The stalled car

The Mercury Sable Brenda has driven for the last few years had some hard to diagnose problems for the last 5 months. On 3 occasions it refused to start so we'd call the local garage, they would come and tow it in but every time it would start by the time the tow truck got to the car or by the time they got it to their service bay. They replaced the fuel pump twice but were unsure if that was the problem because before too long, the problem would manifest itself again.

Then one day in August the Sable did a particularly nasty deed. It stalled in one of the busiest intersections in Peoria; with Brenda driving and me out of town. The previous issues had happened when the car was home or I was driving. This time it messed with the wrong person!

Brenda called me on my cell and told me she was sitting at the intersection of War Memorial Drive & Knoxville Ave at rush hour. I called our local auto mechanic who immediately dispatched a truck. Forty minutes later she was heading back to Eureka sitting right seat in the wrecker making conversation with Scott, the driver. Meanwhile, I was heading home from my trip wondering what model of car we should consider for our next vehicle because I was absolutely certain of one thing. We were going car shopping - really, really soon!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and allow me to introduce our new 2012 Hyundai Elantra. After driving several models by Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia and Hyundai the decision was made. Brenda loves it. All is well!

Meanwhile, our mechanic found out the 2 fuel pumps he'd installed were defective. Apparently an entire lot were manufactured with the defect so lots of people likely suffered the same malady as we experienced. So now the Sable is operating quite nicely on it's third fuel pump and we decided not to trade it. Instead I'm driving it. We've had no further problems and it saves me some money since my Tahoe is something of a guzzler.