You Gotta Keep it Regulated!

Hey-ya!

So back in May (on my birthday, actually), just 3 days before we were to leave for a wedding in Ohio, I was shopping at Old Navy with LO. When I walked out to our Jeep Grand Cherokee, I happened to notice the driver's window was down.

WTH!?

"I know I didn't leave that window down," I thought to myself. "Somebody must have broken in!"

I immediately thought of the brand-new DVD player attached to the rear headrest that we had purchased to entertain LO on the trip to Ohio. I literally had "installed" it just before heading out to the stores, so I figured somebody really wanted that DVD player and had durn broke in our car to take it!

I immediately called hubs in a bit of a panic and explained the situation. Like the always calm hubs he is, he told me to calm down and said everything was gonna be okay.

Whew!

I checked and noticed the DVD player was exactly where I left it.

Whew!

So we get home from our little shopping experience, and I put LO down for a nap. I then turn to my trusty best friend, the World Wide Web.

After a little googling (yes, I believe that's a word!), I found hundreds of blogs and forums discussing this lovely little defect that apparently all Jeep owners have the joy and privilege of experiencing: the window regulator and motor in our driver's side window had failed.

I found a lovely site where some super-kind man had taken the time to write up instructions--including detailed photos--on how to fix this problem oneself.

Reminder: This happened just 3 days before we were to leave for a wedding in Ohio.

Although hubs is great with car repairs and such, he just didn't have the time to order the part (around $90) and replace it himself (estimated 2-3 hours). SO... we took it to a local “mom & pop” auto repair spot we had used in the past for a quote. This place was a little family-owned business and hubs made friends with them when the clutch went out on our Eclipse a few years ago.

When hubs hadn't heard back from them by the time we met for lunch, I suggested he give them a call to see if they had a chance to scope it out and prepare the estimate we requested. He called around 2:00 PM and they informed him it was fixed and ready to be picked up! So they didn't call with a quote, they went ahead and fixed it and provided us with a bill for $415!!

That sucked.

I happened to prefer the $90 "fix it yourself" option compared to the "pay a car payment to have someone else do it for you" option. Really, I guess in either scenario, I myself wouldn't be the one fixing it, but you get my point.

Now let's fast-forward to today. I was heading to the Jeep after spending some time at the pool with LO and one of my bestest friends. I went to put the windows up and turn on the A/C (it was HOT!) and noticed the passenger window was mysteriously slinking downwards into the door frame.

"Hmmmm..." I thought, "this can't be good."

Turns out window regulator and motor #2 had failed.

I didn't have the gall to tell hubs over IM that afternoon. I went ahead and printed out the instructions and photos for him, and presented him with the opportunity for a fun "project." I handed him the instructions and he was, well, I guess "not so excited" would be a good way to explain it.

The poor guy was outside this evening for well over an hour just taking the inside door panel off so he could shimmy something in there to keep the window up until he could get the part and fix it.

Ye-haw.

As a final note on this here post, I just have to add this little convo hubs and I had earlier:

"Hey, can you come help me for a sec?" hubs hollered from the garage door at me, as I was comfortably lounging on the couch watching "The Baby Borrowers" for whatever reason.

"Sure!" I responded as I hopped up, put my flips on and headed outside.

Hubs had most of the inside door panel off but it was still attached by two little thingiemajigs.

"Can you hold the inside door panel so it won't drop? Oh, and here's the flashlight. Can you point it there at those white things?"

"Sure!"

Hubs then starts prying at the little white guys, trying desperately to get them to turn in whatever direction he was after so the door panel could be fully detached.

I offered a suggestion or two on how he could try it differently, which he did, and he got them off. The door panel was now completely removed.

"Thanks," he said. "I've spent 30 minutes just trying to get those things off."

"Ah. Is that all you needed?" I inquired.

"Ya, thanks!"

"Cool. Can you please let me know if there is anything else I can help with? Perhaps before fiddling with it for half an hour?"

"Okay."

About 10 minutes later, I'm still on the couch (I think I've got a permanent butt-print on this couch of ours) watching TV and surfing the 'net for a Bluetooth headset for my new phone.

"I need your help again," came the summon from the garage door.

"On my way!" I responded.

I walked out to the Jeep, which was parked in our driveway. It was well on the way to dusk (read: it was dark out). The external light above the garage door was on, but with the Jeep door open, and hubs working on the inside panel, he had no light to work with to see what he was doing.

"Can you just hold the flashlight here so I can see this thingy?" he asked.

I thought about it for, oh, I dunno, like .2 seconds and responded with, "Um, wouldn't it make sense to just pull the Jeep in the garage so you can see? You know, with the garage overhead lights on? That might help."

Hubs had a slight look of wonder and awe. "Huh. That's probably a good idea!"

He moved the Jeep into the garage and was able to finish up his task all while I hung out--you guessed it--on the couch!

What fun!!