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180,000 miles major minor maintenance blues...
'91 Festiva L, 5-speed; motor excellent, Auto-Rx treatment 50,000 miles ago, plugs always like a new car's; 35 mpg/freeway, 13" rims & 155R-13 tires/42 mpg loafing around 60 mph, 27-30 mpg around town.*
This is a day I knew would come; easy to predict, also as such things go, nice to be parked at my apartment's door a few feet away. The alternator's shot; and when getting that tested last week, their technician noticed the water pump leaks.
Besides when low on oil I hear the lifters, suggesting the oil pump could be nearing dysfunction. I'm imagining the cam and crank shaft seals leak, behind the timing belt; as oil has shown up in the general area, while the need to add oil to the crankcase is obvious if not out of hand, I'd once never had to do. The valve cover gasket also seems culpable; and after carefully snugging the bolts on that twice I don't want to tempt the fates by over-tightening them, which as a mechanic who trained in my youth with cast iron is always one potential fault I've suffered. Without looking again at the books, the Haynes or Ford Festiva factory manual; I guess there are seals on the other ends of the crank and cam shafts both. So, hard to imagine they've not been affected and/or could be going bad in the not distant future.
I've also adjusted the clutch twice in the nearly 100,000 miles I've been with my Festiva, by far the best car I've ever owned; so guessing, the clutch, pressure-plate and throw-out bearing are near ready for replacement, or not too early for renewal to be on the safe side; which once done should be good to 400,000 miles or more, as I'm a feather-foot in many things and imagine getting as good or better than OEM quality replacement parts. I've always heard noise from the throw-out bearing, by the way; so have sometimes wondered why that has yet to fail?
Another problem is the radiator cooling fan; which for the first three years or so I had the car, I didn't notice never worked; which must be due to a faulty thermostat, is the best theory. I've been avoiding to try changing the thermostat, because of stories at this website about the likelihood of breaking the housing the thermostat is screwed into; which is a procedure I'm confident of success with reasonably enough, if I chose the time and place rather than dealing with things in a panic. So as a convenience I disconnected the wire from the thermostat to the radiator fan, so the fan would run all the time; I did only about three years ago, because of the frequent freeway traffic jams of stop and go traffic lasting miles during trips to Seattle and back ninety miles south of here. At the place where I had the charging system checked a week ago; I noticed the cooling fan wasn't working. I'd just given the battery a full charge with a trickle charger, then drove a few blocks to the shop; so with a full charge the fan should've been turning at full power, is my theory.
Which is the motor's short list of things a mental relief to do and/or have done all at once; rather than trying to approach these piecemeal. The place the alternator was tested at last week, where I'd gotten a new 75 month battery December of 2010; offered to change the water pump and timing belt if I provide the latter, for around $225 including the cost of a replacement water pump. But, as a radiator/battery place; they don't have the expertise to also change the crank and cam shaft seals behind the timing belt, and while into the motor that deep, I'd think changing the oil pump at the same time would be a natural too.
What has always been my fantasy since about 120,000 miles as I began to imagine the inevitable; would be to find a place to pull the whole engine/trans-axle assembly and do everything at once. Particularly since I'm half-way through the Aspire brake swap, with a '97 Aspire rear axle already installed; and all the rest of that Aspire's front-end parts sitting in the car under or behind the front seats. I took off a car with an automatic apparently; April of '07 at John's Wrecking Yard in Eureka, CA. I've also changed one of the Festiva's half-shafts, and have installed the racing/lowering springs from Festiva Motor Sports front and rear; so figure I'm reasonably technically competent, with all the necessary tools, except for a hoist and an engine stand.
Now, I plan for the next few months saving money & acquiring the parts, to make the whole procedure at once feasible; then from there and during that process, attempt to figure out how to actually accomplish my goal of long-term peace of mind with my car. Rather than being tortured by both frequent enough breakdowns, as well as the vulnerability those commonly occasion; as well as the brutal disruption of the rest of my life's interests, far from automotive maintenance realms. Focused in part around the arts and music as well as leftist radical political notions, of reasonable ideology and rational thought; as a long time student of macrobiotics & yoga, also a writer and a musician without great talent, though love of music: Into 19th century notions of what defines a gentleman; then called "lute & letters."
What gets knarly; is trying to imagine somehow pulling the engine and trans-axle in the parking space in front of my apartment in this ninety unit four building complex in the town's apartment ghetto, then bringing those inside the one bedroom 450 square foot apartment's front room, to give them a deluxe treatment there. I try to imagine other resources, though then having to depend on others for seeming charity. Actually their advantaging of themselves, where I'm prone to think I'm well into the legal category called "usufruct" which means the right of using someone else's property, if not an interruption or loss in anyway to them. So, of course that would require negotiation, always the imagining of which at least; seems worse than acting more independently.
