Did You Check The Solenoid?

My mother had the solenoid go on her car once. Since that time, all throughout my high school years, with or without boyfriends who possessed mechanical prowess, while living across the country and years into my adult life, every time something went wrong with the car, she would ask, "Did you check the solenoid?" or "Maybe it's the solenoid" or, taken from the annals of her infinite automotive industry and mechanical knowledge, she'd confidently declare, "I'll bet it's the solenoid." To this day, when my brother and I mention anything to each other about car problems, we like to imitate my mother by asking in her voice, "Are you sure it's not the solenoid?"

Just this week, Eddie and I have been in and out of the shop because we've been having some weird voltage spike in the truck. My laptop has been flickering (annnnnnoooyyying), the printer isn't working and the headlights seemed to be on the blink. The guys at the shop took the whole engine apart, removed and replaced the valve cover, checked the alternator, checked the wiring and found nothing. They thought it was fixed, but it was not, since we were still having the same problem.

Now had my mother been there, I'm sure she would have had them check the solenoid. I mean, seriously, what else could it possibly be? Hellooooo? Did no one think to check the solenoid???

Anyway, we went to another shop who checked things over again. Seems they found a problem with the alternator that the first guy missed and had to replace it. We also replaced the batteries - all four of them. So, $1000 plus later, the truck is running like new. Yay!

At least it wasn't the solenoid. I would hate to hear my mother say, "I told you so."