Unfortunately I forgot to capture this in photo's, but let me give you a mental image. First of all, by God's grace we live debt free. At first it seemed impossible, but eventually we learned it meant sacrifice. It meant we'd have to let go of the worldly image that new shiny material possessions mattered. One of those new shiny material possessions included cars. Our cars are all paid for, are all a few years old, but all get us from point A to point B reasonably reliably. Now this "sacrifice" of not having a new car also means we sacrifice time and effort into maintaining these vehicles.
(side note: you'd be surprised just how much a girl can learn about cars by this one little practice!)
The Whole Story-
So last Thursday I was driving what should have been about a 25 minute commute home, when I noticed a "tapping" noise coming from my engine. My intuition told me two things: A. It sounds like it's coming from my timing belt/pulley/variable-valve area & B. This isn't good! Instantly I thought "Really, of all times this has to happen now?" (I mean really, what time isn't good timing for something to go wrong?) And with in a split second, I started to pray. First, I thanked God. This particular "tough" circumstance was N.O.T.H.I.N.G. compared to things in my past, and it was after all, just a car problem...things could be much worse. Secondly, I asked God to help me safely get home and to give us the wisdom to fix our little car. Lastly, I trusted that God would do just that.
So, I'm about to get on to the free-way to head home and as I round the corner to my exit I see nothing but brake lights. It's stop-and-go-traffic. "Greeeaaatttt...just what I needed." I thought. Then, with-in a split second, I again prayed. Basically, same prayers: "God, thank your for this, I know you are 'pruning' me. Please help me get home safely." For the next 28 minutes I had to rev the engine a little, and then hit the brakes...in stop-and-go-traffic. The worst possible thing for a car with a problem in the timing belt arena.
Finally, the traffic opened up, and 20 minutes later I safely pulled into my driveway. With in a few minutes Mark had it pulled into the garage, hood up, and looked at me with an expression of confusion and said "I don't understand how you got home. The timing belt is so loose, it should have slipped off and completely blown the engine as soon as you started it." <---You're awesome God!
So just a couple hundred bucks out of savings, and a slightly stressed hubs-to-be later, the parts were in and it was time to tackle what car forums were saying would be "impossible" without a highly advanced computer-laser-tool-thingy that was only available at major Volvo dealerships. The cost for them to do the work would have been around $2,200 dollars. Well, $300 vs. $2,000...we trusted God would help us.
About 12 hours of labor later, LOTS of adjusting, testing, re-adjusting, re-testing, we started the car and tad-aaa!!! it ran perfect! Great! So there were a few more things to button up: tighten this, clamp that, and put the tire and brakes back on. We go to back the car out for a test drive, and what happened next evoked a roller-coaster of emotion. The loudest, scariest, craziest, BOOM! BANG! BING! Quickly Mark turned the ignition off, but it seemed too late. You see, if the timing is off just the slightest, the pistons go up & down very fast compressing the valves. And if it's not juuuuuuuusssst right it will beat and bang up the valves in seconds, essentially destroying the engine.
We felt defeated. We were confused. What happened?
I have to admit. Quite a few curse words flew out. Some tools got thrown. I wish I could say the first response was to pray some more...it wasn't. But, it did come quickly. More prayers. More seeking guidance, understanding, thankfulness for what we do have.
With in just a few minutes, Mark came in with shredded metal in his hands. Apparently, while tightening up the last few things not one, but 3 bolts just so happened to fall down by the belt and gears, and these bolts got pulled through & jumped the belt off the gears, completely throwing the timing off. The only thing we could do was try again. So. We. Did.
Together, we spent another 3-4 hours taking everything a part, re-aligning, and re-testing. Our diagnostic tests (hand turning the crank) revealed no noise from the pistons and valves in the engine. <--that's a good thing.
Mark put the key in, turned the ignition....
and...
She purred like a kitten!
We looked at each other in shock. We stood there listening to the engine like we were looking at an alien from outer-space. And then, we cheered, laughed, and even did some dancing and super dorky high-five'ing. The sheer exhaust of all the hard work and mental strain seemed to have disappeared into thin air. We again tightened up the last few things, put some clamps on, and put the tire and brakes on...oh, and this time we double checked to make sure no loose bolts had fallen down in the timing shaft. We backed the car up and took it for a spin around the block with no signs of engine damage.
By the short time that we got home, our exhaustion had overcome us again. We took one more listen to our fixed engine, locked up, and hit the sheets. This morning we woke up crusty eyed and drool-faced smiling at each other...it felt awesome knowing we had experienced another "little God thing".
End of story.
Be blessed and bless my friends. Until next time... *Believe*