I've a trusty forty year-old ten-speed, bought as a $20 unrideable wreck in '97;(actually a fifteen speed now from a front three-ring sprocket given me at bike shop years ago in Arcata, CA invaluable when I'm out of condition) I'm an expert with, nearly a work of art with fenders, front and rear carrier racks, generator head and tail lights with reflectors everywhere. I'm used to getting around on for months at a time even in the worst of winter weather; if also too much girth now to get into a $5 Navy surplus parka that wasn't too snug three years ago, that with a pair of east German army surplus rain pants; stood me well while homeless all the fall, winter and spring of '98 in northern Humboldt county; allowing savings enough not paying rent, to buy the Festiva that June. An arduous, unexpected, adventure falling back on an old boy scout's out of doors training; added to frequently enough since then, in other stretches without paying rent and lacking any domicile, or living out of cars. Nothing like the couch surfing with friends some people experience as homelessness, and others often imagine of someone else as articulate and educated as myself; I guess? [http://www.voiceofroma.com]
I'm a person at sixty years old now,(an event I'm trying to promote as my "mid life crisis") always someone peripheral to the groups I've been attracted to and involved with, so basically an unintentional loner searching for reasonable companionship and ending up with a plethora of interesting friends; whose life's important persons and acquaintances are almost all quite physically remote from me here near the Canadian border. I'm also well adapted to the Festiva in many ways impossible to imagine duplication of with any other vehicle; short of something horse-drawn by just one of those: Particularly as a person with physical disabilities from early in life and juvenile spinal disease poorly diagnosed until I was twenty-four, and the complex ramifications of that; over a quarter century dependent upon SSDI/SSI income, with HUD section 8 rent subsidy ten years & food stamps since leaving California, with the latter always a little demeaning perhaps.
The car's great rolled metal futon frame roof-rack for instance; which with the stiff FMS suspension, is at least as handy as having a small pick-up truck when needing to move myself, averaging 30 mpg. As with eight massive loads from Eureka the winter and spring of '08 nearly seven hundred miles: When circumstances dictated, since too poor at any given time when that was crucial, to rent a Budget truck and a rig for towing the car: While also renting storage on this end, along with the 10' x 15' unit in Eureka; as well as the cost moving into the apartment I have now.
While also always having to guard as well as possible, against suspicious circumstances feasibly contrived against me; from within entities like vast commercial banks, some of whose employees seem to act with cavalier abandon & impunity using the facilities they've access to, illegally; to advance their right-wing and reactionary political agendas. Seeming "mistakes" whose coincidence always seemed to coincide regularly with my extreme vulnerability. As someone a leftist radical; yet very much by the seat of my pants, far too irregular to be claimed by any one organization as their own. In effect, an elder mascot once a junior one of those: Imagined continually drawing heart enough from shared concepts of the troubling state of humanity, I'll be a self-righting phenomena emotionally. Which when that works, is great; right? I'm always game.
.
This is a day I knew would come; easy to predict, also as such things go, nice to be parked at my apartment's door a few feet away. The alternator's shot; and when getting that tested last week, their technician noticed the water pump leaks.
Besides when low on oil I hear the lifters, suggesting the oil pump could be nearing dysfunction. I'm imagining the cam and crank shaft seals leak, behind the timing belt; as oil has shown up in the general area, while the need to add oil to the crankcase is obvious if not out of hand, I'd once never had to do. The valve cover gasket also seems culpable; and after carefully snugging the bolts on that twice I don't want to tempt the fates by over-tightening them, which as a mechanic who trained in my youth with cast iron is always one potential fault I've suffered. Without looking again at the books, the Haynes or Ford Festiva factory manual; I guess there are seals on the other ends of the crank and cam shafts both. So, hard to imagine they've not been affected and/or could be going bad in the not distant future.
I've also adjusted the clutch twice in the nearly 100,000 miles I've been with my Festiva, by far the best car I've ever owned; so guessing, the clutch, pressure-plate and throw-out bearing are near ready for replacement, or not too early for renewal to be on the safe side; which once done should be good to 400,000 miles or more, as I'm a feather-foot in many things and imagine getting as good or better than OEM quality replacement parts. I've always heard noise from the throw-out bearing, by the way; so have sometimes wondered why that has yet to fail?
Another problem is the radiator cooling fan; which for the first three years or so I had the car, I didn't notice never worked; which must be due to a faulty thermostat, is the best theory. I've been avoiding to try changing the thermostat, because of stories at this website about the likelihood of breaking the housing the thermostat is screwed into; which is a procedure I'm confident of success with reasonably enough, if I chose the time and place rather than dealing with things in a panic. So as a convenience I disconnected the wire from the thermostat to the radiator fan, so the fan would run all the time; I did only about three years ago, because of the frequent freeway traffic jams of stop and go traffic lasting miles during trips to Seattle and back ninety miles south of here. At the place where I had the charging system checked a week ago; I noticed the cooling fan wasn't working. I'd just given the battery a full charge with a trickle charger, then drove a few blocks to the shop; so with a full charge the fan should've been turning at full power, is my theory.
Which is the motor's short list of things a mental relief to do and/or have done all at once; rather than trying to approach these piecemeal. The place the alternator was tested at last week, where I'd gotten a new 75 month battery December of 2010; offered to change the water pump and timing belt if I provide the latter, for around $225 including the cost of a replacement water pump. But, as a radiator/battery place; they don't have the expertise to also change the crank and cam shaft seals behind the timing belt, and while into the motor that deep, I'd think changing the oil pump at the same time would be a natural too.
What has always been my fantasy since about 120,000 miles as I began to imagine the inevitable; would be to find a place to pull the whole engine/trans-axle assembly and do everything at once. Particularly since I'm half-way through the Aspire brake swap, with a '97 Aspire rear axle already installed; and all the rest of that Aspire's front-end parts sitting in the car under or behind the front seats. I took off a car with an automatic apparently; April of '07 at John's Wrecking Yard in Eureka, CA. I've also changed one of the Festiva's half-shafts, and have installed the racing/lowering springs from Festiva Motor Sports front and rear; so figure I'm reasonably technically competent, with all the necessary tools, except for a hoist and an engine stand.
Now, I plan for the next few months saving money & acquiring the parts, to make the whole procedure at once feasible; then from there and during that process, attempt to figure out how to actually accomplish my goal of long-term peace of mind with my car. Rather than being tortured by both frequent enough breakdowns, as well as the vulnerability those commonly occasion; as well as the brutal disruption of the rest of my life's interests, far from automotive maintenance realms. Focused in part around the arts and music as well as leftist radical political notions, of reasonable ideology and rational thought; as a long time student of macrobiotics & yoga, also a writer and a musician without great talent, though love of music: Into 19th century notions of what defines a gentleman; then called "lute & letters."
What gets knarly; is trying to imagine somehow pulling the engine and trans-axle in the parking space in front of my apartment in this ninety unit four building complex in the town's apartment ghetto, then bringing those inside the one bedroom 450 square foot apartment's front room, to give them a deluxe treatment there. I try to imagine other resources, though then having to depend on others for seeming charity. Actually their advantaging of themselves, where I'm prone to think I'm well into the legal category called "usufruct" which means the right of using someone else's property, if not an interruption or loss in anyway to them. So, of course that would require negotiation, always the imagining of which at least; seems worse than acting more independently.
I've a trusty forty year-old ten-speed, bought as a $20 unrideable wreck in '97;(actually a fifteen speed now from a front three-ring sprocket given me at bike shop years ago in Arcata, CA invaluable when I'm out of condition) I'm an expert with, nearly a work of art with fenders, front and rear carrier racks, generator head and tail lights with reflectors everywhere. I'm used to getting around on for months at a time even in the worst of winter weather; if also too much girth now to get into a $5 Navy surplus parka that wasn't too snug three years ago, that with a pair of east German army surplus rain pants; stood me well while homeless all the fall, winter and spring of '98 in northern Humboldt county; allowing savings enough not paying rent, to buy the Festiva that June. An arduous, unexpected, adventure falling back on an old boy scout's out of doors training; added to frequently enough since then, in other stretches without paying rent and lacking any domicile, or living out of cars. Nothing like the couch surfing with friends some people experience as homelessness, and others often imagine of someone else as articulate and educated as myself; I guess? [http://www.voiceofroma.com]
I'm a person at sixty years old now,(an event I'm trying to promote as my "mid life crisis") always someone peripheral to the groups I've been attracted to and involved with, so basically an unintentional loner searching for reasonable companionship and ending up with a plethora of interesting friends; whose life's important persons and acquaintances are almost all quite physically remote from me here near the Canadian border. I'm also well adapted to the Festiva in many ways impossible to imagine duplication of with any other vehicle; short of something horse-drawn by just one of those: Particularly as a person with physical disabilities from early in life and juvenile spinal disease poorly diagnosed until I was twenty-four, and the complex ramifications of that; over a quarter century dependent upon SSDI/SSI income, with HUD section 8 rent subsidy ten years & food stamps since leaving California, with the latter always a little demeaning perhaps.
The car's great rolled metal futon frame roof-rack for instance; which with the stiff FMS suspension, is at least as handy as having a small pick-up truck when needing to move myself, averaging 30 mpg. As with eight massive loads from Eureka the winter and spring of '08 nearly seven hundred miles: When circumstances dictated, since too poor at any given time when that was crucial, to rent a Budget truck and a rig for towing the car: While also renting storage on this end, along with the 10' x 15' unit in Eureka; as well as the cost moving into the apartment I have now.
While also always having to guard as well as possible, against suspicious circumstances feasibly contrived against me; from within entities like vast commercial banks, some of whose employees seem to act with cavalier abandon & impunity using the facilities they've access to, illegally; to advance their right-wing and reactionary political agendas. Seeming "mistakes" whose coincidence always seemed to coincide regularly with my extreme vulnerability. As someone a leftist radical; yet very much by the seat of my pants, far too irregular to be claimed by any one organization as their own. In effect, an elder mascot once a junior one of those: Imagined continually drawing heart enough from shared concepts of the troubling state of humanity, I'll be a self-righting phenomena emotionally. Which when that works, is great; right? I'm always game.
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