One Down One To Go

I managed to get a new alternattor for my wifes car and installed it yesterday. One problem down. I was a happy man at the auto parts store when the old alternator was tested and the big red letters failed test appeared on the computer screen of the tester. I was actually happy to spend the 160.00 for the new alternator. QWhat's wrong with that oicture?

I went to work today. I called the shop that has my truck to make sure they would get it going for me.The truck will start with a shot of starting fluid and then die after the fumes of the fluid burn off. That tells me that gas isn't getting to the engine. The Chiltons repair manual states that if the engine turns over but doesn't start it's a fuel problem. Check to make sure the fuel pump is working. If not it may have a faulty fuel pump or modules. I checked the fuel pump and it works fine. The next thing to do going by the repair manual is to replace the fuel filter. Ok, The nuts holding the fuel filter on were so tight and needed a wrench that I did not have so I had the truck towed to a service station. Today I was told that they would mcheck for the problem and change the fuel pump. So, getting back to me calling the repair shop. I finally got hold of someone around 9:30 AM. The owner told me that they were getting ready to push it into the shop and if there would be any problems he would give me a call.

Quitting time rolled around so I headed over to the service station figuring all was repaired. Yeah, right. The mechanic couldn't get the fuel filter off. He said he tried vice grips and everything, lol. There isn't enough room around the fuel lines and the drive shaft to even turn vice grips. I know this because I tried it myself Saturday. He then told me that he had tested the fuel line and that the fuel system wasn't the problem. He then went into how the truck had never ever had a tune up. All the coil wires were shot. The rotor was shot, the spark plugs all needed changing because the gaps on them were all to big and also that he had tested for a spark and that the spark was real slow. Ok, stop the bus.......

I am not a mechanic by any means but I have always done what ever repairs I have had to do to keep our vehicles running. I don't know very much about fuel injection systems and wouldn't know where to start with working on one. Give me a V8 with a carburator on top with a distributor, coil wires and spark plugs and I can go to town. What I do know is that any electrical problem on my wifes car, check engine lights and service engine lights start blinking and flashing giving the driver plenty of warning way in advance of a break down. Seems that with every coil wire and spark plug and rotor needing replacing, atleast one warning light should have lit up. The truck was running and just died and couldn't be started again.

The next question would be why will the engine start up when a blast of starting fluid is shot into it? Seems that if everything electrical is needing replacing then why will it start period?

I think the guy knows that I need the truck pretty bad. He also knows that I had to pay to get it towed there. He told me that before he can even try to figure out why it can't start he wants to do a $500.00 tune up. the little Chevy Blazer only cost $300.00 when it was purchased from a friend.

If anyone out there has any expierience mechanically and can let me know weather I am right or wrong regarding my intuition on being set up for a rip off or that the mechanic is being straight with me, I would appreciate your input.

Bad Luck

Bad Luck, I have been on a streak now for so long, lol. It seems that we are having a run of bad luck and it won't go away.

The bad luck that is happening isn't anything to serious and so far most has been manageable. It's almost as if the bad things that have been happening are being controlled or God has been preventing the worse.

For the past few weeks we have been having internet server problems. Our internet goes down. Comcast is our provider. We call Comcast and they set up a service call. It's always a 7 day waiting period. A fewm days later the internet works again. The day before the service call we cancel the appointment and I would say that within the hour of that call the internet goes down again. I would swear someone at Comcast is playing games with the buttons they are pushing. My wife has called them and they have told her that there was a problem with the lines in the area. Now we have digital cable TV and Internet service. How can a line be the problem when the digital Cable is still working for the TV? I would think that if there was a line problem then the TV would be down too. One day after waiting all day for a so called line to be fixed and nothing ever happening with the internet service being repaired another call was made to Comcast and like magic, a certain individual in the Comcast office must have typed something into a computer for that person repaired our service. (that time anyway)

I already mentioned awhile back that our main TV in the house musta recieved some kind of power surge and fried. Also the power jack on my laptop went. My Laptop is always plugged into a power strip with a surge protector though.

While at work Friday it started to rain at the end of the day. While wrapping up, soaking wet, I started up my truck to get the heat going. After wrapping up I climbed into the truck and put it into drive and it died. Grrrrrrr. Cranked it, turned over great but wouldn't start. I shot some starting fluid into the air cleaner and it started until the fluid burned off. The truck wasn't getting fuel and it almost had a full tank. My wife had to come and pick me up. I work about 70 some miles from home. I froze my butt off waiting for her and trying to figure out what was wrong with the fuel system.I had been soaking wet for hours and the temps dropped to about 40 degrees. The truck wouldn't start so no heater.

