Picking a new ride...

Well, I am in the market, as it were. On Sunday, I took a bit of time and went to this huge strip of car dealerships near where I live. The last time I went shopping for a car for myself, I did all this research, only to find that my top two choices were too small for me to fit into. So this time I figured, 'I'll just go sit in a few cars and see which I like first.' After all, if you are going to spend some time in the thing, you should like the environment, right?

I am apparently all about the small SUV class of vehicles. Being a pickup owner for so long, I have grown VERY fond of being up high and seeing the traffic patterns and the road ahead. But a pickup won't work with two boys getting so big, and a dog, and if I want to have anyone else tag along, I have the lovely awkward situation of asking if we can take their car. Does not make me feel like a grown-up. In addition, I need something that will hold luggage for four (overnight bags, probably) and have a luggage rack. This is for those travel games of hockey, where one does not want the Reeking Bag of Sweaty Wet Hockey Gear in the vehicle stinking up the ride home.

So, I put my butt in several cars of this class: Nissan's XTerra, the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, the Toyota Highlander (THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!), the Saturn Vue, and the Mazda Tribute. It was amusing watching the poor salesfolk flounder for something to say when I told them I was not interested in anything but trying one on for size. "Don't you want to at least test drive it?" Nope. Just want to see what it's like. Give me your card and I'll call you later to drive it if I like the way it fits. Of the above list, I narrowed it down to the Escape, Vue and Highlander. We'll see who has the best ride in the next day or so.

Ummm--WHAT?!? I...uh...

I spoke with my mom yesterday. I was trying to arrange a time when she could give me a ride from home to work so I could get the truck back to my local shop, and she said, 'your father and I would like to talk to you about the truck.' Now, I am an adult and have been out of their house for a long time, but that phrase still made me edgy. I'm thinking to myself, 'geez, I've been working like a Roman orchard slave on that thing, and they're going to criticize how I take care of it?'

So I carefully (and disguised my reflexive defensiveness)(ew, is that even a phrase?) answered 'what exactly do you want to talk about?' She mentioned that they were concerned that I was driving this thing around, it was an old truck, they wanted me to be safe, they didn't think I should dump any more money into it, etc. I have little in the way of finances--they know this. So I said (again, measuredly), 'what are you saying? are you talking about a new vehicle?'

Yes. They want to talk to me about getting something else. I go over there tonight to have dinner, and put Thing 1 and Thing 2 in the back/play room, and they basically give me a budget and tell me they are moving money around to help me out. I was stunned. My parents have been there for me in times of need, but they are not hand-out parents. We talked about possible makes & models (I had been researching a while ago just for kicks) and they basically said, 'get what you need. we aren't going to support something ridiculous.' I reminded them of what I have been driving for ten years, and they smiled and seemed to take comfort from it.

I still can't find the words. I am so grateful.

"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.

Art and technology...

So, today I spent three hours working on the truck. I checked all the fluids, changed the air filter, fixed the headlamp, all that sort of stuff. I purchased my own TFI--the aforementioned ignition module that I am certain is the cause of my won't-start-in-the-heat woes--as well as a special tool to swap it out, and some silicon gel to affix it to its home on the distributor. But I decided to just wait and see if something else might have been the problem (the oil was pretty low--I have a leak, and didn't realize it was getting so low). It started just fine at noon. Of course, it wasn't as hot today, either, so I figured I would just keep the TFI with the vehicle, and let the old one fail. When next it refuses to start, I'll swap it then. It will be much easier with the little tool.

Had some miscommunication with the ex about where the kids were getting transferred--she thought she was picking them up, I was at her house waiting for her to get them--and was late to see Rabbit Hole over at The Rep. What a fantastic show. I was called back for the male role in it, so I was familiar with the story, and it was a good thing. It was an excellent story, and very well told and acted, but it was hard subject matter. A married couple is toughing through things after losing their four year old son in an auto accident. But et. al. did a fine job, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't get to hang out afterward, because I needed to check on the Things, but it was good work.

Had rehearsal in the evening, went home and collapsed. Thoroughly tired from a full day.

She canna run, Cap'n...

