I barely slept last night waiting and worrying about what I had done to my car. I had asked my local friends for referrals as to who to call. One of those items you don't think about until you have to when you have moved to a new area. The mechanic that was on the top of everyone's list didn't answer... I left a message and then called again. He had a one week wait for service but he steered me towards the only other mechanic on the hill who has transmission expertise. I called him asap. So nice and understanding when I explained what had happened. He said he would come by at lunchtime, pick up my car and deliver it before the day was done. OMG how wonderful!!!! He did just as he said and was on time! that never happens up here!!
So here is the good news. When a ford explorer's transmission fluid becomes too hot, there is a release valve that dumps the fluid out. Yes, all over my driveway! The best scenario is when you can drain the transmission, fill it up again with fluid and it runs smoothly. Yes, this is what he did and it does run smoothly. Great news!!!!
I asked my mechanic, yes, my mechanic as I have found the one who I will go to from now on.....
would he be willing to ck out my car and see if anything else needs to be worked on. I was set up to see him back on Monday.
It felt so good to have someone take a look thru my car. Well the good news is that I didn't need a new transmission. The bad news is that I did need a new radiator, front brakes, and two new tires.
Schedule for the following day.
My son and I arrived at the mechanic's after school. We set up camp with snacks, the ipad, a few good books and comfy chairs and waited... and waited.... and waited... for the work to be done.
Additional parts needed to be ordered and driven up the hill... but by 5pm. all was done!!
All of this unexpected repair had cost a lot of money... I made the decision that instead of camping the following weekend, we would stay home. Up here the county fair is a really big deal!! and school is out for the duration of the fair. We had a 5 day weekend when no one else does. What a prime time to go away! This year though we would go to the fair, spend time at home, relax, garden, have park playdates and relax some more. It was a glorious 5 day stay-cation.
p.s. The trailer is still in our driveway waiting for it's first camping trip this summer. My car is driving well. And the two new tires will be put on tomorrow. All is well.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
trailer. part 2.
oh, it felt so good to cool down and fall asleep. it had been such a long hot day....
i had the daunting task of moving the trailer this morning. juiced up on two cups of coffee, got my courage up and went outside. now, it should be fairly easy to back the trailer up the driveway, right?
started up my car and put it in reverse. oh lordy, not so easy. the car groaned and groaned. i couldn't get enough momentum to push it up the hill. so i cleared out my carport and drove it back down until
my car was in the carport. this should give me some more steam...ok push!!!
it is so hard to both push my trailer up the hill and get it where I want it. so afraid it was going to jack knife. ok, I am giving up on this idea... especially since I am smelling something burning... I decided that I would try to just move the trailer to a spot that I can unhitch it and still be able to move my car around and out of the driveway.
another half hour passes and still no success. at this point I decide I better go and get my next door neighbor to try to help me. at least he is another set of eyes and can get me lined up better. on our way to get him, he comes out his door wanting to know what is burning?? he opens the hood of my car and cks the oil, no it is just fine. now the transmission fluid, oh my the dip stick is smoking... oh what have I done????
we decide one more push up the hill. he helps me get lined up right and steers me in the right direction. success!!!! I am up the hill!!! I drive around the block and he helps me back the trailer down the driveway. success!!! we unhitch the trailer and they it has sat for the last 2 weeks!!
back to the car. we both know I have done damage... but to what extent??? nothing I can do today about it. nothing is open on sunday up here. nothing to do but wait til tomorrow....
i had the daunting task of moving the trailer this morning. juiced up on two cups of coffee, got my courage up and went outside. now, it should be fairly easy to back the trailer up the driveway, right?
started up my car and put it in reverse. oh lordy, not so easy. the car groaned and groaned. i couldn't get enough momentum to push it up the hill. so i cleared out my carport and drove it back down until
my car was in the carport. this should give me some more steam...ok push!!!
it is so hard to both push my trailer up the hill and get it where I want it. so afraid it was going to jack knife. ok, I am giving up on this idea... especially since I am smelling something burning... I decided that I would try to just move the trailer to a spot that I can unhitch it and still be able to move my car around and out of the driveway.
another half hour passes and still no success. at this point I decide I better go and get my next door neighbor to try to help me. at least he is another set of eyes and can get me lined up better. on our way to get him, he comes out his door wanting to know what is burning?? he opens the hood of my car and cks the oil, no it is just fine. now the transmission fluid, oh my the dip stick is smoking... oh what have I done????
we decide one more push up the hill. he helps me get lined up right and steers me in the right direction. success!!!! I am up the hill!!! I drive around the block and he helps me back the trailer down the driveway. success!!! we unhitch the trailer and they it has sat for the last 2 weeks!!
back to the car. we both know I have done damage... but to what extent??? nothing I can do today about it. nothing is open on sunday up here. nothing to do but wait til tomorrow....
Saturday, May 18, 2013
trailer. part 1.
finally, I have a chance to sit down at my computer and write. when you don't see updated posts you can be sure that my life is not simple during that time. all sorts of projects that were meant to be simple or simplify became far more complicated.
