Longer Hiatus.

Well the hiatus went longer as I returned home for a day before leaving again to support the Hubby at an endurance mountain biking event.

I'm waiting for parts to arrive and more progress to be made- in the mean time she gets driven around a bit and parked with cardboard under the oil pan so as we might get a bit of our deposit back when we leave our current abode.

Hmm.

Hiatus.

Selma Lee's in the garage for a few days while I travel home.

She's got some parts on the way- her oil leak is actually worse since I played with the oil pan... she had a slight leak before, coming from what seemed like the drain bolt- but turned out to be some metal on the bottom corner that got pushed up and in the way of the drain bolt when some previous owner bottomed out the car... I filed off the offending bit of metal and replaced the bolt before putting the bottom of the oil pan back on the car- turns out you get a bit more leverage when it's attached to an almost two ton car, and it cranked almost another full turn this evening when I got home (I should have tightened it before, but I thought I'd done it as tight as possible...)- there's cardboard under it now so when I come back I'll be able to see if it was that simple of a fix.


It's also starting to get quite warm and the need to get the rest of the windows working is becoming acute. I need to dive into the vacuum system anyway- so- away I go... when I get back.

I guess it's alright-

I wrote them an e-mail... and they wrote back real quick and pleaded their case as a very small company and sent a picture of Namrita wearing the Argyle jersey as evidence of it's suitability to the female form... Namrita being a rider they sponsor/give gear to, who lives in Georgia with her husband- both of whom Dave showed around the Prescott area trails when they were out visiting in December.

Shall I break in to a chorus of "Small World"???

No- I think now. But I'm tempted.

Stealing...

A link from Davie's blog-

"Watch the hell out Project Runway."

Though it is disappointing that they have only two women's shirts and like six men's... I like that argyle one, why can't I have it in women's specific shaping???

Selma Lee is consuming my soul...

is it weird that I got really excited when I saw this picture???

It's a set of gaskets for the lower engine... list $132.00 mine for only 51.21...

Home on the range.

This is a quail running across our deck railing on the second floor. Then a roadrunner did a little hop, fly across the street- you could see the strips on it's wings distinctly- but it was too far away to get a good picture. Then a big bright yellow butterfly flew over my head and all the world was happy.

See that little bit of evergreen branch on the right- the quail then jumped into the tree and I can still hear it's distinctive call... there's another quail answering it a little ways down the street... ah- springtime in the dessert-

The S&F -

There's a thought provoking new blog I found- check it out near the bottom on the left.

Turning off-

I pull into a parking space, I shift into park, I turn the key to the off position, and the car continues to run.

This is good.

It means I have a positive confirmation on the trouble with my car. I had been told it probably wasn't a vacuum leak and I had been investigating other potentialities... thought I had tracked it to a worn out preliminary fuel pump- which I might just change anyway- cause it's probably due...

the vacuum system is complicated though. Many parts- affects many other systems... lots of hoses and whatnot- lots of potential to mess things up.

Which is why I'm stalling- didn't start the work today- I have all weekend...

need to go procure a shop vac to help me test the system.


There is one larger problem. At the moment it doesn't malfunction All the time- which means testing it will get fairly complicated.

Updates tomorrow.

At last...

I've taken all the pictures I took during The Trip and put them online-

you can now view them with some random commentary Here.

I will say- all the exciting things that happened- I was too busy dealing with to take pictures of... I wish I had a shot of Norman and I doing paper work in his little shop... the friendly folks at the Tire Store... the hotel parking lot where I changed my fuel filter... but alas- I don't. Certain memories will have to remain solely in my mind.

How or Why...

did I end up with Selma Lee???

Dave and I moved to our current location for a job he'd accepted, after being essentially itinerate for some nine months- since the fall after I graduated college. By my count we traveled through 15 states in that time including a longer stay at his parents house in Ohio at the end, as a home base while Dave solidified job offers and we planned for a more permanent move.

Before we left on this adventure we sold Callie, the fuel efficient VW Jetta, and bought and modified Josy- the XTerra. Josy made fine living conditions during a number of those months when we weren't semi-settled somewhere else (like our two month stay in St. George, Utah- home of the one hundred foot tall retaining walls, but that's another story).

