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roadtrip prep
Nov. 19th, 2006 08:55 pmI'm going to drive to Ohio on Wednesday with my son Mike to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. I've a hundred things do to between now and Wednesday, and a couple dozen things to do Wednesday morning before I hit the road for a 12 hour drive. This may be the last journal entry I make until the 28th.
Saturday I busted my butt getting my car to the garage to get it tuned-up and running a bunch of errands and doing laundry and cleaning up here. The tune-up was a comedy of errors. I started with the Check Engine light coming on two weeks ago. I took it in the shop where I had the catalytic converter replaced back in March. They said that the converter was fine, but the car was due for a tune-up, which they quoted me a price of $350.00.
I was shocked.
So I copped an indignant attitude and figured I can do it myself and spent all of $35.00 on plugs and wires, got up early one morning (cause it's now dark out here by 4:30pm), and got to it. The front three plugs were no big deal, and in fact one of them was broken in two just above the threads. I hope this was the cause behind the Check Engine light. I couldn't even see the back three spark plugs, from any angle.
I consulted my Haynes manual for the car, and discovered in what's all but a footnote that to get to the plugs on the back-side of the engine, many things have to be disconnected, the bolts on the front-side retaining straps have to be removed and the engine "rotated down". Even if I could manage all that without snapping off the manifold or ripping the A/C lines out of the firewall, I had every doubt in the world about being able to "rotate up" the engine and put it all back together.
I called the garage down the road on Friday, and he was able to get me in Saturday morning. He only charged me $263, but on the up-side told me that the Boche plugs I let the parts store sell me were far from the best for my car, and he used a triple-platinum plug that has a 100,000 mile warranty, so I hope to not have to deal with this again. He also turned off the Check Engine light, which has not come back on since. I hope it stays that way.
One of the many things I have to do tomorrow is get to the Sheriff's office and find out where they are with serving the papers. I've not gotten a copy with certification from them, so I left to wonder if they are overly busy or if he's trying to dodge the bullet again by hiding with his mom or brother. I can file a Motion with the Court to have service done via posting a copy at his house in lieu of personal service, but that will have to wait until next week.
Saturday I busted my butt getting my car to the garage to get it tuned-up and running a bunch of errands and doing laundry and cleaning up here. The tune-up was a comedy of errors. I started with the Check Engine light coming on two weeks ago. I took it in the shop where I had the catalytic converter replaced back in March. They said that the converter was fine, but the car was due for a tune-up, which they quoted me a price of $350.00.
I was shocked.
So I copped an indignant attitude and figured I can do it myself and spent all of $35.00 on plugs and wires, got up early one morning (cause it's now dark out here by 4:30pm), and got to it. The front three plugs were no big deal, and in fact one of them was broken in two just above the threads. I hope this was the cause behind the Check Engine light. I couldn't even see the back three spark plugs, from any angle.
I consulted my Haynes manual for the car, and discovered in what's all but a footnote that to get to the plugs on the back-side of the engine, many things have to be disconnected, the bolts on the front-side retaining straps have to be removed and the engine "rotated down". Even if I could manage all that without snapping off the manifold or ripping the A/C lines out of the firewall, I had every doubt in the world about being able to "rotate up" the engine and put it all back together.
I called the garage down the road on Friday, and he was able to get me in Saturday morning. He only charged me $263, but on the up-side told me that the Boche plugs I let the parts store sell me were far from the best for my car, and he used a triple-platinum plug that has a 100,000 mile warranty, so I hope to not have to deal with this again. He also turned off the Check Engine light, which has not come back on since. I hope it stays that way.
One of the many things I have to do tomorrow is get to the Sheriff's office and find out where they are with serving the papers. I've not gotten a copy with certification from them, so I left to wonder if they are overly busy or if he's trying to dodge the bullet again by hiding with his mom or brother. I can file a Motion with the Court to have service done via posting a copy at his house in lieu of personal service, but that will have to wait until next week.
