Switcheroo!

This little black piece of plastic doesn't look completely shot out, now does it??

And it sho' don't look like it ought to cost $265, now does it??

It's a brake switch for my Altima.  My 4-year-old-less-than-46,000-miles Altima.  My car has a push button start.  You press the brake and then press the button and it starts up.  Last summer, it started doing this weird thing where every once in a while, the brake would lock up on me and the car would not start.  After I spent 10 minutes in 115 degree summer heat, I took it out to the dealership and they'd never heard of such a thing.  Said it was something I was doing wrong, that I wasn't pressing the brake pedal right.  Even though, I'd BEEN pressing the brake pedal right for three years.  It seemed to get better until I started wearing my boot cast three weeks ago.  I could not get that car to start.  Yesterday, every single time I tried, it took me forever.  The last straw was leaving Dr. Kinnebrew's office at 6:00 and it took me 30 minutes!!  And then, I had to call the dealership in tears because I was so frustrated. 

HOWDOIGETTHISCARTOCRANKSOICANGOHOMEI'MHOTTTTTTANDMYFOOTHURTS

OHMYGODDDDDDD.

I had to push my 1998 Altima back into the driveway one morning.  That was the last straw for that one.  This girl ain't pushing no car.  And this girl ain't gonna be hotttttt if she can help it.

The guy in the service department at the dealership (yes, that fine Nissan dealership out on 96) told me it was the brake switch.  When I reminded him of last summer and "it's something you're doing wrong", he said it wasn't.  It's a Nissan thing and they see it all the time.  But there's been no recall and of course, my car is out of warranty.  OF COURSE.  Last summer, it wasn't.  Grrrrrr.

He says it's $265 if it's JUST the switch.  If the wiring harness has gone bad, too, that's another $300.   Are you kidding me??!!  Now I can say I know a little bit about wiring harnesses since that's what I do (or did before THE FOOT) for a living nowadays and I knew it wasn't the harness.  It would do it ALL the time if there was a short in there. 

I was going to take it Saturday and just do the $265 but I thought better of it. A couple of guys at the base told me they'd do it for free, bless their hearts.  I called the good folks at Express Oil Change to see if they would do something like this and they said YES!  I've always taken my cars there for oil changes but I didn't realize they do other stuff, too!  So I took it to them after work and thirty minutes and NINETY-SIX dollars later, it's fixed!!  That's a whole lot better than $265!  And we ain't even gonna talk about the "other $300".

They gave me the switch and I'm keeping it with the receipt just in case Nissan ever does the right thing and recalls the aggravatin' devil. 

Sure hope your week's been better!!  :)