So we lived a blissful life with only one vehicle for quite some time. I like being able to live somewhere with only one car and not have it be a nuisance... when we lived in Moab we still had two cars, but more often then not we would drive neither of them and either walk down the street to the grocery store- or- if we were in a real hurry- we'd ride our bikes, as during Jeep Safari you could actually get around town faster on a bike then in a car... now that's my kind of town.


Anyway- when we settled in the current area- The Tri-City Area... it seemed like we were going to need to get a second vehicle. As the Tri-Cities are twenty minute drives away from each other, and no one city has everything you need... plus Dave's work was thirty minutes out of even the closest of The Cities. However- Dave's work provided some transportation that was a good bike ride away and I started working in our town and could take the bike path in front of our house half the way to work, with a nice big shoulder along most of the rest of the way. We were living a fairly blissful one-car life again... sort of... except when one of us needed to make a run into an adjoining town for anything... and then winter set in- and Dave's work transport became more complicated- and after a month of waking up early to spend an hour driving Dave to work and back, getting home with barely enough time to get myself to work... we decided to stop talking and actually get a second car.

Now in the mean time, one of our neighbors, several blocks down our street, had had a car parked out for sale. It was an amazing car- a mellow but happy shade of pale olive green, older and boxier... but with just enough curves to be truly pleasant on the eyes. It was old, but was still an automatic- with only 120,000 miles, a sunroof, and an adorable old factory roof rack. And it was a diesel- how charming, and what options for fuel use!!! I was in love.

The car was a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300D.


Well they were asking $2,100- with both the A/C and power windows broken. I was charmed by the car- but we hadn't been in town all that long and hadn't totally decided about getting another car. I put it on the back burner... but every time I drove that way down the street I'd check to make sure it was still there. I did a little research, found that really- the price was reasonable... except Dave kept joking that I'd have to pick up the car at 4am, once the interior had cooled down with the evening air- and drive it immediately to a repair shop, because you can't drive a car with no A/C- windows up- around the desert in August.

I finally decided just to call- ask a few more questions about the vehicle... and was told it had been sold- $2,000...

At this point I was heart broken... my car!!! My perfect car!!!

So I started stalking eBay. And the discussion of whether or not to get a second car continued... and the more cars I saw sold on eBay- the more I realized I should have grabbed that beautiful green hunk of metal when it was just steps away from my house- but so be it.


Eventually it became obvious that we wanted another car. I won't say necessary and I won't use the term Need- because perchance those terms don't apply... but the convenience factor was too high and we gave in.

We started looking locally for a car. I still wanted one just like the one down the street- which meant a 300D sometime between 1976 and 1982- but I was open to other possibilities. However- this was a golden opportunity for me- we weren't going to spend much on the car. It just had to get me to work and back- as anytime we left town we'd want Josy for her sleeping capabilities and her four-wheel drive. This was going to be my little around town car- and as long as it ran I could get what I wanted. Now you'll have to consider that I've never really picked out a car before... my first car was handed down by my parents from my sister (that's the one that caught fire being driven through Nebraska at 2am by friends while we were several states away...) but we still had Dave's Subaru (which was lovely and I liked, but I also killed it against a highway barrier driving back from cross-country skiing in Minnesota). At which point we needed a car, fast, with great gas mileage as Dave's commute from our little college town to his work wasn't small my senior year- so we got the first thing that fit in our price range- Callie the Jetta. Then we needed a vehicle with four wheel drive and enough space in the back for us to lay down- plus we were shopping for this vehicle in Iowa- not out west- so the options were a bit more limited in the used market (not so many 4WD anythings). In the end, I wanted this Isuzu Trooper we found as it had a bit more room in the back- Dave wanted an XTerra which I thought looked utterly pompous and ridiculous... we have Josy the XTerra now- so you know who won that debate... so- when an opportunity arrived to pick out a car- and it just so happened the the car I really wanted was also totally within the price range and other requirements... how could I not take advantage of this most fortuitous occurrence.

But Dave was getting frustrated with my day-dreaming and lack of results- so I made a deal with him- in the next five days there were four Benz that met my qualifications closing on eBay. One in our state, one in a nearby state- and two on the other side of the country- South Carolina and Georgia. The one in Georgia closed last. I told him- if I didn't have a car via-eBay in the next five days I would buy the first local car I could find- which was most likely going to be a Very-ugly Volvo station wagon (there are cute ones- but this was an ugly one) for $1,500 that I passed every day on the way to work.

