While They Were Sleeping » car http://www.whiletheyweresleeping.com ...because that's about the only time I have to write! Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:35:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Car, interrupted http://www.whiletheyweresleeping.com/2009/11/car-interrupted.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=car-interrupted http://www.whiletheyweresleeping.com/2009/11/car-interrupted.html#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:28:09 +0000 christina http://www.whiletheyweresleeping.com/?p=482 more »]]> The CD player in our Honda has been out of order for a while now.  It will take a CD, but just make a disturbing flapping sound and sit there.  Which is a problem, because, especially on eight-to-ten-hour drives, being able to put on some appropriate mood music for the girlies can come in very handy.  So, yesterday, we took matters into our own hands.

There are instructions on the internet for disassembling your car.  With photos.  So Craig removed the top dashboard piece, the one with the air vents in it.  And the case around the gearshift, and the “not an ashtray”, and the pop-lid storage thingy, and finally, (finally!) the control console.

Car dash

Car dash II

As we removed the the CD player, we heard the problem.  Rattle.  Rattle.  Jingle.  Hmmm.

Craig and CD player

Craig was able to get the two nickels out before leaving the car.  But one stubborn quarter wouldn’t fit through the hole it was able to reach.  So the CD player was transfered to the operating room (the kitchen table).

At which place Craig disassembled it further (we had quite a pile of screws by now) and finally got to that pesky quarter.  (Craig objects to the use of the plural subjective pronoun, but I did remove one of the screws, as well as fetch the various screwdrivers.)  After an hour of researching and an hour of tinkering, Craig started putting things back together.  And lo and behold, it worked!  I was very, very excited, which left Craig a little confused.  After all, it is just a CD player, right?

Oh no, it is my sanity.  Restored.

We had a talk with Lucy.  She was saving the thirty-five cents for later.

thirty five cents

And she promises never to put coins in the CD player again.
I had a talk with Craig, and reiterated my concerns with the girls playing in the car without very watchful adult attention.
And we learned a few things:
-Don’t let the girls play in the car.
-It’s amazing what you can find on the internet.
-Owning a variety of screwdrivers is useful.  (Good thing we were at my parent’s house!)
-It’s not that hard to take apart your car.
-Craig learned the names of all those parts he took out, but he’ll have to tell you those, because I was chasing babies by that point.
-A very small, thin piece of metal controls the gears in our car.
And for the eight-to-ten hour drive home, we are a little more prepared.
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