Monday, October 02, 2006

Follow-on

Amazing how just when you think you have one thing sorted, you need to sort something else! (I had a theory with my Mini that if you fix something small, something big's gonna break - so leave the small thing...)

Yesterday's alternator-placing episode was supposed to solve the power drain problem. After lunch I hooked up the Ford, gave her a jumpstart and started up the engine. It took some doing though, the idling is a little low and I still need to sort out timing and mix stuff. But she got going eventually, revved along happily for a few minutes.

And then died! Again! Sounded exactly like the fuel starvation issue we started with.

And the battery had worn down again, once disconnected from the Ford. Eish!

This is the point where I wish I could plug my brain into a couple of really knowledgeable ones, who could immediately identify the problem/s and tell me exactly what to do to fix them. Also explain some of the terminology in the manual ("pierce" the cover? how, exactly?) and point out if I'm doing anything drastically wrong. It would be nice to have a USB port or WiFi access in the head to attract knowledge like a magnet and store it on a shelf somewhere. Instead I have to pick it up bit by bit - often getting frustrated in the attempt.

Thankfully the Landy bloke I ran into last week had some wisdom on Wiring, checking battery leads and various other fiddly bits. I'll do a bit of testing this week to see if anything's perished or loose or undone.

But that's life with cars. You learn a bit more every day, even if it takes a while. And more often then not, fixing one thing is simply yet another link in the chain of finding more things to sort out.

Like the front tyre that seems to be very slowly deflating....

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