"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that..."

So, in my last post about the ol' truck--do you know the ol' truck? Perhaps a brief introduction is necessary to get the whole story contextualized. Most of you are already acquainted with my ride, but for posterity's sake, and for the couple of you that might not know the Blue Meanie, I feel I should explain. It's a long digression, but the truck means a lot to me, and you should know its history:

When I moved back to northern California in '98, I needed a vehicle--it is impractical to have a car in NYC, so I sold my car when I moved there. I needed something quickly, and happened to mention it to Blender. He had his grandpa's old '86 Ford Ranger, and had just put money in it to fix the A/C. It wasn't a lot to look at, but it was in good running condition and he was offering it to me for very little money.

I have now had it nearly ten years. In that time, the other family vehicle has been:

+ a Chevy S-10 Blazer (had to buy a new engine, and it had a host of other problems, so we got rid of it)
+ a Buick something big (we used to call it the SS Cotati) that had recurring transmission problems
+ a late model Dodge minivan that I emptied my IRA to replace the engine in last summer

The Ranger, on the other hand, has required only minor work in that time--it's only failing grace has been its paint job (it has that mid-80's baby blue that flakes and rusts). It has helped me move three times, and others move countless times. It has been a constant and reliable friend for my entire second life in California. I have cared for it, many times by hand, and have gotten it 1100 miles short of 300K on the original engine.

Anyhoo, I mentioned in Sunday's post that I had done a bunch of work on it, and was going to let the TFI module fail ala 2001. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the reference, the HAL9000 computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey claims there is a failure in the AE-35 unit that keeps the ship in contact with Earth. The astronauts go EVA to remove and test it, but can find nothing wrong with it. The "solution" they come up with is to "replace the unit and let it fail" and then replace it with the redundant unit.)

Things played out for me pretty much as they did for the guys in the movie. I tried to start it yesterday, and it wouldn't start. So, I tinkered around and got the new unit in. I was awash with doubt right when I sat down to turn the key. I had been so confident that the TFI was the problem--what if...? Sure enough, I turned the key, and nothing.

Now I am going to have to figure out a way to get it to the shop so they can tell me nothing is wrong with it until the afternoon again. Argh.