2 1/2 cans of Coke, lots of WD-40 and a decent amount of electrical
contact cleaner didn't save my alternator.
when I left this afternoon after Christine was running again (swapped
fuel pump), my volt meter was reading a bit shy of 13. low, but "good
enough." I was keeping an eye on it for a while, and it wasn't
dropping. However, after the tool booths going into buffalo, things
weren't looking so good. I figured I'd take a look at it at the first
service plaza. After the truck almost didn't make it through the
cashbox on the east side of the city, I decided to move up that planned
stop to NOW. I two-foot drove the truck off at the next exit, since it
wouldn't stumble if I kept it over 1500 or so, and got it parked at the
hotel right across from the exit. in went the third can of coke, but
the volts didn't come up at all. it was sitting on the bottom peg.
I knew I should have talked to that jeeper more in-depth about how to
save it...
Including the 15 minute walk to and from the parts store, I changed the
unit (in a very prominent spot in a very swank hotel's parking lot) in
a bit under 2 hours. pretty slow -- it was my first time dealing with
the serpentine -- but it was all in daylight, and I found someone to
jump me when I needed it, so it was all good. I did loose one deep
well socket though (I wouldn't be surprised if it's still stuck in the
mud on top of my front cross member - but I couldn't see it and my
magnet couldn't get it). I *so* just justified bringing my tools on
road trips....
after it started, I was a bit worried - it truck wouldn't idle at all
for over 5 minutes -- that's how *gone* the battery was. I should
probably get that load tested before winter rolls around.
I caught the parts store by 30 minutes -- they were open until 8. damn
lucky for a sunday... I was disappointed that the only units they had
listed were a 90 and a 136 amp since I was hoping to be able to
upgrade, but the 136 amp sitting on the shelf still made my day. I
just need to remember to leave the dead one in the truck, since next
time I head through BUF I can make $60 from a core return =)
the open face roast beef sandwich I had at whatever chain right off
that exit while i was figuring out what to do was pretty good, too.
and it was thanks to my waitress asking around in back that I found out
from a cook about the parts place. she got a good tip :)
so I'm tired, but slightly less in pain since I was only under a hood
and hot a whole truck for most of today. it's Bed Time.
<insert segue here>
In this tired stupor, I might do something stupid, like volunteer to do
the meet report just so I have justification to ask everyone to please
email any pictures you took to dml@tepidcola.com in whatever format you
like, preferably full sized, however you choose to compress. I have no
incoming size restrictions.
those of you who took video, I'd like to get ahold of that too, but I'm
not sure if there's an easy way to get yours, jon, since I didn't dub
it while I was there. neil, I have what I think is your tiny tape
measure, so if you could loan me your tape(s) whenever I could manage
to meet up with you, that would be magnificent.
<insert segue here>
if anyone has a spare gerber multi-tool like this:
<http://www.gerberblades.com/products/view.php?model=5500> I'd
appreciate it's return. to be honest, I don't know if I've lost it or
not since I have no intention of unpacking until solidly into tomorrow,
but if anyone finds it, lemme know.
it was great to meet those that were there, and I'll see what I can do
about getting started on the annals of the happenings.
-- Michael Maskalans '98 Dakota SLT CC 4x4 318 details here: <http://mike.tepidcola.com/dak.html> mobile.612.618.4652 campus.585.274.2246 fax.954.697.0487
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:46:39 EST