Parking on a hill

In the mood for hearing about a car adventure? Read on.

After leaving work at 2:30 this morning, I walked two blocks up the street, took a right, and arrived at my car. I had parked it there hours before and I had been thinking about it the whole time ...

When I originally parked, I was leary about the spot I had found. There was a meter in front of me, making it a legal space, but I was on this awkward (and very steep) downhill/sidehill angle. The street was a one way, going in the direction toward the main thoroughfare (M Street). The spots were at a 45-degree angle to the curb. Very strange. As I sat in my car before heading to work, the engine all of a sudden sputtered and died out. After a few unsuccessful attempts to restart the engine, I gave up and walked down the street to start my shift.

When I arrived at my car after leaving work for the night, I tried and tried and tried to start it. It would start, sputter for about 1-3 seconds, and then stall. Glancing down at my dash, I noticed I was low on gas. Could that be it? Would parking on this insane street at this ridiculous angle cause this to happen? Maybe the gas is not able to reach the engine. Not wanting to take any chances, I called the good people at AAA. They said it would be about 45 minutes, so I reluctantly hung up.

But I knew I could fix this problem. Maybe it is just the gas! I knew there was a service station about two blocks down M Street, but I had no idea if it was open. I decided to try my luck and to my surprise, it was open for business! I purchased a one-gallon gas tank, filled it up, and practically ran back to my car with excitement.

I put the gas in ... re-entered the car ... turned the key ... didn't work. I could feel the engine getting stronger with its newly-arrived fuel, but it still wasn't working. After trying and trying for about 15 more minutes, I decided to make another trip to the gas pump. I wasn't convinced, but I was 90 percent sure that I had found the problem.

After buying another gallon of regular unleaded, I hurried back and repeated the process. The first few attempts had the same results, but I kept pumping the accelerator and I could feel the engine coming to life. All of a sudden, it kicked in and with my foot on the clutch, I gunned the engine to give it some fuel. Yes!! Then I threw it in reverse, backed out of my God-awful spot, and raced back to the gas station, where I filled the tank as high as it could go.

And who said I didn't know anything about cars? Just remind me to never, ever, EVER park on that street again. Not unless I have $30 of fuel in my tank.

-Jason