Thursday, February 14, 2008

How to overthink a problem

When Maria returned from a page design class in Little Rock last night, she shut off the Subaru engine and pulled out the key. That's when she noticed the parking lights were still on, as evidenced by the amber glow shining on the garage door.

I investigated and I found the brake lights on as well. Although it was counterintuitive, I wondered it if might be a fuse problem. I pulled the appropriate fuse and examined it. It was fine, and the lights - of course - went out when it was out of the circuit. I put in a fresh fuse and the lights came back on. So I left it out so as to avoid draining the battery overnight and resolved to make an appointment with the nearest Subaru dealer (Memphis) for Monday, which would be my next opportunity to deal with the problem. I figured something had just gone hopelessly wonky with the electrical system.

I called the service department at Jim Keras Subaru in Memphis this morning and the woman who answered the phone announced she could solve my problem immediately. And, yes, it was the parking light switch - a pretty much never-used switch atop the steering wheel assembly, that Maria had inadvertently flipped sometime yesterday.

Fuse in, switch off, problem solved.

She also told me that the clock, which quit working about a month ago despite intact fuses, is almost certainly hosed.

"They just die sometimes," she said, adding that it will cost about $150 to replace.

Since Maria doesn't wear a watch, that clock and her cell phone are the only devices she has handy to tell the time, so it's probably worth the expense to replace it.

parking light switch

No comments: