Some time back, we had an episode with our minivan. The alternator went out. This in itself would not be so bad, but this is a minivan from Canada. Apparently, up in the Great White Nort, eh, there's a law that says that you have to have your headlights on ALL THE TIME when the car's running. Probably so all the polar bears think it's fire and stay away. ;-) Anyway, in order to make sure that THIS LAW IS OBEYED AT ALL COSTS, even the owner's SANITY, either the manufacturer or a previous owner wired it so that the lights CANNOT be turned off. So here we are, going along pretty well, when we find that the power is dropping. We pull over. We get a jump start from somebody. We go again a fraction of a mile. Same thing. This time, someone drives a parent home to get the other vehicle. We come back, jump start the van, go another fraction of a mile, lose power, pull over, lather, rinse, repeat, until we come to a convenience store which lets us park the van there for the night while we go home, and dad would go back and work on it the next day.

Well, it wasn't as dramatic as THE TRANSMISSION WILL SELF-DESTRUCT ANY SECOND NOW, but still.

Nyperold