Well, I got the car back. It seems to work fine. I hope it stays working fine...

Driving to Mackinaw City to switch cars with my Mother on Saturday, so I hope I don't have to bring it to the shop AGAIN.

So, I picked up the car today. Yeah. $442.15 for a tow to the shop, and a new fuel pump. I heard the fuel pump running when I was attempting to diagnose the problem in the parking lot Saturday morning, so I determined that the fuel pump was indeed working, and since there was spark on all four cylinders, it was likely a clog or a leak in the fuel system. Since I could smell NO gas, even with the spark plugs removed, I determined that it was not a leak, but rather a clog, and, since my mother said she has no idea if the fuel filter has been replaced, ever, (100,000+ miles), determined that it was most likely the fuel filter.

The shop said "fuel pump". I figured, "Well, I guess it is possible for a fuel pump to make a noise and still not work. After all, maybe the motor driving it is turning, but is no longer attached to anything, and these guys are supposed to know more about cars than a Computer Science major..." and accepted their diagnosis. I asked them to replace the filter, too, as the one in there, even if it is not the current problem, could become a problem in the near future.

They told me, "we do not have one in stock for your [Mother's] car, and our supplier is backordered indefinitely".

"Okay, fine. I'll just pick the car up tomorrow, my mom can deal with the fuel filter when she gets the car back to Ann Arbor."

Well, tomorrow is today. I ride my bike back from campus at 11, walk across the bridge to Hancock, pay for the repairs (with my Mother's credit card, luckily), and drive it back to the house. Works like a champ. I drive it to my class at noon, and back to the house without a hitch. Two and one-half hours later, ten minutes before my OS exam, I go out to the car, put the key in the ignition, and...

...you guessed it. Nothing. Engine turns over, but doesn't catch. Exactly the same as Friday night. Shit. I hop on my bike, and make record time back to campus, arrive at my OS exam panting, call the repair place to tell them the repair didn't hold, and to expect a call when I get back from class to have the car towed back to the shop. After the exam*, I hopped on my bike, and rode back to the house. Of course, halfway back, it started raining cats and dogs. I arrived at the house sopping wet, called for a tow truck, and here I am, still waiting... still waiting...

*The exam didn't go too well. I understood most of the stuff, but I think I made a stupid mistake on the second-from-the-last problem, that will probably get me docked a huge number of points, and I was not able to finish the last problem.

So, my parents drove up for the weekend. After driving 10 hours with no problems at all, they joined me for dinner at the Library. When we finished, we went back out to the car, and it would not start. Push-starting (manual transmission) had no effect. The car was cranking, but didn't even sound like it was trying to catch. I pulled a couple of spark plugs, and found that it was indeed getting spark on both coil packs, so it must be a fuel system problem. As I didn't really feel like crawling under the car in a ditch, instead of joining my parents on a tour of the Quincy Mine, we had the car towed.

So now my car is in Ann Arbor, and I am going to pick my mom's car up from the shop tomorrow. In the meantime, I have been riding my bike to classes. In the rain. And the weekend after next should be fun, when I drive to Mackinaw City to swap cars with my mom.