Pellet heads!! What's up today?

I know what PBR stands for

 

Dropped off the Focus for inspection and maintenance work. Was able to bring the Explorer home so that means no snow next week . Just have to wait for the bumper to come in and it will be good as new (or at least as good as when I bought it).

 

I replaced the thermostat yesterday, and wow the coolant had definitely been compromised, so before I flushed the system I thought I would check and make sure there were no runs, drips or errors. Took the PU out on the state highway and pushed up to 65 on a straight section of roadway. I had noticed a strange vibration the day before but thought it might be related to the coolant system not flowing right as a result of a stuck thermostat. The vibration was still present. I stopped and checked the system. Ah HA! The water pump is also leaking, so I nursed it back to the garage. I threw it up on the lift looking for the source of the vibration and found the rear U joint was going. That wasn't surprising as the drive shaft and joint had come off the old Chevy 1500. I had run up the odometer to 270K, but the shaft was in far better shape than the shaft on the GMC . So off to the parts store last night and got what I needed for today's project.

Today replacing the U joints ( front and back) and the water pump.

Also, the last few days I have been investigating the strange noise coming occasionally from the exhaust blower on the stove. I take it that those dirty Maeder's haven't finished causing me problems? The stove isn't even a year old yet.

 

Gonna put the new beach cruiser on the rack and give the underside a good go over. Then change all the fluids so she's ready to go. Gotta let it warm up a little outside first. So until then I'll sit next to the hastings and sip my coffee

 

Red, White, and Blue Smoothie!

 

A..N..D.. the Focus passed inspection without any work needing done to it. Awesome for a vehicle with 196,000 miles. Figured it would need something (which I was okay with), but I got a good surprise for a change

 

Aarrgghh, who knew nasty pellets would cause such problems. Hope it is as easy as a cleaning to put everything to rights for you!

 

323 containers returned.
proof i am doing my job.

 

What does the inspection consist of? Just emissions testing, or other things such as brakes, etc?

There isn't any inspection/emissions testing here in MI. That said, I've seen (and driven in the past) enough crap that it would probably be a good idea.

 

Safety and emissions testing. The basic breakdown:
Steering mechanism (when I bought the Explorer they had to replace the rack for it to pass this)
front end suspension
brakes and parking brake (they have to be at over 2/32" for drum - higher for disc)
tires and wheels (tires need at least 3/32" (and they check them all)
windshield wipers (actually surprised since almost every inspection will yield the "need" for WW - even if you just changed them - and there is no arguing the point)
exhaust and fuel system
vehicles lights (interior, exterior, turns, hazard & brake)
Windshield and windows including glazing
rearview mirrors
odometer and speedometer
all info of vehicle (registration, VIN, plates etc)
ODB - check for codes and cleared codes

There is also stuff on how high the bumper can be and mud flaps (if required) etc. - this is just the basic list.

 

I had a guy try to fail me for wipers and charge me $20 a piece for the ones he had. I told him to slap a rejection sticker on there and I will go to Wal-Mart and buy a pair of new ones for $8 bucks. And then, I will come back to him so he can waste more of his time doing the inspection again.

Miraculously I got a sticker with my original wipers.

 

I failed for wipers too. I already knew this but the guy was nice and told me I'm better off taking the fail, going down the road, changing the wipers for 1/4th the price and coming back to pass. There is no charge to reinspect after a repair. That's exactly what I did.

Subaru dealer once failed me for an alternator belt. Said it would be $270. I said gimme the failed car. Off to autozone. $16.99 for a new belt. Changed it in the parking lot. Drove back to subaru and passed. That was the last time i took my car to a dealer for anything.

 

Interesting. MI tried to start emissions testing quite a few years ago (sometime around 1993-1996 I think). If I remember correctly, it was only going to apply to a handful of counties in the metro Detroit area and a handful of counties in west MI (the ones that get all the smog/pollution blowing across the lake from Chicagoland and Milwaukee). The state built all the test centers and before the first vehicle was tested, the law was repealed and there sat the buildings, unused. Great use of tax dollars.

There is no way the beater I was driving back at the time would have passed any type of emissions inspection. It had a chunk of straight pipe where the converter used to be and burned a quart of oil per tank of gas. Not to mention the holes in the floor and duct tape covering rust holes in key areas. At least I painted the duct tape to match.

 

I believe here in MA, after some number of years the emmision test is no longer required. I could be mistaken though.

 

damm..... woke up this morning, went downstairs to get coffee for my wife and me. need to take care of a few bodily functions as well. Kathryn comes down and says that there is a puddle of water in front of the refrigerator....$%^*@ that can't be good, since it refused to give me water last night, and it has gone into dead compressor mode before and started to thaw out the freezer. 17 years old... Kathryn has been wanting a freezer on the bottom rather than the side by side.. i told her "when this one dies you can get what you want" thinking that day was far in the future...NOT....

so, to avoid loosing everything in the frig, i needed a replacement on a saturday. went to the local appliance store where i have bought all my whites since forever. told Kathryn... you pick out what you want.....i paid the bill...

now the new frig's are about 2 inches deeper than the old ones.. and 1.5 inches taller....

so, after removing the right door and the bottom freezer drawer, we managed to bring the unit in the front door and rotate it to allow the open left door in.

now to see if it will fit under the cabinet.......removed some plastic bumpers in the way and it slid in !!! 3 hours, start to finish.

Went out to my shop. fussed with the atlas a bit. had a couple of and some of Kentucky's finest

 

NICE!!!!! Awesome score OCDex!!!!!! May I ask the price on those?

 

Still not bad, they are a very good pellet and I'd take them over anything else the BB sells by a mile.