Found out the reason I needed to stay on Vashon and come to repair place Wednesday night. As was nearing garage remembered there was a showcase of sorts, so stopped in and talked with a good friend that did a Celtic Cross spread on me. He awakened me to some actions I really need to take, otherwise more excellent things will slip by. I generally lead my life in that the important things will land in my lap, slap me in the face, and be obnoxious until I recognized said thing. He advised me that this was not the case.. WHEN they appear I need to reach out and grab those items in life that are dearest to me.. Another aspect of The Meaning, and another reason why I NEED to go to New Mexico, to clear things up.
So, my "new" plan is...
- Get rear main seal replaced (Monday with any luck)
- Begin traveling 3-4 hours a day to New Mexico, as work permits
- Make side trip to Oregon coast (feel strong urge for the ocean, burrow feet down into sand in the surf and hear it crashing to shore)
- Continue to New Mexico
The sadness I felt was very great and very deep. Had a super strong desire to leave, and still have desire. The sadness I felt is still with me, and felt very similar to sadness I had when lost Pia and Mia. Really really not sure why this delay hit me so hard.
The garage and mechanics here are great, it's a tough and labor intensive job, they even let me peek and poke, which is interesting. More stuff to write about.
So far, from what I've seen, they've had to do the following (Cliff notes version):
- Disconnect wiring harnesses
- Disconnect hoses
- Drain transmission oil
- Unhook transmission cooler lines (actually had to remove "faceplate" from transmission instead of hoses, due to super tight fittings)
- Move away exhaust (see below)
- Disconnect drive shaft (took 45+ minutes by itself, very very tight fit (good sometimes, not here))
- Remove bolts inside flywheel / torque converter housing (little peephole to remove them, and not THAT type of peephole)
- Remove bolts on flywheel / torque converter housing that secures transmission to it
 | |
| Drive shaft unhooked |
Went to Harmon Tap Room, for lunch and a small pizza when got a call from garage as was pulling into parking lot there (came over helmet). The exhaust was HOT to the touch after engine was off 3-4 hours... puzzling...
Long story short, they spent some time diagnosing it and found that the cable from battery to starter was resting on the exhaust, and can guess the rest from there. They also identified that the exhaust pipe was broken at the flair fitting coming out of the exhaust manifold (a guess on location).
Cable to the starter was shorting, and sparking, on the exhaust. It looks somewhat new and don't think it was there for too long otherwise would've expected more damage to the wire, and worn down batteries. My thoughts are it was hanging on just barely, then slight movement of things and it fell. I wrapped it in several layers (5 or so) of electrical tape and am waiting for reinstall of transmission. While electrical tape isn't heat resistant am thinking it'll at least help. Probably best to get some shrink tubing as wire will still go over exhaust pipe.
Broken pipe I somewhat new about, as there is a flex pipe that was busted (have patch but never patched it). Will get some of the parts to fix it to save them time. Time is very critical now but it still needs to be done properly..
Will await Monday morning... 8 am...
No comments:
Post a Comment