You gotta go with the round ones with the wire that can bend in a weird way that makes them smaller when not in use.

There's a engine temperature light and a transmission temperature light. Had never heard of the latter. Assumed the warning light with the thermometer on it that kept coming on, despite the temp gauge never rising, meant I had something wrong in the coolant system. $200 later, still had the problem. Then found out that there is a transmission temp warning. More money down, let's hope we're good.

Have you ever seen this light?



Did you know some fancy cars have lights that come on when your tires need air? Yes, my car has this light. It came on this morning. Please refer to pic above. It is known as a "TPMS" light. TPMS is an acronym. It stands for "tire pressure monitoring system". Whenever I have a dashboard light come on it becomes all I can think about while I am driving. The light dominates my thoughts i.e.: "do I have a nail in my tire?" I wonder, "is it just one tire, or maybe more?" I hope it's just one. Sometimes changes in temps cause this to happen. I stopped at a 7-Eleven and parked next to their air station. Please note, the inside panel of your door has a sticker that will tell you what p.s.i. (yes, this is an acronym too which means "pounds per square inch" your tires should be filled to; mine was 35. The front left one was at 29. A visual inspection revealed no punctures. It is a good idea to keep 4 solid quarters in your ashtray for these situations. I had no change in mine so I went inside and purchased the following items: a cup of coffee, some chewing gum, some chocolate covered goji berries from Brookside ( I almost went with acai), and a case of ozarka. I selected "cash back" ($5) on the credit card pad and then asked the clerk for $2 in change for the air machine. Once I put air in my tire and started driving the light went off. Whew. Is there a time when you were confronted with a challenging car problem and how were you able to resolve it yourself?

Maybe 8-9 years ago we had a rash of catalytic converter thefts from the parking lot at work. All Toyotas. It's well known that they're easy to steal from certain models. You'd think by now they'd develop a better way to deter thieves.