So my car died today, but this time was different, because it died twice.
I went through a Taco Bell drive thru for their happier hour $1 freeze. After a minute or so of sitting, I noticed the car was starting make some odd rumbling and stuttering noises. I drove across the street and parked in a Walgreens parking lot to let it sit and idle for a while, but it seemed to only be getting worse. It was 3:25 and I didn't have work until 4:00, which was right across the street. Nevertheless, I wanted to get over there to make sure my car wouldn't die on the other side of four lanes of busy highway. I pulled out onto the highway and planned to make a U-turn to get over towards work. When I got into the turn lane, the car died. I really had to push the brakes this time because an SUV pulled out in front of my rolling car to turn left. I put the car in park in the middle of the turn lane, restarted it, and held both pedals down to make sure the engine would stay revving but I wouldn't go anywhere. The car just kind of gurgled back at me as it tugged on the brakes. I saw a clearing and abruptly let off the brake, whipping around the U-Turn and across two lanes. I then saw that the stoplight ahead was red so instead of going up to it and stopping, I just gradually slowed down adding more and more gas and brakes. After the stoplight, I had to turn left onto the road that leads to work. Of course, there was over a mile's worth of cars and buses flowing past. The car died in the turn lane with a van and a car right behind me. I waited for a gap, turned the key, and bolted through to get out of the way. I clattered over the curb to get into my parking lot to avoid dying in front of the drive thru, and then whipped into my parking spot where the car almost died a third time.
I'm planning to clean the throttle body tomorrow or Saturday, which will include a full dismantling of the air intake. If this doesn't work, there isn't much more I can do and the car may go bye bye.
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