One thing I've...
One thing I’ve noticed about myself lately is that being cooped up from this COVID stuff has really taken a toll on me from a physical standpoint. I’ve never been one to go out and exercise just for the sake of exercising.
My philosophy on that has been there is no need to go and intentionally wear out body parts prematurely. During my normal daily activities I would do enough physical stuff in my daily work routine to satisfy the needs of staying in shape. I’ve got to tell you those four months now of basically working from my desk at home has had an effect on my complexion and muscle tone.
Seeing that my customers work outdoors I would spend a great deal of time with them on their jobsites in the hot sun and high humidity. That hasn’t happened and so my dark tanned skin from last year has slowly faded away. It wasn’t but just about year ago at a flea market down in the Rio Grande Valley I had someone mistook me for an old Mexican man and started speaking Spanish to me. Now I look just like any old white guy with a grey beard and grey hair.
I’m going somewhere with this so hang in here with me.
If I was...
If I was to compare myself to a car or truck I would definitely be an older model with high mileage. Up until this COVID shutdown crap started I would have considered me to be running on all 8 cylinders and shifting gears smoothly.
Well my pickup truck is feeling the COVID effects too. It had been running like a top up until this lock down started. I went from 300 to 500 miles in a week down to 5 miles a week or less. I’ve only made a couple of trips to Brenham, TX back in May and combined it was just over 200 miles. So the truck has just basically been sitting and I think that has taken a toll on it too.
Monday I headed for the post office and about two miles into the three mile trip to the post office the truck started acting up and wouldn’t shift gears. The dreaded “wrench” light came on the dash and so I pulled over into a parking lot and shut it off.
After a couple of minutes I decided to start it up and see what is was going to do. It started and sounded good so I went ahead and made the trip to the post office and then got back in it and headed home without an issue. That wrench light didn’t come back on when I had restarted the truck so I figured it might have just been a fluke or maybe some trash in the fuel line or fuel filter.
A few hours...
A few hours later I needed a couple cans of snuff so I headed up to the corner store and I’ll be damned if the truck didn’t do the same thing as it did on the way to the post office. I made it to the store and when I came out it ran fine on the way home.
I swear that the lack of use is probably the cause or at least a contributing factor. Stuff just doesn’t work right unless you keep working it. There is quote somewhere that includes the phrase “use it or lose it” and I think that goes for mechanical stuff as well. Cars & trucks were meant to be used and just sitting around can’t be of any benefit to them from a mechanical aspect.
So I started...
So I started checking out transmission shops Monday afternoon nearby. Several years ago I had the transmission replaced in the wife’s van and that shop is still in business but the ratings are now very low.
The original ownership family sold out about 10 years ago and the place now has an “F” rating with the BBB. I had taken a Dodge pickup to them back in the early 90’s and was expecting that it would need a complete rebuild of the transmission; to my surprise it ended up costing $50 for the part and labor to install the speed sensor. We never had any problems with the van they did either so needless to say I was very disappointed to find out they’ve gone downhill.
I have read the reviews and checked the BBB ratings on several shops and some things just don’t make sense. So I know I’m in for an experience no matter where I go. I don’t like the local Ford dealer so he’s out and the one in Tomball gave my son the run around on some warranty work he had done his car there recently.
I watched a ...
I watched a couple You Tube on this transmission and I could probably do it myself but I just don’t feel up to it. Automatic transmissions just have too many bits and pieces and I don’t like doing puzzles that are difficult to take in and out to work on them. If I had a shop with a lift and the proper tools I might give it a go; but I don’t, so I most likely won’t.
The only good news in all of this is that I don’t have to worry about missing work because the truck is on the injured list. Now I will have to start interviewing prospective repair shops.
I'm getting the feeling that honest + mechanic = -2 or like oil and water, they just don't mix well together.
Until next time,
Sult
