When working toward the solution of a problem, it always helps if you know the answer. Provided, of course, that you know there is a problem.
I have come to grips with the fact that the infamous "Murphy" of Murphy's Law must somehow be related to me. I say this because his "law" sure has a strangle hold in my life. When you look up Murphy's Law in the dictionary, you can bet that it will cross-reference with me, just saying.
I have to say, first off, that I love my life...I love my husband, my children, grandchildren, parents, brother....all of them and my relatives and friends. This is above all the most wonderful blessings that God has given me. I am constantly amazed at the other blessings in my life, the Beast being one of them, my dorky cats and all of the other blessings, material and financial that God has seen fit to allow me. That said...I really think that I must be mishandling stuff somehow.
Case in point. When I got the Beast, I question the legitimacy of God's provision...only for a moment or two, mind you, but question it I did. He was faithful to hear my prayers of getting us home the 1800 miles or so in one piece and with no mechanical issues. That happened. For the most part I have been fortunate in that whatever I have had to do has been pretty much straight forward. This is an almost forty year old vehicle, I am not going to pretend that I didn't expect repairs after that kind of mileage being put on it and going from a dry climate to a humid one. I'm not a numb-nut, I get it. When the knocking started, I figured that I was low on oil...checked the fluids and they were fine. I got online and purchased a Chilton's manual so that I could better understand the repairs that I know are coming up. Silly me, thinking that I still have all of the upper body strength that I used to have in my 20's, 30's and even 40's. Now, at 52 I am finding that the fibromyalgia has my upper body strength in its really nasty little numbing claws. Trying to get a simple bolt off of a starter that when I was younger would have been a simple matter, now, I turn it into a barter. I have a friend that I clip her dogs claws for her...she called and asked if I could do that for her, I told her to bring her hubby with her to get the stinking bolt off for me. She did, he did and he put the new starter back in for me. I wanted to do it, but hey, he was there and figured he would do it for me. OK, no problem-o. The knocking is still there...
Sooooo, I get onto a forum that specializes in the older Ford Trucks and they are telling me that my flex plate is damaged. Yup...go figure.
Along with all of this, my dash cluster, or rather the instruments, do not light up. I have taken that stinking thing apart I don't know how many times and the instruments still don't light. Everything else does, instruments do not. With all of that maneuvering going on, I disconnected the speedometer cable and then reconnected. Still knocks. Lights still don't light, so I have a magnetic led flashlight that I pop onto my steering column when I have to drive at night. That's the Polish way, or the Redneck way or whatever way you want to call it. Whatever it's called, it works.
Another thing...its inspected and insured here in Texas, but registered in Arizona since I have been travelling there quite a bit lately and it's considered "snow birding". Not according to Texas, which is OK, I'll register here, but the official letter that I got from the comptroller says fix it or we'll find you. Alrighty then!
The center part of my steering wheel is gone, you know, the part that is padded, protects the horn and usually has the manufacturer's symbol on it? Yeah, that's gone so it's now duct taped. I just had to do that. I'm not sure what possessed me to do that, I just wanted to, except I didn't use duct tape at first, I used electrical tape, which was the only black tape that I had to keep a tape wrapped piece of cardboard inside the hole. I did this because I kept hitting my hand on the nut that holds the steering wheel on the column, now I don't. Anyway, my brilliant plan turned into something pretty sticky on the hands and that doesn't hold in heat, well, not on a steering wheel in the Houston heat....sticks to me just fine, though. So I got duct tape, black duct tape. It'll work until I get a new steering wheel.
Then, while I was getting the oil changed in it today, well, lets just say that these kids have never had a vehicle that old in their bays. They were all crowded around oohing and aahing about the Beast, but had to call me to tell them how to open the hood. They had it drained, the filter off and had cleaned off all of the important parts to check for leaks underneath, but they were befuddled on how to open the hood. They kept trying to use the brake release to open the hood. Imagine their embarrassment when I told them where to look to open it.
I give you this background because Murphy's Law seems to be working pretty well in the background. I have the knowledge on how to fix a lot of things on the truck, but not the strength to fix it.
Other things have happened along the way, today....most of them not noteworthy. Dinner was good except I managed to over cook the round steaks. I over cooked the steak because I got a call from Visa Fraud Prevention and I was paying attention to the call instead of the steak. Probably rightly so, but I could have made the return call after dinner since it was just a verification of a purchase. I have been using my card a lot to get parts and tools for the Beast so it is good that they have my back. Praise God for that but it really sucked for my dinner.
After reading back through this, I am realizing that the "law" seems to be mostly applying to the Beast right now. I figure that as long as it stays within that realm, I think I'm OK with it but as soon as it steps out of its little circle again to bug the tar out of me, then I'm going to have to get jiggy with it! Lol! Wait...is that a good word to use?
Whatever the circumstance you can bet, though, that if I'm involved with something, Murphy's Law will certainly apply so watch out. You know the saying...."Whatever can go wrong will go wrong", or more appropriately, "Everything will go wrong at one time. That time is always when you least expect it". That last one seems to be the right one for me. Leave it to me to stumble into the part of the "law" that describes me and my life in general to a "t", especially when it applies to the Beast! =o))
I have to say, first off, that I love my life...I love my husband, my children, grandchildren, parents, brother....all of them and my relatives and friends. This is above all the most wonderful blessings that God has given me. I am constantly amazed at the other blessings in my life, the Beast being one of them, my dorky cats and all of the other blessings, material and financial that God has seen fit to allow me. That said...I really think that I must be mishandling stuff somehow.
