Hola, peeps! Happy Thursday. 😊
Let’s see… I’d thought that I’d be spending a bit more time working on projects that were closer to home. Malaki, though it was Thursday, had decided he wanted to work to earn a little extra money, but he’s got a baby that’s teething, so he got… not a lot of sleep, and he wasn’t feeling well, so sent him home and went and did all the cars that he was going to do.
I haven’t really written much about the cars I’ve been working on lately. Don’t know if y’all want to hear about them or not, but I’ll write a tad today. Malaki went to one car, but it was a bigger job than what we’re comfortable doing, so I just paid him for going out there, didn’t charge the customer, even though we helped them a bunch with information and picking up parts and supplies for them, and I sent Malaki home.
My first job was a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado that O’reilly’s had said had a bad alternator. As I imagine y’all remember, don’t trust those scans from parts stores. It’s not that they’re trying to be dishonest: The people simply don’t know any better, and the equipment they use to diagnose is wrong like 80% of the time, it seems. It’s almost a given that when a customer tells me AutoZone or O’reilly’s tells them the alternator is bad, it’s… not. It’s almost always just a bad battery, and their tester says the battery is good but the alternator is bad.
😶
So the customer called me out to replace the alternator, but I sort of… pushed back, which he was glad I did, because I saved him like $400 by not doing what he asked me to do (replace a perfectly good alternator). His battery was toast, so I sent him to get a new battery, after I also fixed his headlight issues as well.
Second car was a no start 2006 Pontiac Vibe. The battery cables were so corroded it was like Fun-Dip coated metal. Pretty gnarly. What was even crazier was that the issue was actually the starter. It’s crazy enough current was getting through the cables to be able to start the car.
The first starter I got was bad out of the box (the threads were ground down to almost nothing, and I’m not gonna put that in a customer’s car, so I went back to the store and got a brand new starter, put it in, taught them how to replace their own battery cable, so they could save some money, and I headed out to the next job.
The next one was a 2004 Ford Escape that wouldn’t start. When I got there, I found that the main hot wire on the starter was not tightened down, there wasn’t even a nut on the ignition wire to the starter, two coolant hoses had their clamps slid down and weren’t put back, causing a leak (which could have just blown off and drained the coolant out of the whole system in a heart beat, quite possibly ruining the car). All those things were caused by the person who was trying to help them fix the car but who obviously didn’t know enough to do the job properly.
I also found that the shift cable bushing where it latches on to the shift lever on the tranny itself was busted, meaning the cable could pop off the lever any time, leaving the transmission stuck in whatever gear it happened to be in when the cable popped off.
Lovely.
Oh, and the coolant pressure tank bottle was disintegrating and unable to properly contain the coolant. They were super happy I was able to help them. Got the car started, and I again taught them how to take care of the rest (replacing the shift-cable bushing and the coolant pressure tank).
Car #4 was another Ford Escape, this one a 2010. It was a crank, no start, and as is the case with many Fords (mostly Escapes and Focuses in my experience) the ignition lock housing was bad (there are three parts to the ignition assembly: the lock cylinder [the part you actually put the key into], the shift lock housing (the part that locks the steering wheel so it can’t be moved unless the key is turned), and the ignition switch [the electrical component that sends the signals to the various places around the car to do things like turn on accessories or power up the fuel pump, etc.].
Anyway, so the middle assembly, the whole shift lock housing assemble goes bad on those Fords, and you need to replace the whole thing.
…unless you want to jimmy rig it and not have to buy anything at all… which is what my customer opted to do today. How do you get around it? Well… you take the shift lock assembly out of the equation. 🙃
Bypass it! Just pull the ignition switch off the end of the housing, find a screwdriver, and you’re set. Put your key in the on position (which won’t actually power up anything because it’s disconnected from the ignition switch, but it will unlock the steering wheel), and then use the screw driver to twist the mechanism inside the ignition switch to start the car.
Done. 😊
No parts or extra money needed. Just 10 seconds of extra work to start a car each time and 10 seconds extra to stop it.
At least it’s driveable, which is what they want. They just need to be super careful to make sure the key is in the on position. Otherwise, the steering wheel would lock, and you wouldn’t be able to steer. 🙃
Last car, #5, was a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee with an o2 sensor code. It was getting late (after dark), but I checked a bunch of things and thinking the problem wouldn’t re-create until it finally did. After that, I checked sensor data, and it seemed to me like the o2 sensor for bank 2 sensor 2 was sending really wildly different readings than the other, and that was the sensor that the particular code said was suspect, so I taught him how to replace his o2 sensor himself, should he want to try, and if not, I’d be happy to go back and replace it for him, letting him know that if for some reason that didn’t solve the problem, I’d go back free of charge.
Headed home after that. Keep forgetting to order the rock for the road. Ugh.
Ate dinner. Chatted for a good little while with Austin, and now here I am, readying for bed. It’s after 12:30 now. Should have been in bed long ago, but I’m here.
I was more cheerful and upbeat today. That was nice. 😊
I miss being genuinely happy. I’ve always been quick to stress and worry, but I was also genuinely happy… I think? I miss some of the old days I loved so much, some of my old friends I don’t ever see or hear from or talk to anymore.
I’m grateful I still have some old friends that I still talk to and can get together and do things with after not having seen each other in years and years.
Had a woman from E-Harmony message me today. I get the little flirt messages periodically (the quick, click-a-button things that require zero effort or personal touch), but she’s the first person in a long time to send a real message. And when I send out messages to others, I generally don’t even get a reply.
There’s a part of me that wants to be excited. Her profile seems like she could be a really wonderful woman. There’s another part of me that just… can’t feel excited? Like it’s not what’s supposed to be? Not sure exactly how to say it… but there’s no… feeling in it. It’s more of an exercise instead of interest. It’s like I can’t picture myself with any of these potential prospects.
I just can’t see being with them. It’s like it doesn’t compute. Like something is off.
(sigh)
I don’t know. Makes me wonder a little bit.
Anyway, it’s time for bed. I’m tired and need sleep and won’t get enough tonight.
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 