The first two were in great condition and quickly cleared my budget... in the last 36 hours I had a decision to make- of the two cars- South Carolina and Georgia- South Carolina looked like it was going to close somewhere Very close to my limit, probably a couple hundred dollars over- Georgia was harder to call- it closed 12 hours later, but knowing the eBay market at this point, my gut said it would finish within my range... adding to this the procurement cost of Georgia being quite a bit less then South Carolina I had a difficult decision to make. Should I bid South Carolina above my goal but guarantee myself the car I want... or take a chance on Georgia and possibly end up with the Very-ugly Volvo if it exceeded what I was willing to pay for it. Considering Georgia wasn't in as good of condition as South Carolina- and the limit I was willing to pay for Georgia was not the limit I could possibly spend- I knew I might end up wanting to spend more then Georgia was worth because I could- but if I was going to spend a couple hundred more than I wanted to- wouldn't it be wiser to spend more on South Carolina and get, potentially, the better car...

In the end-as you know- I followed my gut and let South Carolina slip by- Georgia closed for about four hundred dollars less then I would have been willing to pay for her- and Georgia became Ms. Selma Lee Suiby (pronounced SUE-bee, for all those who haven't heard my pronunciation rants in person...).


Not knowing more about the condition of the Original Green Car- I don't know whether, in the end, I wish I had just bought her- but I do know I would have missed my 102 Hours of Adventure, retrieving Selma Lee... and in the end- Experiences are what it's all about- right???


Right.

Opportunity Cost.

Selma Lee's been getting a bit neglected in the job finding effort. Like usual she's decided to demonstrate her concern- this time in the form of a slow leak in her back, passenger tire. This would be the tire that I changed by the side of the road on dark Wednesday night 10 miles outside Montgomery Alabama. Which also means it's the tire that was then replaced at the Friendly Tire Shop in Selma the next morning.

Not sure what's up- but later I'm going to be driving it very slowly down the street to the nearest gas station and fill it back up. Then access.

In the meantime she's still not starting right- and I'm getting conflicting reports on what might be the main problem. I'm loath to act if I'm not certain- but at some point in the very near future I may have to.


I'm also getting a deep popping noise when turning, which I think might be an issue with the passenger, front ball joint. Research has commenced. Results forthcoming soon.

At long last.

So- with the computer back- I present the last two pictures taken, two Saturdays ago-
Our illustrious accomplice-

Dave and I-

With some plumbing above our heads there. All the light in both pictures is from the flash- the room was dark, as we had turned off our headlamps- but as we were a whopping foot apart the flash was sufficient to fill the room with light. The emergency blanket in both pictures in the same one, as our illustrious accomplice was the only one of the three of us smart enough to include an emergency blanket in our first aid kits (a deficiency since remedied). Thanks to our accomplice again for sharing :)

Why Dave is smiling is beyond me... except it might have been part of one of the spontaneous bursts of laughter caused by us finally being out of the canyon and dry- and in such a ridiculous position.


In the immortal words of someone no longer identifiable-

Canyoneering- its like fun- but different.

Ouch.

It hurts to move.

That is all.


Ironically what hurts most is not actually from the canyon but from the position I was attempting to sleep in after we got out of the canyon, but couldn't get back to the car.

We were about 12 miles from the car. The bathrooms had heat- though the windows had been left open, it still provided a warmer, wind-proof place to pull off the wetsuits and get back into normal (and dry) clothing. If it weren't for the horribly decrepit shoes I wear canyoneering (because I've cut them apart and they're now big enough to fit my neoprene socks in them) I almost would have walked/jogged the four miles to the Canyon Lodge (where other's experience tells us I could have phoned a ranger, who would have driven up to pick us up and taken us back to the visitor's center- near our car). But the idea of putting those sand/rock filled soaking wet shoes on, getting my dry socks wet, and spending another hour and a half in the cold windy, main canyon- just wasn't worth it. Especially because even after we got to our car we would have had to either find a hotel room in Zion at 2am during Easter Weekend- or drive another hour to where the other car was spotted and not get to sleep until 3am. Had I known I wasn't going to sleep a wink anyway- I probably would have done it- but such are the decisions we make.


