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I feel like an old man today. <\/p>\n
My car was well-nigh undriveable by the time I got it home after work yesterday, but fortunately all the parts except for the timing belt came in the first shipment. So I launched into the repairs, only pausing for about 45 minutes for dinner around 8 and working straight through until about 1:30. I replaced the water pump, idler pulley, thermostat, radiator fan switch, cam and crank seals, all the associated seals and gaskets, and changed the coolant and the oil. <\/p>\n
It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that the water pump is driven off the timing belt and was evidently the first thing they bolt to the bare engine block during the car’s manufacture (note: slight sarcasm). What this means of course is that I have to remove about 50 overlapping components just to get at the pump. This was the car’s status around 8 p.m., about halfway into the repairs:<\/p>\n
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The good news is that it runs very well now. No more coolant leak, temps are nominal, and the radiator fan comes on precisely when it should. The bad news is that there’s a noise coming from the engine that’s a bit distressing. The only word I’ve found to describe it would be a moan. It’s directly dependent on the rpm, and it sounds for all the world like the wind on an English moor, rising and falling in pitch as I open and close the throttle. I’ve run it by several lists and groups, and the consensus at this point is to re-check the tension on the timing belt, something I’ll do tonight when I get home.<\/p>\n
I am, however, very stiff and sore today. My fingers and palms are particularly raw. I’m in need of a good stretching session and a nap. <\/p>\n
Do you ever completely lose track of time while totally engrossed in an activity? I don’t know what comes over me when I work on cars sometimes–it’s like I become ultra-goal-oriented and have to accomplish what I set out to do, no matter how long it takes me. About six months ago during an especially intense wrenching session I was outside until 4 a.m. because I wouldn’t stop until I had done what I purposed to. I think part of it is just the fact that it’s a very messy activity, and it’s easier to just push through and keep working rather than taking breaks, which necessitate getting cleaned up. But there’s something psychological about it, too… being that focused, not thinking about time or hunger or tiredness until the very end, or even the next day. It’s odd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boldulysses.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}