So, when I worked as an EMT you learned a kind of unofficial unspoken rule very quickly. Now, most EMS personnel tend to be pretty level headed analytical or logical thinkers not prone to superstitions. Except one.
If it’s quiet and slow, DO NOT SAY THAT IT IS QUIET OR SLOW! You will be murdered and hung by your toes, filleted in the communal shower in the locker rooms. They value their down time because unlike most jobs, you technically don’t really get breaks or lunches. Sure, they’re supposed to be in the law, but some of us signed these fancy little contracts basically waiving any worker rights we had. Ahhhhh, to be an EMT again……
Or you just purely work so hard that you just kind of take them when you can, but the lives and safety of other overruling your hunger or need to sit down for ten minutes 😀 So yeah, that “quiet time” is a golden and cherished moment in that industry.
Now, this is kind of how I feel about my cars and motorcycles. As soon as I verbally say “Hey, I think everything’s fixed!”, something decides that it’s time to start acting up, fall off, or otherwise annoy the shit out of me till I fix it. I broke that unspoken rule a few days ago, so I’m wondering when it will happen and which one will be first?
Motorcycle or car?
Well, if we’re betting, I’ll probably say the car. But that’s basically because of the same reason it’s breaking down at all, it’s an ex cop car with 140,xxx miles on it. Things are bound to blow up on it. First, was the Throttle Position Sensor. I know what you’re thinking, no I haven’t talked about it previously when it comes to my car, but that’s because everything got trace back to it.
The problems started out with shuttering when the engine was under load, I figured it was the transmission, soooooooo, $1800 later I have a rebuilt transmission. But the car still shuddered and sputtered going over 40 mph. Goody.
I decided at this time that it was time to do a mild tune up. I already had spark plugs, but there’s no way in hell I’m buying 8 coil over packs for this car. Those bitches get expensive. The boots looked fine and so did the coils when I pulled them off, so that was no worry. I just should’ve depressurized the fuel system before I started so that when I pulled the fuel rails off the injectors it didn’t shoot gasoline all over my motor. Ahhhhhh, the lessons we learn. Another lesson I learned? Clean off the top of your motor before you do all this. My car had been sitting for a bit before the department sold it, so some mice had the opportunity to build a nest on top of my motor, not sure how that didn’t catch on fire or how nobody caught it, and shit all over the top of it too. Sooooooo, needless to say lazy me in this instance didn’t clean of the mice poop and some definitely fell into the cylinder…… shitty.
My view on it though, it’s organic matter going to into a moving furnace, ash shouldn’t be too hard on the motor, even if it’s mice poop ash. Besides, once again 140,xxx miles, this thing has seen worse things than some mouse shit in a cylinder lol
Pulled the plugs, not only were the contacts on each plug slightly melted o.O but they also weren’t even gapped to spec, slightly disappointing. Plus I cleaned the MAF sensor, and my baby is running like a champ again! I’m just waiting for another thing to just break on it. I’m always caught in between things on it, preemptive maintenance and then once I’ve spent the money on it something I didn’t expect breaks. Ahhhhhh, the vicious circle of maintaining an older vehicle. I should just get a pre-75 super beetle, practically costs $1800 to rebuild the motor, intake, oil system, exhaust, and the suspension lol Plus you can do all that by yourself, even crazier 😀