Anyway- now I get to move around and figure out whether different parts hurt from overuse, misuse, or actual scraps and bruises... it's a discovery process.

Selma's sad she missed seeing Zion... maybe next time.

Reverse.

Selma has a leak.

Well, several leaks, actually. But only one that's causing my starting problem right now (I think).

Unfortunately, unlike the other ones, I can't put a piece of paper underneath her and see where from and what is leaking. Partially because what is leaking is Pressure- and I'm not sure what color that is.

Partially because nothing is actually leaking out. It's leaking In.

In my engine- low pressure is created which causes a pressure vacuum, this vacuum gets used to power multiple things, including fuel injection, the power brakes and the ignition mechanism.

Often- when you have a vacuum leak- you can't get the engine to shut off. This is common with old diesels. Gas engines have spark plugs which continually go off to ignite the fuel/air in the engine- but diesels use the pressure in the engine to ignite the air and fuel combination. So a diesel engine doesn't need continued electricity to continue running, to get it to stop you have to physically cut off the flow of diesel to the engine.

When you have a vacuum leak you can turn the key to off, but since you no longer have the full power of the pressure vacuum, it's not enough to stop the fuel flow and the car just keeps on running.


Obviously- I have a slightly different problem- but at least I'm pretty sure it's the vacuum system.
I'm looking for a diagram for my specific model and then I'll go through testing all the various parts of it until I find where the leak is.


There will also be several side benefits of this- including fixing my breaks (I currently have to use extreme force on my breaks as the Vacuum Assist is not initiating properly) and starting to deal with the three power windows that don't work- it's getting warmer out- I need all my windows down until I figure out what's up with the A/C... a large chunk of which (the servo) is no longer even connected to the car.


Now off to Welding.

Re Run.

You do the hokey pokey...

and you turn your fuel tank around- and that's not what it's all about-


cause Selma Lee's came out- got cleaned- and went back in with a few new hoses and all- verdict-

Didn't make a bit of difference in how she starts.


Presumption is- the issue is one of Fuel Delivery.

Once I hit the gas and get her the requisite amount of diesel she'll run... so she's not getting enough fuel during ignition. This could be caused by several things. All of which are not going to be nearly as easy to deal with as the fuel tank.


I also can't find the biocide fuel treatment I need to keep the Algae (it's actually fungus and various bacteria, cause algae needs light to grow, fungus not so much, and the fuel tank is obviously a light free region) from coming back.

Either way- there was an issue with biological growth in the fuel, which was clogging the fuel filters... there was just also something else- which still needs to be resolved.

Doesn't mean taking care of the fungal infestation didn't serve a valuable purpose. Just doesn't seem all that important considering I still can't trust her to start when I get off work at night.

But that's the adventure I was delighting in- so, can't complain when you get what you asked for... or at least not as many people will listen to your complaint and empathize with you, and what's the point of complaining without a little empathy- so.


I'm going to go watch Grey's Anatomy, via ABC.com... though I really keep thinking to myself- Why on earth would the Elder Dr. Grey have had her house decorated like that???

It's like Country Charm... as differentiated from the much more sophisticated French Country... which almost would have made sense... her house however- was just a bad scenic designer trying to go with what's cool on sitcoms right now- which is the whole- old/dilapidated chic... which doesn't make sense in most television contexts, but certainly doesn't make sense for a world renown surgeon... really now- what's the priority of the set designer??? What ever happened to using the set to add to character development???

Is this just me???

My Hero!!!

I went down to the garage this morning to try to remove the vent hoses, again. I didn't want to open the garage door for fear the torrential winds would blow away the various parts of Selma I currently have scattered about. Though the by-product of this decision was having to lay underneath an almost two ton vehicle with all sorts of creaking noises swirling about the place... yes I know... Selma is securely jacked up- she's not going anyway... I'm just not used to being under cars yet.

I was almost immediately frustrated... I had let them sit overnight hoping the various substances I had sprayed on them would sink in and lubricate the process- but they didn't seem to be making any different. The hoses are up in a really awkward position, my arms were getting tired of holding my hands up, trying to push, pull, wiggle, or otherwise maneuver these hoses off (and every time I would use extra force something would creak somewhere and I'd irrationally pause for a second to figure out what it was). I could feel the skinnier hose starting to shred from my wiggling it so much and a small tear was developing at the end where it connected to the tube.