I picked up a fuel filter yesterday and threw my tool box into the car and headed back up yeterdat to see if I could get the truck running. I took my wifes car. I Couldn't get the fuel lines off the fuel filter no matter how hard I tried. I didn't have a certain type of wrench one uses that goes around the fuel line and around the nuts. It's like a rounded box wrench with a knotch to go around the fuel line. Grrrrrrr. I had the truck towed to a service station and hopefully I won't have to pay an arm and a leg to get the truck fixed. Just incase anyone asks, the fuel pump was working.

We have not done a good grocery shopping now for several weeks and my wife had planned to go yesterday. So after I returned with her car she headed to the store. She went about a mile from the house when every warning light on her car went on and her car died. Is this unreal or not? I walked to her car and somehow got it started and was able to drive it back home. Time, about 7 pm. I noticed the drain on the battery gauge and once into our driveway the car again died. I checked the battery and with my father in laws help we jumped it and started it up. The Battery gauge showed the battery draining so I decided that the alternator was shot. I took the alternator out and will have it checked today. I am hoping that that is the problem as I am hoping the fuel filter is the problem on the truck.

Thankfully my Father in law took my wife grocery shopping. Food was scarce here. We had depleated just about every stapple. If I get my wifes car running we are going to have meat for dinner, lol.

I'm still here

But sorry I haven't been around much.

Setting Up

I am setting up on a new computer and it seems that I am starting from scratch. I have just downloaded Yahoo messenger and setting it up again. I hit invites to everyone on my messenger list. Please bear with me.

It seems that some sites I use even use an IP addy for my logging in and pass words alone aren't enough to log onto those sites, grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I guess a day off from work again is going to give me a chance to work through this.

I also want to add the note that I had thought that the problem with my Laptop was the DC power chord. My daughter borrows my chord all the time to charge hers since she lost hers. The end of it was almost completely gone. The small plastic ring. We went onto the HP site and ordered a new one and I ended up paying 92.00 for it. Shame that the chord wasn't the problem.

Computer Problems

I have not been around due to a computer problem. I need to send my laptop out to be fixed. It has a bad DC Power Jack. Grrrr. They told me the price for the repair would be 200.00. I asked why and was told that laptops have a lot of screws. I counted the screws in the bottom of my laptop and counted 10. Whats that a screw? They shoulda told me to bend over.

So I won't be around much till I pay the screw guy. Note, I removed all the screws myself and it took me 5 minutes but I'm not going to tackle computer circuitry. I would make a cheap screwerer or screw removerer I guess.

A Great Sunday

It was a great day here today. Beautiful sunny warm day with hardly a cloud in the sky. It was an excellent day for relaxing.

I picked up some Wonton skins when I went grocery shopping yesterday. Wonton skins are great to use. If anyone wants to make homemade raviolis or tortellinis, or perogies and wants to save some time, get some Wonton wrappers. What a time saver and they work perfect.

I made chicken soup for dinner since my wife has a little bug she is fighting off. She loves Chinese food so I decided to make her some wontons too. The stock for the soup turned out very flavorful and the wontons turned out excellent. The filling turned out very lite and none of the wontons broke apart as the cooked in the soup, lol. We also had a nice crusty loaf of bread so some nice thick slices of that and butter went very well with the soup.

I wonder if Chinese people eat bread?Lol. I never have seen bread in a Chines restaurant. I have had rice bread which is very good but I don't think I have ever seen Chinese bread. I guess I'm going to do some research.

Weather Madness

This past Saturday the temperatures here went up into the 60's. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day. It was the type of day someone like myself wanted to go outdoors and start doing some gardening but I restrained myself.

Tomorrow the temperatures here are going frigid again and the wind chills will be negative 15 degrees and lower. The wind is howling now and probably won't stop until Thursday.

I am sorry for the folks that live in the areas that were hit by tornadoes. From what I have seen on the news many areas were hit real hard. I am glad that those who live in those areas and are friends are all ok and that there families are ok too.

Hopefully the wierdness of the weather patterns this winter doesn't carry into the hurricane season. I'll patch up the old canoe just in case.