stud because it’s rusted to the nut, then finishing the job will get very difficult. Fortunately, with new parts and towing coverage, they could get it to a mechanic who could finish the job if they absolutely had to.

Yesterday afternoon, Nich, his dad Gary, and Brianna, drove to Heidi with tools and the new parts. In a drizzle, they successfully replaced the broken link and Heidi was drivable again. Brianna got in, turned the key, and nothing happened. Dead battery. Gary’s car provided a jump start and they were underway. A few blocks down the road, Brianna had to stop quick and Heidi’s engine stopped. The battery was not recharged at this point, so restarting required another jump from Gary’s car. I can really feel their pain at this point. They just finish one repair and it goes better than they’d hoped, and now something else has popped up giving them grief.

Brianna dropped Nich off at school and then drove Heidi straight to Advance Auto. She had them test the battery confirming it had gone bad, so in went a new one. Let’s hope and pray this is the end of Heidi woes for a long while.