Cars Suck II

At work, I've just moved into the new building. It's not quite done yet, so there is still a load of construction work being done. And debris in the car park. You know, like screws. Like the screw that punctured my tire (tyre?). Fortunately, I had reason to leave before lunch that day, and discovered the flat. I was able to call the leasing company and they sent out a service to replace the tire.

I got the right part for Amanda's car yesterday also, and went to my coworker's house to get the job done. He used to be a mechanic, so that made life much easier. After removing the fan belt cover, I discovered why the pulley failed in the first place. Whomever had installed the fan belt (probably from the factory) didn't get it over the power steering pump in the right location. As a result, it was putting side load onto the idler pulley. This caused the bearing to fail. If this car had been driven normal mileage during its life this would have been a warranty repair. But, it has always been a city car. It only made it to 40,000 miles after 9 years. Warranty long expired.

After getting the fan belt off, we had to 1) drop the alternator out of the way, 2) take off the bolts holding the casting that the idler and power steering pump were mounted to, 3) use a crow bar to pry it off of the rusted pin holding it in place, and then 4) replace the remnants of the old idler. This was actually easier than it sounds. Especially after we got the crow bar out.

We reassembled the bits together and went to put the new fan belt on. We tried three times before concluding that there is no way this belt fits. We fished it out and compared it to the old belt. Sixty millimeters short. Damn. Put the old belt on, and head home. Two hours.

Today, Amanda called me at work to say the battery had died. It was getting weak anyway, and the weather dropped well below freezing today. I figured that that was the end of the battery. When I got home from work today, I pulled the old battery out (marked as being installed in 2003, so very much due for replacement) , went and got a new battery, and swapped belts. Oh, I also noted that the light stock indicated that the headlights had been left on. :) (update: Amanda pointed out that there was some ambiguity as to who left the lights on. Amanda did.)

Of course nothing with this car has been simple. Not even the battery. Peugeot uses this weird terminal clamp on the positive terminal that is a one time install thing. You can try and pry it off, but it just ends up breaking. So, when you replace the battery you also have to replace this post clamp thing. Stupid French. Because this is after work, I now have to go to the Peugeot dealer tomorrow and get this stupid post clamp. It really is a stupid design. Why not just have a normal bolt on clamp like the rest of the world?

But that is it. The car should give me no more grief over the next few weeks. And in the end, I've spent less than ₤100 on Amanda's car, which is not bad for an el cheapo vehicle meant to get her around for a year. The total inventory on this car comes to:
Remove and replace blower motor to rid of voodoo spirits. ₤0.
Replace spark plug wires. ₤15.
Replace fan belt and idler pulley. ₤30.
Replace battery. ₤40.

I'm happy with how it all came out.

Spring Is Here?

I'm probably getting my hopes up, but today was beautiful. The sky was clear blue and the temperature was in the 40's. The girl and I drove to Castleton and went on a 3.5 mile hike up Mam Tor. Sort of the Peak District version of Half Dome, except it only has a prominence of about 800 feet. Our hike took us from the bottom of the valley up to Hollins Cross and then across the ridge to the top of Mam Tor. We took our time and stopped multiple times for snacks and photos. The best weekend weather in a while. As a result, it was crowded everywhere. We couldn't find any parking places in Castleton, and had to park at a lot near Speedwell Cavern (about a half mile out of town). This actually ended up being a great place to start off from, though a bit pricey for a car park (minimum of 3 pounds for four hours).

If the weather stays like this (fat chance) it will be hard to go.

Cars Suck

Pop quiz. Do you know what this is (or more appropriately, what this used to be)? It's the mangled remains of the idler pulley for the auxiliary (a.k.a. fan) belt in Amanda's car. It appears as though the bearing seized, which led to the plastic shearing away from the bearing. This then rubbed against the remains of the bearing, melting down to just a rim. Finally, it slipped over and the belt ate away part of the outside. In it's last grasp for freedom, it threw itself off of the mounting shaft and into a cavity in the engine compartment, where it got tossed around by the fan belt with a clatter loud enough to get Amanda to call me.

She drove home safely and I found the above piece wedged between the fan belt and the chassis. Amanda and I fished the part out that evening and I took it into work the next day. After scanning some photos on e-bay with my co-workers Wednesday, we determined that it was the tensioner pulley for the fan belt. So, I called a local parts store and ordered the part, as well as a new fan belt. I picked up the tension arm assembly Friday. Sure looks like the part. Then Friday evening I take a look inside Amanda's car again. Not the tension pulley. Only the idler pulley. Hard to explain why this was an easy mistake to make, but it was. It wasn't clear until I was holding the part in my hand and comparing it to what was in the car. And by comparing I mean looking into dark recesses with a torch and feeling around with my hands. They pack everything in so tightly these days.

Today, I'm calling around seeing if anybody has it in stock. It's not looking promising. So that means I'll have to take Monday off to fix the car. However, the good news is that while the tension arm set me back about 50 pounds, the idler pulley is only about 15 pounds.

Onomotopoeia

I may get scorned for this post, but I think it's worth it.

What word do you think best describes the sound of a sock hitting a pillow? Poof maybe? How about flif (I made that one up)? According to Amanda the correct answer is, "...Hit the pillow with a thud." Thud? Thud is the sound of a brick hitting hard dirt. Thud is the word for your head slamming into the door that was closing when you weren't paying attention. Thud in no way describes the sound of a SOCK hitting a PILLOW.

Let me back up a bit.

I have to wake up about 45 minutes before Amanda, which in and of itself sucks. As I was looking for a pair of socks in my sock pile (who folds their socks, really), I came across one of Amanda's. So, to segregate it from my stuff, I tossed it onto my pillow which happened to be next to Amanda's face while she slept. No harm, no foul.

After I got home from work that night, I mentioned that I found one of her socks in my sock pile and left it on the bed for her. She said, "Yes, I noticed it this morning when you tossed it at my face and it hit the pillow with a thud."

I couldn't stop laughing. It was like a phrase that Douglas Adams would write ("Hung in the air in much the same way that a brick doesn't"). But here's the thing, she was serious, and my laughing was making the whole situation worse. How can you not laugh when someone describes the sound of a sock hitting a pillow as a thud.

If I could write, the above would be funny. I guess you had to be there.

I guess you also had to be me.