1. little camping trailer...
my son and I explored an rv land on the way home from the bay area a month or so ago. we discovered we really liked the tent trailers but didn't want the netting as the barrier between us
and the wildlife that lives near us. I loved the fact that I could see behind me when towing... I
remembered that years ago, I saw a "tent trailer" that had hard sides. It popped up like a chalet...
so after the weekend of rv shopping, I went online and found one of those trailers... a 94. priced at
about half of what it was worth. I called asap. and found out that it was in fresno and had been
traded in the day before by the original owner. within a day, I put down a deposit on it. it would
be ready for pick up in a week or so. being that fresno is about 3 hours away, a Saturday was our
only possibility.
finally that Saturday arrived, we woke up early, got in our suv and drove off. I knew we had the type
of hitch needed, yeh!! so easy pick up... when we got there we ckd it all out. met my expectations!!
we drove over to the service department to get "hitched". we discovered that yes, the hitch was right,
but the electrical that worked the brake lights and blinkers was missing... "missing!!?" oh my goodness, did not expect that. the mechanic wasn't so happy with us either. he said to "sit", and
he would try to get it working... 5 hours later, after sitting in the 100 degree sun in the service bay,
without food- just a few vending machine treats, he said "let me go get the damages". holy cow,
what was this going to cost me?.... he came back wanting to know what I had done, the boss was
going to comp the whole bill. near to tears, I hugged him. don't think he has been hugged in awhile!!
the other guys sort of lined up, I think all hoping for hugs as well... I didn't hug them all.
we were finally on our way. oh crap! I am pulling this huge trailer, or at least felt like it. they had
drained my battery while working on my car, so I couldn't turn off the engine and we were so
thirsty we were about to drop. so I did what any other trailer hauling mom would do, I drove thru
the drive thru!! we ordered lots of drinks... and drove off our merry way.
driving down the 99, is like driving down a dirt road after a rainstorm, bumpy bumpy bumpy..... now.
time for gas. found an easy station to pull off for. while we were at the pump, this dad looking guy
very embarrassed asked me if I could spare a few gallons... he had run out of gas, had two girls in the car, and didn't have any money left. feeling like I really needed to pay forward our free service bill, I said no problem and filled up a 4 gallon container for him. I don't think he was expecting ever to get
home that night. and off we went again.
I decided that I didn't want to go the twisty way, so we would drive to Manteca via 99 and then cut over east... shopping at target was my bribe to my son... we bought a few things for the trailer and headed off. hungry!!?? yes, as we drove thru the in and out burger drive thru. this one was tighter, but we made it!! I even asked the guy behind us if our lights were working, yes.
ok. now we are hot, tired, not hungry, and really ready to get home. knew we had another 2 hours to go. so I drove, and drove until a small car passed me and then stopped us at the stop sign... oh gosh, now what!? the stairs of the trailer had come down, and were about to scrape on the ground. thanks to the jiggling of hwy 99... fixed them. and drove off again. were we ever going to get home....
my biggest worry of this entire trip was how I was going to back down my driveway to get the trailer where it needed to be. by the time we got home, it was dark, my son was asleep and I decided to forget driving in reverse and just drove down the driveway. parked. turned off the engine. got my son. and went to bed. we would deal with it in the morning.....
1. little camping trailer...
my son and I explored an rv land on the way home from the bay area a month or so ago. we discovered we really liked the tent trailers but didn't want the netting as the barrier between us
and the wildlife that lives near us. I loved the fact that I could see behind me when towing... I
remembered that years ago, I saw a "tent trailer" that had hard sides. It popped up like a chalet...
so after the weekend of rv shopping, I went online and found one of those trailers... a 94. priced at
about half of what it was worth. I called asap. and found out that it was in fresno and had been
traded in the day before by the original owner. within a day, I put down a deposit on it. it would
be ready for pick up in a week or so. being that fresno is about 3 hours away, a Saturday was our
only possibility.
finally that Saturday arrived, we woke up early, got in our suv and drove off. I knew we had the type
of hitch needed, yeh!! so easy pick up... when we got there we ckd it all out. met my expectations!!
we drove over to the service department to get "hitched". we discovered that yes, the hitch was right,
but the electrical that worked the brake lights and blinkers was missing... "missing!!?" oh my goodness, did not expect that. the mechanic wasn't so happy with us either. he said to "sit", and
he would try to get it working... 5 hours later, after sitting in the 100 degree sun in the service bay,
without food- just a few vending machine treats, he said "let me go get the damages". holy cow,
what was this going to cost me?.... he came back wanting to know what I had done, the boss was
going to comp the whole bill. near to tears, I hugged him. don't think he has been hugged in awhile!!
the other guys sort of lined up, I think all hoping for hugs as well... I didn't hug them all.
we were finally on our way. oh crap! I am pulling this huge trailer, or at least felt like it. they had
drained my battery while working on my car, so I couldn't turn off the engine and we were so
thirsty we were about to drop. so I did what any other trailer hauling mom would do, I drove thru
the drive thru!! we ordered lots of drinks... and drove off our merry way.
driving down the 99, is like driving down a dirt road after a rainstorm, bumpy bumpy bumpy..... now.
time for gas. found an easy station to pull off for. while we were at the pump, this dad looking guy
very embarrassed asked me if I could spare a few gallons... he had run out of gas, had two girls in the car, and didn't have any money left. feeling like I really needed to pay forward our free service bill, I said no problem and filled up a 4 gallon container for him. I don't think he was expecting ever to get
home that night. and off we went again.
I decided that I didn't want to go the twisty way, so we would drive to Manteca via 99 and then cut over east... shopping at target was my bribe to my son... we bought a few things for the trailer and headed off. hungry!!?? yes, as we drove thru the in and out burger drive thru. this one was tighter, but we made it!! I even asked the guy behind us if our lights were working, yes.
ok. now we are hot, tired, not hungry, and really ready to get home. knew we had another 2 hours to go. so I drove, and drove until a small car passed me and then stopped us at the stop sign... oh gosh, now what!? the stairs of the trailer had come down, and were about to scrape on the ground. thanks to the jiggling of hwy 99... fixed them. and drove off again. were we ever going to get home....
my biggest worry of this entire trip was how I was going to back down my driveway to get the trailer where it needed to be. by the time we got home, it was dark, my son was asleep and I decided to forget driving in reverse and just drove down the driveway. parked. turned off the engine. got my son. and went to bed. we would deal with it in the morning.....
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