Last Stop

Must remember how to put
everything back

The 17-year-old Dodge Grand Caravan started, then stopped. Fulfilling Einstein's definition of insanity ("doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"), I repeated the action three times.

The instrument panel was dark. The good news was that the problem likely was electrical. (I had no intention of incurring another $1,000 engine expense on a car that qualified for cash-for-clunkers five years ago.)

The red connector in the center is the
source of most electrical problems

An hour later dashboard parts were scattered around the garage. I pulled a circuit board from behind the instrument panel. It looked pristine, but somewhere there lurked a break in the circuit. I dabbed at some of the connectors with an old soldering iron. I wasn't going to order a new $800 board---this really was the last stop before the scrap heat.

[Update - 11/2: I put everything back. The engine started, and I drove around the block. The old car must have been reading my mind.] © 2014 Stephen Yuen