I decided to use the long handled flat-head screw driver that was sitting near by to try to pry the hose off. I figured, if it makes the tear worse, so be it- I think I'm putting new hoses on here regardless. And then it hit me. If I don't care if I accidentally make the tear worse... why not Purposefully make it worse!!! (You were just privy to the thought process of Genius...)

I had already taken the clamp off in it's entirety... so I fetched the above pictured Tool of Brilliance... and started carefully cutting the hose, until it popped off with ease.

I then pulled the hose clamp off the larger one, which is harder then you'd think with the weird angle and all that flaky black stuff clogging up the Phillips head and making it slip. I cut it off, then loosened the clamps on the other side of both the hoses and pulled them off the pipes they connected to.

The hoses. A lot of trouble for such small things.

My cut- you can also see bits of the fraying that was occurring a little below the cut.

There's a warning in here for all you air vent hoses out there- don't get between me and a happy, clean Selma Lee!!!

Trouble.

I'm having issues removing the fuel tank air vent hoses. I can't get the tank out until I get them off.

They've obviously experienced some suburb dry rot... they also have this weird pliable rubber material surrounding where they come out of the fuel tank. I can't find any pictures/diagrams of what's suppose to be going on up there... but something is wrong- because the screws in the hose clamps, as well as the outside of the hoses were covered in stuff that immediately started flaking off as I unscrewed them... they were coated... why would anyone coat hoses/clamps in anything??? Non-the-less this weird semi-permanent looking stuff that's now flaking off.

There was obviously something done intentionally here and I have no idea what or why... regardless of that... the clamps are loosened to wear they spin freely around the hoses, but the hoses still won't slide off the pipes. Various persuasive techniques have been employed and I will reattempt in the morning, in the mean time- here are the two troublesome hoses.

Here is their positioning in the grander scheme of the undercarriage. They're in that black void on the right, upperish side of the picture.

Just for fun- here is the screen that fuel must pass through on it's way out of the tank and along to the engine.

Here's that screen as it should look.

And last but not least in this post of pictures... I was using Metric wrenches on Selma, and someone pointed out that I might want to check that... maybe, just maybe the Germans were using Standard measurements in the 70's... don't ask me.

Well- while pulling the lining of the trunk out to access the fuel tank, I found this wrench, lost in a corner of the trunk for who knows how many years now... it says "Mercedes-Benz Made in Germany" on it- and is sized 11 and 13mm. So- I think I can officially make a positive Metric determination.

Yesterday.

This was my view as I tried to find the fuel tank plug.

This was what I used to siphon the fuel out of the tank... that is a little pump so I didn't have to start the suction by drinking fuel. That is also several parts of a coat hanger attached to the siphon hose with green electrical tape, as the hose wasn't stiff enough to be forced all the way into the tank on it's own.

Those little bits of brown particulate in the hose are algae. The first suction drew a little bit of algae into the hose, but the rest of the 8 gallons of diesel flowed out clear. When it stopped, I manually increased suction to dredge out the bottom of the tank as best I could... I let that drain into an empty juice jug- below is what came out.

You can see the almost blue color at the top is pretty clear fuel, then there's the tan layer of diluted algae sludge... and the really dark brown color at the bottom is pretty much solid algae particulate. This is a gallon sized juice container, mind you, that's a pretty fair amount of sludge... we'll see how much is still stuck in the tank later...

I cringe thinking my poor baby Selma had that... that... Eww!!! inside her!!!



Then it got dark and I stopped working... I'm going to try to get the tank entirely out today and clean out whatever bits of sludge are still in the bottom of it.

Fun times.

Motivation.

Even though the work on Selma gets done in the garage- as it's the only level ground on which to position her- somehow Blue Skies make a world of difference in my motivation.

I noticed something pink under our mailbox and went to investigate. Yes- that beautiful blue sky is what is outside out house right now. And the little purple flower on the left is one in several clumps of the first wild flowers of the season.

We let the yard go- last summer we had probably a dozen different flowers growing on their own. Plus huge Datura bushes in the wash/drainage ditch across the road, which open up large white flowers during the evenings, then close up into nondescript green bushes during the day.