33 years of faithful service is going to be 34. The van passed it's free smog re-inspection!
I'm still sort of reeling from the emotional roller coaster I've been on the last few days. Here's how it went down. Last time it failed the guy recommended I get the carburetor rebuilt. I bought a kit to do that like 8 years ago and when I saw how complicated the instructions were I put it aside and forgot about it. So I dug it out of the van's medical kit and figured I had very little to lose at this point so I just went for it.
Monday- Pulled old carb out and started taking it apart to clean and rebuild it. Half way through I realized that the kit I had was the wrong one so I aborted mission and put it back together with the old parts and put it back on the van. Went to bed at 2 am.
Tuesday-Van wouldn't start in the morning. I figured I did something wrong when I put it back together so I took it back off that night and tried to rebuild it again. This time I just went all the way. Took everything apart and cleaned thoroughly (it was totally filthy in there) and ruined the original gaskets so with a razor blade and a few gaskets of the wrong shape from the kit I made one gasket that seemed promising. I put it all back together and when I picked it up to go put it back in the van a spring was laying on the table where I was working. That spring should have been one of the first things to go back in. So I rebuilt it completely again. Went to bed at 3:30 am.
Wednesday (today)- van started right up this morning! I guess it worked. Took it for a test drive and it was running great. Got home and there was a puddle of antifreeze under the van. Apparently it sprung a leak. Found that and fixed it, then started it back up and went for a drive. It was running poorly this time. Don't know why, but I spent a few hours trying to figure it out and couldn't. Then since today was the last day for my free smog retest (hence the late nights) I just drove it to the smog place still running kind of badly. I had no expectation of passing, but I figured I could at least use it as a diagnostic to see what was wrong after all my tinkering and make a new plan.
I said a little prayer in the waiting room while the van went under the sniffer. And when it was over, Jesus came and told me that it passed. That is, Jesus Portillo, the technician. I don't know if he waved the tester in the general vicinity of the tailpipe, but not directly in it or did some other trickery, and I don't really care. I was kind of in an incredulous shock. I thanked him, paid my $8 certificate fee and drove home to my faithful wife who had told me it would be alright. She was right.
So, I need some food and a lot of sleep, filled with dreams of me and the van and the new adventures we'll have in the 2009-2010 season. Those dreams may be something like the video below- special thanks to Dave and Kelsey for finding it.
Van Video
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7 comments:
Stephan, great post! I'm laughing out loud. I'm glad good old Jesus came through for you. Gotta love those tech's. Geoff took the subaru in this week (after getting pulled over twice in three days for outdated stickers) and they guy had "run all the tests" before G had even filled out the form. You were lucky though. Ours was a whopping 17 bucks!
I like that commercial. Now, do you think the fact that his name was Jesus was coincidence?
WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH!!!!!! YAH!!!!!! KA-POW!!!!!!!! BOOM!!!!! BLAM!!!!!!!!! Love you guys!
Jesus es mi luz.
I think that that commercial will help with world peace. Go Honda. Way to get the van lovers out there on board.
I was already to post something... then I just read Julie's "Jesus es mi luz" and I can't recover from my giggling.
I was so sad when the last van post came... I had such fond memories of the van on 9th east going to and from the MTC.
Plus no one should be thrown out at 33!
I am so happy for the little milagro - and very impressed with your van doctoring skills - you could add the initials VD after your name (no not venerial (sp?) disease, just Van Doctor).
i loved this post and can only imagine all the work you put into repairing the van. hard work pays off! way to go!
That commercial was awesome! I was sort of expecting a cameo by the old orange van, or maybe even Mr. T (by the way I heard there are talks for an "A-Team" movie).
Awesome!!! I'm so happy the van lives to ride again! I about fell off my chair when i read your blog. Especially Jesus coming to tell you that the van cleared! I had to read it out loud to my room mate who then instantly wished that she had a brother in law as cool as you.
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