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Getting the van running again
Sep. 22nd, 2007 03:50 pmIt was a sort of surprise to learn that I will occasionally have to be driving around, but I'm ready to deal with it. So today I spent most of the day (up to now) getting the van back on the road.
Yesterday we replaced the battery, and I discovered to my surprise that I actually managed to fix whatever the electrical leak problem was. Thats not all that was leaking though.
The fuel lines running to and from the fuel filter had rotted out, and one good gun of the engine made them split. Fuel went everywhere. Well![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
martes took me out to the local Kragens where I got a new fuel filter. This actually took three separate trips.
First trip led to the re-discovery that the original owners of this thing had made a LOT of changes, and the fuel filter was no longer a standard one for this model. Good news was that it had been changed to a cheaper version, and that one came with two pieces of connecting hose. So one more trip to the auto parts store, and last night I replaced the fuel filter and two of the four hoses that ran to it. Then I had to go to TCD to do Sunday night rounds. Too dark to test any further for that day.
Today I fired it up again, to discover the fuel leak was about 40% less but still severe. The parts I had replaced held up fine, but only resulted in more of a leak from the two remaining rotten hoses, so I went back out to Kragens and got a couple more pieces of hose, and replaced the rest. No more fuel leak.
It still leaks radiator water from a hose I cannot easily get to , but slowly, and I can get that replaced when it finally goes in for a tuneup.
Took it out for a smog check, which I sort of expected it would not pass, but apparently the only reason it didn't was that it has rather old gas in it and it hasn't been driven a lot. Supposedly one tank of premium and a drive on the highway will fix that, and the retest is free. Meantime the proof it went for a smog check has me covered for one month in the event I get stopped anywhere with my expired (but paid for) tags.
I'm done driving for today as the radiator is too hot for me to add further water to it - it takes a long time to overheat (good) but also a long time to cool down (normally not a problem, but it stopped me today). Tomorrow I have to go out for my "live scan" and get my RVT exam application in the mail. I had been waiting for my diploma to actually arrive in the mail but good news is that my LACCD transcript with "diploma awarded" is actually good enough. So I'm spending all my spare time studying for this exam.
Yesterday we replaced the battery, and I discovered to my surprise that I actually managed to fix whatever the electrical leak problem was. Thats not all that was leaking though.
The fuel lines running to and from the fuel filter had rotted out, and one good gun of the engine made them split. Fuel went everywhere. Well
martes took me out to the local Kragens where I got a new fuel filter. This actually took three separate trips.First trip led to the re-discovery that the original owners of this thing had made a LOT of changes, and the fuel filter was no longer a standard one for this model. Good news was that it had been changed to a cheaper version, and that one came with two pieces of connecting hose. So one more trip to the auto parts store, and last night I replaced the fuel filter and two of the four hoses that ran to it. Then I had to go to TCD to do Sunday night rounds. Too dark to test any further for that day.
Today I fired it up again, to discover the fuel leak was about 40% less but still severe. The parts I had replaced held up fine, but only resulted in more of a leak from the two remaining rotten hoses, so I went back out to Kragens and got a couple more pieces of hose, and replaced the rest. No more fuel leak.
It still leaks radiator water from a hose I cannot easily get to , but slowly, and I can get that replaced when it finally goes in for a tuneup.
Took it out for a smog check, which I sort of expected it would not pass, but apparently the only reason it didn't was that it has rather old gas in it and it hasn't been driven a lot. Supposedly one tank of premium and a drive on the highway will fix that, and the retest is free. Meantime the proof it went for a smog check has me covered for one month in the event I get stopped anywhere with my expired (but paid for) tags.
I'm done driving for today as the radiator is too hot for me to add further water to it - it takes a long time to overheat (good) but also a long time to cool down (normally not a problem, but it stopped me today). Tomorrow I have to go out for my "live scan" and get my RVT exam application in the mail. I had been waiting for my diploma to actually arrive in the mail but good news is that my LACCD transcript with "diploma awarded" is actually good enough. So I'm spending all my spare time studying for this exam.
