For the Mechanically Challenged

So, for the first time in my adult life, one of my blinkers went out on my car. I didn't want to pay someone to change it for me, since it seemed like it should be a really simple fix. However, I had no idea how to go about it. I asked Mick and he said, "I'm not good at lights." I think what he meant by that was, "I don't want do it. Go figure it out for yourself."

Did you know that the owner's manual for the 1994 Ford Taurus wagon has absolutely no information in it about how to change the bulbs? It doesn't! It does, however, give you the model number of the bulb you should buy, so I went to get one of those. Also, did you know that if you google "how to change tail turn signal taurus wagon" (and variations) you get absolutely no helpful information at all? It's true!

So, I went out to my car with my tool kit and the bulb and figured I would mess around until I figured it out. First, I opened the hatch to see if I was supposed to come at it from the inside. There was a thing with some knobs near it that looked like it would come off, so I turned the knobs and pulled the panel off, and, guess what! I have a spare tire. Who knew? I put that panel back on, because there was no way to access the bulbs from there. Then I looked at the back of the car and noticed that there were two screws that looked like they were holding the colored thing that the lights are behind on. I figured I would unscrew them and see what happened.

See them there? (And, yes, I know my car is dirty. Shut up.) Well, I unscrewed them and the thing came off and there were some white things with wires coming out of the back of them. Hmm. Not knowing what to do, I tried to turn one of the white things, and it turned and came out. There was a bulb on the other side of it. Yes!

I changed the bulb. My turn signal still didn't work, though, because I changed the wrong bulb! I switched out the other bulb and it worked!

If you do not understand the feeling of accomplishment I got from this, you must not realize the depth of my mechanical ineptitude.

P.S. I forgot to say that Mick bought me this car a year ago at a police seizure auction. The door panels were all broken off when I got it, so I wonder if it was searched for drugs and seized. Whatever its history, we paid about 1/3 of the blue book value for it and it's been a great car. Anyway, as I was pulling off the tail light thing, I wondered just what I would do if I found drugs that the police had missed. What are you supposed to do? Call 911? "Hi, 911? I just found a lot of cocaine in my car." I wonder how that would go down...