Case in point. When I got the Beast, I question the legitimacy of God's provision...only for a moment or two, mind you, but question it I did. He was faithful to hear my prayers of getting us home the 1800 miles or so in one piece and with no mechanical issues. That happened. For the most part I have been fortunate in that whatever I have had to do has been pretty much straight forward. This is an almost forty year old vehicle, I am not going to pretend that I didn't expect repairs after that kind of mileage being put on it and going from a dry climate to a humid one. I'm not a numb-nut, I get it. When the knocking started, I figured that I was low on oil...checked the fluids and they were fine. I got online and purchased a Chilton's manual so that I could better understand the repairs that I know are coming up. Silly me, thinking that I still have all of the upper body strength that I used to have in my 20's, 30's and even 40's. Now, at 52 I am finding that the fibromyalgia has my upper body strength in its really nasty little numbing claws. Trying to get a simple bolt off of a starter that when I was younger would have been a simple matter, now, I turn it into a barter. I have a friend that I clip her dogs claws for her...she called and asked if I could do that for her, I told her to bring her hubby with her to get the stinking bolt off for me. She did, he did and he put the new starter back in for me. I wanted to do it, but hey, he was there and figured he would do it for me. OK, no problem-o. The knocking is still there...
Sooooo, I get onto a forum that specializes in the older Ford Trucks and they are telling me that my flex plate is damaged. Yup...go figure.
Along with all of this, my dash cluster, or rather the instruments, do not light up. I have taken that stinking thing apart I don't know how many times and the instruments still don't light. Everything else does, instruments do not. With all of that maneuvering going on, I disconnected the speedometer cable and then reconnected. Still knocks. Lights still don't light, so I have a magnetic led flashlight that I pop onto my steering column when I have to drive at night. That's the Polish way, or the Redneck way or whatever way you want to call it. Whatever it's called, it works.
Another thing...its inspected and insured here in Texas, but registered in Arizona since I have been travelling there quite a bit lately and it's considered "snow birding". Not according to Texas, which is OK, I'll register here, but the official letter that I got from the comptroller says fix it or we'll find you. Alrighty then!
The center part of my steering wheel is gone, you know, the part that is padded, protects the horn and usually has the manufacturer's symbol on it? Yeah, that's gone so it's now duct taped. I just had to do that. I'm not sure what possessed me to do that, I just wanted to, except I didn't use duct tape at first, I used electrical tape, which was the only black tape that I had to keep a tape wrapped piece of cardboard inside the hole. I did this because I kept hitting my hand on the nut that holds the steering wheel on the column, now I don't. Anyway, my brilliant plan turned into something pretty sticky on the hands and that doesn't hold in heat, well, not on a steering wheel in the Houston heat....sticks to me just fine, though. So I got duct tape, black duct tape. It'll work until I get a new steering wheel.
Then, while I was getting the oil changed in it today, well, lets just say that these kids have never had a vehicle that old in their bays. They were all crowded around oohing and aahing about the Beast, but had to call me to tell them how to open the hood. They had it drained, the filter off and had cleaned off all of the important parts to check for leaks underneath, but they were befuddled on how to open the hood. They kept trying to use the brake release to open the hood. Imagine their embarrassment when I told them where to look to open it.
I give you this background because Murphy's Law seems to be working pretty well in the background. I have the knowledge on how to fix a lot of things on the truck, but not the strength to fix it.
Other things have happened along the way, today....most of them not noteworthy. Dinner was good except I managed to over cook the round steaks. I over cooked the steak because I got a call from Visa Fraud Prevention and I was paying attention to the call instead of the steak. Probably rightly so, but I could have made the return call after dinner since it was just a verification of a purchase. I have been using my card a lot to get parts and tools for the Beast so it is good that they have my back. Praise God for that but it really sucked for my dinner.
After reading back through this, I am realizing that the "law" seems to be mostly applying to the Beast right now. I figure that as long as it stays within that realm, I think I'm OK with it but as soon as it steps out of its little circle again to bug the tar out of me, then I'm going to have to get jiggy with it! Lol! Wait...is that a good word to use?
Whatever the circumstance you can bet, though, that if I'm involved with something, Murphy's Law will certainly apply so watch out. You know the saying...."Whatever can go wrong will go wrong", or more appropriately, "Everything will go wrong at one time. That time is always when you least expect it". That last one seems to be the right one for me. Leave it to me to stumble into the part of the "law" that describes me and my life in general to a "t", especially when it applies to the Beast! =o))
First, the starter's not going to cause a knock. That's prob'ly a lifter, or, rocker arm problem. Look a bit farther north in your engine.(See; Valves/ valve covers in your repair manual)
ReplyDeleteSecond, it's "FINE" not "FIND". Remember, you told ME about spellcheck.
Third, "THE BEAST" sounds like a vehicle we would've had a blast in, back in the day.
I hope all gets tightened up(Pun intended) in your dealings with, said, Beast.
No, the wording was definitely directed towards the word "find"....trust me. Of course, there was indication that the "fine" would be hefty as well. Thanks for the "spellcheck" but it was correct!
ReplyDeleteI get that it might be the valves, pistons, lifters, rocker arms or any of the other sundry and assorted items, I just want to knock out the little, inexpensive items along the way to the big stuff....If I accidentally come across the actual problem and its a less expensive fix, then I will be one happy camper, indeed!
As for the Beast....yeah....look in my previous blog regarding said Beast and you'll see why I'm kind of liking it! Lol!
<3 ya! =o)
Oh, the name of the blog is "People are in love". Picture of the Beast are posted there.
ReplyDelete