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Step 1: Leave work only to find your Z running on 5 cylinders...for the third time in 6 months.
Step 2: Limp the car home after diagnosing an injector circuit code, not too upset since they are 15 years old.
Step 3: Drive into garage, pop hood with car running and pull injector #2 harness to confirm the cylinder choice.
Step 4: Go back to pull the key out of the ignition so I can swap coilpacks to be sure only to find the doors LOCKED.
Step 5: Realize that logically with the current alarm, that is supposed to be impossible.
Step 6: Notice that the alarm is not armed, and yet the doors are still locked. I sure as hell didn't lock it by hand.
Step 7: Assloads of cursing and kicking inanimate objects in the garage because my car is on five cylinders, stuck turned ON and getting warmer since I have a small radiator problem I was going to fix this weekend.
Step 8: Analyze the situation, think of spare keys, AAA, etc. Curse some more because the car will overheat before AAA gets there, the spare key is in the house (the keys to which are locked inside the car, joy!) and I have nothing in the garage I can use as a slim-jim. Not even a hanger.
Step 9: Call AAA just to get that started, check temp through window, 210F. Not too bad yet.
Step 10: Decide whether to break Z glass or home glass to get spare key. Decide easily on house glass. Much easier to clean up and replace.
Step 11: More cursing.
Step 12: Even MORE cursing because frankly, "12 steps" sounds better than 11. So I go to pry the screen off the window and in doing so with the flathead, I happen to slide the window open just a tad before it catches on the wooden rod I've placed in the running track. You know, so people can't easily pop the lock and slide it open. I guess I left the window unlocked...maybe my luck is turning? So the clock is ticking and I'm trying to think about options here. I don't have much time and while I could just let the car enter shutdown mode, I'd much rather risk a $50 window. Suddenly an idea pops into my head. I quickly take the key ring holding all my keys together and bend it straight. I then curve the end of it to make a 3-4" long hook. It's far too short to jimmy the Z open, but I think I can get around the crack in the window and lift the rod. After a few minutes of messing with it and slicing open my thumb in the process, the window is open, I'm over the couch, grabbing my spare key and then bolting downstairs to find my Z at 239F and missing terribly (as if the 5 cylinders and exhaust manifold leak X 2 wasn't enough, it sounds even worse than before). I get her open and spend the next 20 minutes staring at the mothereffin locks trying to figure out HOW this shit happened. Maybe I hit the lock with my knee? I haven't done this in a thousand times getitng into and out of my 2 Zs and in fact, the door lock is VERY hard to lock even by hand because of the solenoids attached for the alarm. So I'm utterly clueless. I'm very happy I didn't have to wait for the car to overheat and shut itself off, but I'm baffled. When I screw something up, there's some relief in knowing I'm the jackass and I can learn from my mistakes but I have NO idea how this happened. /aneurysm Hope your day was better than mine.
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