So, I dropped off my truck late last night, and left a long, detailed message on the shop's answering machine. I told them I had this exact same problem fixed by them not long ago, and left specific symptoms of the problem, including the fact that it would run fine while it was cold out, but not during the heat of the day. I asked them to call when they got in if they had any questions. The previous day the woman at the desk mentioned that the head mechanic was taking off for the weekend, so they only had until about noon to get it fixed. I mentioned in that message that I thought it would be a quick fix, that I needed the truck, and could they please call me and let me know if it was still do-able.

They opened at 8:30, and I did not hear from them, so I called at 9 to see what was up. They hadn't gotten the message (apparently Woman At Desk didn't check them yet), but she said the mechanic remembered the truck and the problem from before, and they would work on it and let me know. She said they could probably still have it for me that day. I spent some time working remotely, and spent some time with my kids. The kids were very understanding about the whole thing, and even though they were disappointed, we had a great morning sharing a meal, working (they picked up their rooms while I worked) and playing Quorridor and Gobblet.

I still hadn't heard from them by 11, and started to worry, so I called again. I spoke again with WAD, who said they had been running the engine for two hours and were not seeing what I described. I nearly screamed, I was so mad. I tried to reign in the anger, and spoke very succinctly that I had described a problem which only occurred in the heat of day, not in the morning when it was cooler, and therefore they would *not* see it by running it. She said they could not fix what they didn't see, and I asked (trying not to lose my temper, and I think I mostly succeeded) if they didn't have a simple diagnostic they could run to test the ignition module. She said they could only fix it if they saw it fail. Which in my mind means, 'drive it until you are stranded somewhere, and then pay $100 to have it towed here, and we will test it in the morning and call you again to tell you we can't figure out what's wrong with it.' Argh. I asked them if they could give me a ride from my house to the shop so I could pick it up and at least have it for the weekend to grocery shop (early in the morning) and so forth, but they couldn't spare anyone.

They called again--after 12 noon--to say that they were seeing what I was describing. I asked if they were going to have time to run some tests and actually get it fixed, and they of course responded with what I already knew--the mechanic was leaving for the day, and they weren't going to be able to fix it. My plans for camping now ruined, I was trying just to get the vehicle back to my house. The ex was kind enough to loan me the van for a few days so I could at least get around. Late tonight Helene is going to give me a ride to go get the truck and bring it home. Argh again.

NOT a banner day...

So, I get to work today, do my thing for a while, and get ready to go. I was supposed to leave around 12:30 to get Thing 2 and we were going to go shopping and pack for an overnight camping trip this weekend. Nothing high-impact, mind you--just the three Yen boys on some overnight, out-of-doors adventure. Fun, right? Especially since we haven't done it in so very long. First thing to go wrong: I won't be able to get Thing 2 until 2:30, right smack dab in the middle of the time I was going to go shopping and get the camping equipment out and prepped. But, no big deal, right? Adapt, Adjust, Overcome, right?

Well, I come out of the office, get in the truck, insert the key, tap the gas, and attempt to start the vehicle. The engine whirrs and almost catches, but will not turn over. I sigh. I had made an appointment to get it looked at for this afternoon, because it wouldn't turn over the night before. (I stopped at a SBUX on the way to rehearsal, turned it off in the drivethru, and ended up pushing it out. But it started again after sitting for five minutes.) I try again, and now it is just whirring. There is clearly charge coming from the battery, it just won't start. I wait. I try again. Rinse and repeat. No start.

I call Blender, who is an expert mechanic (he has been restoring a '67 Mustang for almost as long as I've known him, and was the one who sold me the truck, so he knows its inner workings). We talk about the problem behavior, and he initially says fuel system, but when we discuss how it works fine when it's cold, we both start talking about the ignition module. It has been weak before--it is a bad engineering design for this particular part and this particular generation of Ford--and we think it is surely the problem. A quick fix--a pain in the ass, since it is on the bottom of the distributor, between the firewall and the engine with a 3" clearance, but still....

I go back and forth between the office and the parking lot, and it still won't go, and now it's getting late. I call the ex's beau, who is dropping Thing 2 off at my place, and he is running late, but I figure I have to get down to my house, so I ask the folks for a ride. Mom takes me home, I get Thing 2, and we head back up for the truck. Thing 1 was at a friend's birthday party at Great America, so we stopped to eat dinner together. We got back to the truck at 7:00, and it started right up. So much for getting ready for camping. The day is shot, and now I have to spend at least the morning trying to get the truck fixed. Boo. We'll see what the folks at my favorite shop say.