or How much horse bedding does it take to soak up 1 gallon of Castrol 10w-30?
Ugh… One of those days. I spent most of my day interviewing and eliminating candidates from a job we’re looking to fill. The nerve of some folks, man… It just goes to show that a good resume will get you in the door, and that you can’t judge a book (or person) by their resume alone. Felt like my whole day was a waste.
On the way home I decided I’d do something productive. The cage was a little overdue for an oil change and for the first time in a long time I had an evening free.
So I pull in the driveway, jump out, put the car up on ramps. It looks like it might rain soon. I run in the house, change clothes and get busy. Like any shade tree mechanic in 85 degree weather with 90% humidity I opt for my wife beater, shorts and flip flops.
This isn’t rocket science and I’ve changed the oil on this car ~20 plus times if not more. Should take 5-10 minutes tops.
I get the oil pail, of course it’s full, from the last time so I dump that into a 5gal pail. Crawl under and remove the drain plug. Simple as that.
Then we get to the oil filter. This particular car, a 1999 Chrysler Cirrus, has the oil filter right there where you can see it and reach it. It’s right there where you can’t really get a decent oil wrench on it. No sweat, been down this road before and I can usually muscle it off, but not this time. I really try not to over tighten them but with this car it always seems to bake them on or something. After busting knuckles trying all 3 of my wrenches and being unable to come up with the combination I’ve used in the past, I start the hunt for the big-ass channel locks that I have, but they are missing.
I finally give in and go with the ‘drive a screw driver through the filter’ plan. That rarely works unless you get it clean through the center, even then it’s a iffy situation. As in this case it only tore the filter open. But open enough to allow me to grab the damn thing with the smaller pair of channel locks that I could find and get it off.
Easy peasy…
I locate my spare filter, lube it up and install it. Just about then it starts to sprinkle, and thunder quite a bit. #@!$!, so I hop up, grab the gallon jug of 10w 30 and start pouring it in. Of course you can’t pour it in with the funnel I have so you dribble it in.
I’m about 3/4 way through the gallon, just about ready to stop and check the level and my right foot feels funny. Uhm, it’s wet and slimy feeling. I look down and realize that I never put the drain plug back in.
$#@%@$% The cardboard I was laying on is totally soaked and a river is forming that is running into my barn. @@#$#@! I don’t have any oil dry so I throw my rag down in the path hoping to slow it down. I hoof it back to the other barn hoping, no, praying, that we still have some shavings left. I grab the package and run back to the car. About a 1/2 a package of shavings and think I’ve got it covered. But I’m also covered in oil/shavings…
What a waste and mess!
Luckilly I had another gallon so I could at least finish the job.
Sorry no pictures, didn’t want to get the camera in the messy state I was in.
:/
Hope your day was better than mine.
_self
The Ohio Salvage Title Process
December 11, 2008 in Commentary, Just Ramblings, Vehicles by MAD | No comments
What a pain.
In June we purchased a nice/reasonable teenager car (1998 Escort ZX2). Fairly low miles, good tires, with heat and AC for $1500.
Last week it was wrecked, or rather run into in a parking lot incident. The damage wasn’t all that bad, but the suspension was broken.
The person was covered by Progressive. All in all the claim service has been decent. The problem is they won’t use any used/remanufactured/aftermarket suspension parts. So the cost of fixing the suspension pushed passed the value of the vehicle.
Hence, it’s "Totaled".
It’s still a decent car given it’s purpose. Good gas mileage, working AC, etc.
So we’re taking the settlement, minus the buy back ($250) and we’re going to fix it. Cost to fix: ~$1200-ish. that does not include a new bumper, but does include beating out the dent in the fender so it’s not so bad. Remember, teenage driver, to/from school and work is it’s primary purpose.
So, the Salvage process goes like this.
To get the settlement from Progressive I have to convert the Title to salvage. Cost: $5.00.
I then have to bounce next door and buy a Salvage Inspection Certificate. Cost: $53.00.
The car is now Salvage and as such is not licensed to be on the road. (We can’t drive it). It will be fixed tomorrow or Saturday, but we’re stuck. We can’t drive it until our inspection date which generally runs 30 days out. The body shop had an inspection certificate which they claim is transferable so they made the inspection appointment for us for Dec 22nd. So we’re without wheels until then.
We now wait for the car to be repaired, and for Dec 22nd to roll around. We are permitted to drive it to the inspection location (on the certificate).
Once it passes, we then have to go back to the Title agency and convert the title to rebuilt salvage. (Another $6.00). Then again bounce next door to the registrar and pay to have the plate put back on it (Another $4.50).
The little costs add up, but it’s more the time and running around that’s a big pain in the butt.
It seems to me that this whole process could be streamlined for instant rebuilds like ours. I recognize that most of them don’t go this way, but the typical 30 day lag for the inspection for instant rebuilds is a big inconvenience.
Another fine example of how efficient our governments are.