Today I've added one more bizarre thing to my list of accomplishments. I can rewire a car ignition!  (I think technically I just hot wired a car?!?! Something I NEVER thought I would say!) LOL!

   Let me go back and explain. First of all it was OUR car so don't worry, I haven't started a life of crime!  Secondly the problem was that my Dh's little run around car came to us with a DIY immobiliser on it. You know, one of those little kits you can buy and install yourself.

   Well, on Friday night we were going out to help Dh relax before the big day of Graduation (which he organises and runs each year - big job!) and were driving down the motorway. Four times during our journey the car 'immobilised' itself while we were going at great speed! This is not a recommended thing!

   Each time Dh had to pull on the shoulder of the motorway and fiddle with the immobiliser key to get the car to start again. Then finally on Saturday morning it wouldn't go AT ALL. We rang the garage and found out that we would have to wait for Monday morning to take it in. The catch was that Dh was leaving at 2pm on Monday for the airport for a weeks trip to Slovenia!

   Our mechanic did suggest that we might be able to find the wires and sort it out ourselves depending on how and where it had been connected, and explained what we would have to do to me. So Sunday afternoon found us under the steering column of Dh's car taking it to pieces!  Dh is a wonderful man, but he isn't very 'handy' with repairing things. When I explained the mechanic's instructions he said that if I understood what that meant than maybe I should try and do it.

   Well, we found the said wires (they were connected to the ignition) and stripped off the covering to find that someone had soldered (sp?) the immobiliser wires to the main ones!  So at that point I felt out of my depth and shut the car up! We just figured we would have to have it towed to the garage on Monday morning and hope it was done in time!

   This morning I rang our mechanic first thing to arrange the tow. He asked how we got on and when I told him he said that we were almost there and didn't need him! (HA! that's what he thinks!) He proceeded to tell me that we could simply cut the wires below the soldering on the immobiliser wires and connect those two ends, cover them with electrical tape and we would be done.  Oh! Is that all??

   So out we go again. This time I was armed with scissors, screwdrive and pocketknife! I checked the wires three times to make sure I was using the right ones and that the colours matched. Then I cut the wires, stripped them with the knife, and twisted them together, then covered the join with tape. Then I did the whole thing again on the second set of wires.

   I sat up with nervous butterflys in my tummy and turned the ignition..............and it started!!!!  Whoo- Hoo!!! Was I cheering!! It had worked! Dh looked like his jaw was going to hit the floor!  I don't think he could quite believe that his little wife had just rewired his car! Hehehe!

   We came back into the house and I phoned the mechanic to thank him for the help. When he found out that I had done the wiring he couldn't stop laughing! He thought I was just giving my Dh the instructions. He found it highly amusing!  

   So Dh text me a little while ago to say that I am amazing and that they had just arrived at the airport! Thank you Lord! I guess that all those years of hanging around my Dad and brothers and pestering them with questions paid off, huh? And that homeschool outing a couple months ago where the kids had to build an electrical circuit and then interrupt it to add and remove a switch were handy too! Because of that outing I knew what the mechanic was talking about when he was telling me we had to reconnect the current!

   The morale of the story? Watch out home school Mom (or Mum)! Pay attention to those lessons you are giving and taking the kids to. You never know when you are going to be the one who needs to have learned the information!!! LOL!  At least I passed this test, we'll have to see about next time.