Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Fluid to the Face

I was up a couple minutes early, and once again I didn’t sleep that well. However, aside from feeling a little short slept, I was fine. It was another cloudy, chilly start to the day. After sit-ups I learned that it was 47 degrees. Not expected to get beyond 50 again. We’re in that weird loop thing I’ve talked about before whee our weather comes from the east and keeps wrapping around us. It happens almost every May, and sometimes carries through Memorial Day. This time, though, they’re predicting a quick end. Friday’s supposed to be back in the mid 70s and sunny. Until then, we’ll just need to endure the cold and rain.

Eiknarf and I headed out for our walk. Reminded me of early December. There was a chilly breeze blowing against us from the north/northeast. We were back at home by 556a. I poured coffee and relaxed in front of my PC where I read some of brother Glenn’s blog as well as the Daily OM. I’m sure he knows, but his blog is difficult to read. The font’s not too many shades apart from the background.

I got lost in time in a hurry. It was 615a like that. Geesh! It was beyond my time to meditate and stretch. I still managed to give both their due. The meditation was admittedly brief but still effective. Stretching went well too. I finished at 626a and delivered coffee and the pug to Mindy, who was already mid-shower.

It was after 630a as I prepared for my run, and 638a as I headed out the door. I dressed warmly in freshly laundered running clothes. I ran the full 4.1 miles. Went by quickly. During my run I considered when/how I might get to tinkering with the Trooper’s transmission issue. I wanted to do it really soon, so I'll know how to proceed in new car negotiations.  Tuesday would be ideal, either at lunch or immediately after work.

I wasn’t back home until 718am. My run seems to be taking longer these days. I guess I’m slowing down. Mindy was making scrambled eggs. With the few minutes I had before they were ready, I prepped part of my lunch.

Jacob had a donut and Bella had cereal. There were plenty scrambled eggs left in the pan for Eiknarf. I gave her only half of what was there and put the rest in a storage container.
Mindy reminded the kids to bus home as normal then left for school.  I was preparing to head upstairs to shower when it occurred to me that right then might be the best time to mess with the Trooper. I figured it would take me an hour tops. All of the sudden, that was my plan. I was dressed in my running clothes and already sweaty. What the heck.

To accommodate, I backed the BM’er out of the garage and parked in front of the house along the curb. Of course, it started to rain as soon as I pulled it out. No biggie. I then moved the large sheet of cardboard I leave on one side of the garage floor to catch winter drippings over where  the BM’er was. I then pulled the Trooper in. I aligned my metal ramps up with the front tires and tried driving up. I tried three times, each unsuccessful. The tires pushed the ramps forward. I quickly abandoned that idea, and decided to belly crawl under without raising it.

I gathered my socket set and trouble light. Before crawling under, however, I went to the bus stop with the kids. It was 756a. I waited there with the kids and Chrissy in the rain. As soon as the bus was there and gone I headed back to the house to get busy.

The first thing I did was inspect the transmission lines leaving the main transmission body towards the radiator looking for an obvious leak source. Appeared there were two, and both were functional and dry. OK. I then checked to see how easy the fill plug would loosen. I picked the right socket size by eye balling it. It came off fairly easily. Great!
As expected, no fluid came out.

Next, I compared the hole size with the adapter hose I bought with the fluid. Bottom line, the hose was too big for the fill hole. What to do? Hmmm? I remembered having a hand pump (looks similar to a hand held air pump used to inflate balls) with a hose at each end used for changing oil in my boat. I went to the basement to see if I could find it. I found it immediately. Wahoo!

Basically, it’s used to suck the oil up through the dipstick and empty into a nearby pan. In this case I needed it to operate in reverse. I was able to reverse the hoses to fit my application (I must be living right). I placed the 5/8” hose down into the fluid quart bottle and the small 3/8” hose into the small fill hole that points straight down. I started the pump action without giving much, if any, consideration to the mechanics of the process. The pumping action was difficult, almost as if the hose was partially clogged. I kept at it, but couldn’t readily tell if it was actually transferring fluid into the transmission reservoir or not. As I was pumping there was a loud pop. The small fill hose popped off the pump and blew several ounces of transmission fluid directly into my face, eyes, nose, mouth, hair and ears. I couldn’t react abruptly because of the tightly confined space under the vehicle.

I was angry. I eventually slid out from underneath and wiped it first away from my eyes then the rest of my face. I headed in to flush my eyes just to be safe, although somehow it didn’t seem to get directly in my eyes. Quick reflexes, I guess. After cleaning myself up I checked the quart bottle. It was all but empty. Turns out, plenty of the fluid transferred. I’m guessing I took about 4 ounces to the face. After considering the physics, it made sense. I was pumping from the bottle via a 5/8” hose yet dispersing it via the much smaller 3/8” hose. OK. Note to self.

The second quart went much smoother. I didn’t have any accidents, and placed about half a quart in the transmission before it started to drip out. I was encouraged. I cleaned up my mess and then took the Trooper for a test ride. Performed well. Ran and shifted smoothly from gear to gear. Very encouraging. Although, I can’t lose sight of the fact that there’s a leak. Just not sure if it’s a slow leak over a long period of time, or a big leak that happens quickly.

Either way, my thought is to trade it in. No more messing around. The Blue Book trade-in value for a Trooper Limited in fair condition is $5600. That’s what I’ll be shooting for. Shortly after taking the fluid to the face, I called my boss and let him know that I’d be about an hour late. I explained my dilemma. He was fine with it.
It was about 9a. I parked the Trooper at the curb then put away my mess and headed in for a shower. My freshly laundered running clothes needed washed again, too. I smelt like transmission fluid. Go figure!

I was ready to leave the house by 920a. I felt good heading in to work knowing that I had at least temporarily solved my Trooper dilemma. I had legitimate trade-in bait. I could now focus my attention on picking a new vehicle.

I arrived at work just after 930a and quickly became immersed in the daily fray. I stayed busy all day. Didn’t bother taking a lunch, essentially regarding the hour late as a lunch period. Of course, I still ate my packed lunch around 1p.  Talked with Mindy at some point and shared the details of my dilemma. It gave her a good laugh. Made me laugh at myself too.

I left for home just after 530p. Mindy let me know earlier that she wouldn’t be home until after Bella’s gymnastics - stopping at Target for a baby shower gift.  I arrived home to an empty house. A note on the island confirmed her plans and pointed out that Jacob went with. Also shared that Eiknarf had already been walked. I did my usual chores then decided to use the quiet time to update my blog, something I’ve been neglecting until the weekends of late. I got my blog current through Monday and even added photos. I finished around 720p, or the same time that Mindy and the kids got home.

Mindy bought the kids Canes chicken. I'm not on board with all the rage over Canes. I don’t find it appealing whatsoever. Mindy and I heated leftover steak, my ½ filet and a T-bone for her. I had to broil mine for 10 minutes. You may recall, half mine was next to raw Sunday afternoon. It was very good. We reheated some fresh green beans too. They might’ve been better this go round.

After dinner I walked down to the neighbors to give Chrissy a check for our share of the Myrtle Beach vacation home. Bella was there watching a Justin Bieber show with Makayla. It was 820p, or ten minutes before Bella was told to be home. I decided to wait.  We walked home together.

At home, we gathered on the sofa to watch a program about the Earth. I started to fall asleep quickly. At some point I gave in to the urge but not before throwing a pillow on the familyroom floor and diving on it belly up. I didn’t wake again until 930p. Mindy and the kids were already in bed. I caught a second wind and stayed up for another hour.  I headed to bed at 1030p.

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