Top o’ the madrugada to you. 😊
Hope y’all had a lovely Saturday, and now happy Sunday. 🙂
I just about crashed into bed without writing, which would be less effective, especially since I’ve written at least something, even if it’s just a sentence, every day for almost the last two years. My streak began March 29, 2020. 🥳
Don’t want to break it.
Long day today. Slept in a little bit. I’m over the edge for sure with the migraine/whatever thing. Not doing well right now and have been fighting it off for the last two or three days.
Anyway, I left for work a little bit later than usual this morning–after 10, I think. First job was a 2014 Kia Optima Hybrid that wouldn’t start, wouldn’t do anything even with a new battery. Electric/hybrid cars are quite a ways out of my comfort zone. I just don’t know them very well, so it’s a risk going to see them, and I should probably say no to them, except I generally manage to figure out the issues, and it generally doesn’t take that much time. It’s just… foreign, and I need to learn to even begin to diagnose.
This one, though… it seemed to be over my head (or just beyond the equipment needed to diagnose). It had power to the car, but the engine wouldn’t start at all. The hybrid battery was nearly discharged passed the recoverable point, and I was getting weird error messages from the car. I was just about ready to pack it up and give up when I decided, well, it’s 2014 Kia Optima, maybe it’s got a blown engine (years 13-15 had huge issues with blown engines).
Sure enough, the motor was locked up. Fortunately, there’s a decent chance it’s under a factory replacement warranty, so they might well get a brand new engine for free out of the deal.
Second car was a 2015 Dodge Ram that was having acceleration issues. When I asked what was going on, they sent me a picture of a misfire code. That’s why I took the job, as I wouldn’t otherwise take jobs that are for cars that are running rough–too high of risk that the job drags on, putting the other jobs in jeopardy.
Anyway, they failed to mention that the code was from months ago, and they’d already gotten repairs for that issue. What they had was what I mentioned above, and the truck had a fuel pump code that normally is a bad fuel pump. Key word normally, though. Normally isn’t a good enough diagnoses when you’re talking about that expensive of a repair. If it’s 90% likely on a cheap repair, that’s another story. I’ll gamble that and eat the part cost if I’m wrong because overall, I’ll be right more often than not, and I’ll save time and make more money going with the most-likely option if trying to nail the diagnosis down with 100% certainty is going to involve some significant time.
But a fuel pump job? That’s expensive, so I wanted to be sure. Accordingly, I spent the next… 2 hours maybe? fighting the truck to try and get a solid diagnosis… but everything I tried failed. I needed to test the fuel pressure, but of course, this truck didn’t provide the pump pressure for my scan tool to read, so I needed to test it manually, and of course Dodge didn’t put the standard the test port on the fuel rail, so you have to test it where the line connects on the frame rail, except none of my like 40 adapters would fit either the line tie-in point or the pump itself.
Good gravy.🤦♂️
In the end, I gave up and didn’t charge them, but not before someone in a U-haul did a hit and run on my van, smacking the passenger mirror assembly so hard that the glass in the mirror completely popped out of the mirror and shattered all over the road. I tried to chase them down, but my van was facing the wrong way, so I had to turn around on a residential street, and by the time I got turned around, they had disappeared.
So… ugh.
The Ram people gave me a $40 tip, even though I didn’t charge them. I was at least quite helpful, even if I didn’t get it all the way solidly diagnosed.
I need to get another fuel pressure adapter set, one that can actually connect in to all these other kinds of fuel line tie-in points.
Third car was… oh yeah, putting in a battery quick disconnect in a company Tahoe at the Drake Airport in Fayetteville. It’s amazing how long something simple like that can take and for really dumb reasons.
Goodness.
But I got it done, and I’m pretty proud of what I came up with, honestly. It was a recessed battery terminal on the battery, so I couldn’t use the standard quick disconnects, but I got it to work, and it’s pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Last car was an alternator for a 2012 Honda Pilot in Bentonville. They were passing through, doing an interstate geocaching trip when their alternator bit the dust, so I went out a lot later than I probably should have, not finishing until after 9, but at least they weren’t stuck in Bentonville and could head to their Fort Smith destination.
After coming home, I spent a good little while looking for real estate, finding a ten-acre parcel about an hour south of here that I’m interested in, mostly because it’s a great price and a good investment. It’s not my dream property, but prices for the acreage around it are nearly twice the price, and it’s within my cost-per-acre target zone. So… we’ll see. It’s also super close to Devil’s Den state park–less than a mile from it, as the crow flies, I think.
I’m waiting to hear back from them to see if it’s still for sale. Great price, and it’s been listed for almost a week. We’ll see. Crossing fingers.
I also spent hours on Match.com looking at profiles, and I did find one that I was at least a bit excited about, so I sent her a message. I don’t have really any expectation of getting a reply. Historically, very few people ever reply to me, so something about my profile ain’t up to par for that vast majority of the lady folk out there. It’s amazing how my online experience can be a complete 180 from my in-person experience.
As you know, trying to date can really easily trigger discouragement and pain from the past and a whole host of other difficult emotions, and I can feel them trying to get in, but so far, I’m handling it pretty well tonight/this morning, I think. Cross your fingers. Perhaps I’ll keep doing well, and perhaps this woman from Texas (Sarah) will reply to me. That’d be cool.
Well… my body is freaking out. I need to get some nutrition in me and get to bed. It’s almost 4 a.m. 😬
Good night, all! Love and hugs.
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Lift the World 