This morning marked the beginning of my 2000-mile trek to California. Unfortunately, just an hour into the drive, I hit a snag.

I was cruising down the freeway, enjoying the beautiful morning, when I noticed the “low voltage” warning light on the dash. “No problem,” I thought. “It must be a broken belt. I’ll just put a new one on.” And so I pulled off at the next exit and stopped at a gas station. When I stopped, I heard a loud “THUNK!” “How odd,” I thought.

When I opened the hood, I found all of the belts to be in perfect condition. The actual problem was much worse than I feared: the crank pulley had fallen off the crank.

I got out my toolbox and began taking things apart. Here’s what I believe happened: the bolt holding the crank pulley on the crank loosened up, which allowed the pulley to fall off of the crank. The pulley and crank are keyed, and the loosened pulley wore away the key on the crank and the channel on the pulley enough so that they no longer engage.

So what now? I believe that a new pulley will engage enough of the key to be functional. Unfortunately, there are no Subaru dealers nearby. Fortunately, my dad is coming to the rescue with a new pulley. I’m glad that the problem occurred while I was still relatively close to Minneapolis. I would have been in a world of hurt if the failure happened in the middle of the Nevada desert.

I am currently sitting at that gas station, mooching off of a nearby beauty parlor’s WiFi, so at least I can stay entertained for a while.

Here’s to hoping that the new pulley fixes the problem.