On Friday afternoon Sarah and I borrowed the pug dog. Since it was Stephanie's birthday recently I decided to take him to Petco to find a good toy that would suit both Stephanie and him. When we arrived at Petco I noticed that the magic that I used to have when I went there seemed to be missing. I can’t explain why but it was just like going to any other store to me. I used to get very excited to bring Bijoux to Petco and it would be an adventure to get nylabones, doggie beds, squeak toys, rawhide chews. We would meet other dog owners, sometimes neighbors like Mike and Bethany about to bring their own puppy home and looking for parental puppy advice. The people at the store used to fawn over how beautiful our dog was. This time it was just an empty experience walking around. We resorted to looking at the pets themselves including the birds, fish, and reptiles. They don't sell dogs at Petco anymore. I was a little bummed out that the store was lame so I researched which electronics products were available at the store and how much they sold for as part of my video games for pets project. The main products were the electronic collars that give shocks to the dogs if they bark or go outside of electronic fences. Most of them were over a couple hundred dollars. It confirmed that pet owners will spend a bundle when motivated to on their little buddies. We took the little buddy and proceeded home.

On the way back from Petco the PT Cruiser made a boing noise and when I looked at the dashboard I saw the temperature gauge had gone into the red. So I turned the car off at the light and then pulled across the street into the KFC to give the engine time to cool and me time to think. We had only gone about half a mile and were still a mile and a half from home. Sarah mentioned that if we were out of oil and the engine were to overheat a piston could shoot out and the engine would be permanently ruined. So after about five minutes of cooling time I started-up the car and then spent another few minutes trying to negotiate my way around the drive through at KFC where a chain link fence had fallen down blocking any logical exit from the lot. The PT Cruiser went boing again so when we reached a long traffic light at the end of North Beacon I turned the car off as we waited.

I spotted a Valvoline oil change shop that was just around the corner from the KFC and made a straight shot to the back door exit. Sarah was complaining that they were probably closed and that I was on the wrong side anyways. I pulled the cruiser around to the front side of the shop and tried to explain my problem with the car overheating to a man who looked like Pedro Martinez might in about 10 years. I pulled into the bay and had to slowly because there is a huge hole in the bay that exposes an underneath part of the Valvoline shop. In that area I believe it is where bad souls go to suffer since you can apparently work down there but as you do random fluids spill out of the cars above including engine oil, neon green coolant, and blue windshield washer fluids.

The team at Valvoline were interested in my car and placed a rag over my engine causing it to steam tremendously. Sarah and the pug dog stood behind a glass wall where you can watch your car by treated like you are in an operating theatre in a hospital. Leelin didn’t seem to have much interest in the whole affair and the fumes from the shop were making Sarah sick. She also claimed to be cold but didn’t want my jacket. The engine was steaming very heavily and one chubbier Valvoline oil change employee was slowly turning a cap within the engine where a large volume of steam was shooting out. I asked him what the problem was and he said that I had no coolant and the radiator was overheated. When this happens immense pressure builds along with superheated gases in the radiator so he needed to release the pressure slowly through the cap to cool the engine and to make way for the coolant to be added. He mentioned that if he were to quickly release the cap that it would shoot into the ceiling at about 100MPH. It was similar to the problem of opening a shaken can of soda.

The pug dog was quite indifferent to this comment but it led me to join Sarah and Leelin behind the safety of the glass wall. The crack Valvoline oil change team then took control of my car and found a large jug filled with the special coolant, not the bright green stuff, that was needed for a PT Cruiser radiator.

Since I was already in fluids mode I also let them know that I likely didn’t have enough fluid in the steering system because it was making a ton of noise when I turned the steering wheel and I could also use some windshield washer fluid. They pumped both of these fluids into the steaming engine through these long hoses connected to pumps that worked like soda machine spouts with the Wonderbar attachment from a pub. The severe state of dehydration and fluid abuse that I had caused the PT Cruiser led the man who looked like an older Pedro Martinez to inquire whether I bought the car new. I told him yes. He then asked if I took good care of it and I emphatically shook my head no. Sarah chuckled and the pug dog looked around curiously.

When the whole filling procedure was complete I asked Mr. Valvoline what the fee was for the wonderful service he had done on the car. Being used to a dealership I was expecting that it would be somewhere between $100 and $500 for the labor and fluids combined. He let me know that Valvoline doesn’t have any pricing structure for providing fluids for steering, coolant, or windshields. Their policy is to provide a top-off service for any of these fluids for free to either customers or people who come in off the street. His recommendation to me was to give a tip to the crack pit-crew who had serviced the car. I fumbled with my wallet for individual tips and settled on a $20 that I gave him for the work he had done.

Later I drove the pug back to Stephanie and the car was running wonderfully, cool, and the steering column no longer squeaked. Leelin was jumping for joy when he saw Stephanie and James. I think he had been plenty scared by having been handled and driven to Petco by a petsitter with such terrible bad car maintenance. I would apologize but when I kissed him goodbye I recalled that pug dogs have horribly bad breath.

So if your car needs fluids or even think you need fluids I highly recommend the people at Valvoline oil change pit stops. It could change your life. Tell 'em Leelin sent 'ya.