ONE COIL AND TWO PIGTAILS

‘Hi Mike. I’m back’, I waved as I got out of my car.

‘Hello’, he replied with a smile.

‘The check engine light just came on as I was on my way to run an errand’, I explained my unannounced arrival. For a brief moment, I had hesitated when I left home and noticed the light come on. Wondering whether to quickly go do my errand and deal with the car later, or just drive the short distance to the automotive shop.

‘And I thought you were just coming by to say hi’, he replied and went to get the device for checking the engine light codes. It didn’t take but a minute or two to diagnose the issue.

‘It’s ignition coil D’, he stated.

‘I thought you replaced that not long ago’, I questioned and thought how just when I was half way through paying off my previous visit for the replacement of the starter back in May, another repair shows up.

‘It was coil B’, he replied after a few clicks through my long history of repairs.

He reset the light so it wouldn’t come on and said if it came back on to call to set up an appointment. I said I would bring it by tomorrow and went on my way.

Not even two minutes after I left, the check engine light came back on. I continued towards my destination and called Mike to ask if I could drop off the car today.

Later in the afternoon, I got a phone call letting me know there was another issue. Of course, there is always more than one issue.

‘The pigtails on two coils need to be replaced’, he explained.

I asked what they were and why I needed them, whilst quickly turning to Google to find out the cost of such a repair. One learns a lot about cars with every breakdown, and this was another new lesson in car parts.

I agreed to the new total cost of parts and labour for one coil and two pigtails and was told the car might be done later in the day or early tomorrow. Since there was no phone call by the end of the day, I am guessing tomorrow it is.