It's almost 10 pm on Sunday evening and I'm sitting behind a gas station about 25 miles from home and about 40 miles from my shop. Didn't get very far for having let the shop at 330 this afternoon. It started out well. A little rain, some clouds with the sun breaking through here and there, and warm weather. Looked like a nice drive to Chicago.
But about 50 miles from the shop I had a check engine light pop up. I checked my gauges and listened for anything out of the ordinary and everything seemed fine. In about a minute the light went off, just as I was about to pull over and see what I could find. Dummy me, I decided to keep going and see what happened.
Just after the next exit it popped on again. I still couldn't tell anything was wrong but at the next exit ramp I pulled over to the shoulder and opened the hood to check for something obvious. No leaks, levels are still as good as they were when I left an hour before. So it's back into the cab and I start punching buttons on the computer to check the diagnostics. It shows one active fault and when I get to the fault description this is what it says. "Engine Bad 128s23 12." Does this mean I've got a bad engine? Now the Check Engine light is coming on every other minute or so and going out after about 30 seconds. I tried to call my boss to see if he had a clue about it and got his machine. I cleared the fault and when the light came on again I checked to see if the new fault was the same. Now the computer is registering "No Active Fault". Hmmm.
So I figured, let's see what happens here and I pulled out onto the road again. And there it is. I can feel it in the pull. She just doesn't want to get up and go like she normally does. I can still get up to speed but it's taking a bit longer. Somethings just not right. There's a garage about 20 miles in front of me and when I finally get hold of the boss, his decision is to let his regular garage check it out. So I find the next exit again, turn around and start back towards home. As I'm driving, it dawns on me that the other truck he wants me to take is already loaded with another drivers load (his regular truck was in the shop getting serviced) and that driver probably took the keys home with him. A quick call confirms this fact. Maybe I'll luck out and find another set of keys in the lock box, where they are supposed to be. He says he'll come to the shop if I can't find any other keys.
I finally get back to the shop, get inside, and lo and behold...no keys. In a box that's set up to hold about 20 extra sets of keys for different vehicles and doors, there are exactly three keys, and one key is to a box truck we don't even have anymore.
So I call him back and tell him the bad news. No problem, he says and he's on his way. Meanwhile, I've got to unload all my personal crap out of my truck into the other one, drop my trailer, and try not to forget anything that I might need. I got curious and checked the computer again. Interesting. Now it reads "Engine #2cyl injector 128s003 15." I know this one. It's a bad injector. Actually, it's more likely to a loose wire on top of the injector, which is the same problem I had on cylinder #5 about a month ago. No big deal, but she runs like crap.
The other fellow shows up and we get it all switched over and I'm off again. And then the rain hits. My goodness, it's a bad one. Rain blowing sideways across the road and I can't see squat but for about 50 yards. Thank goodness that didn't last long. But as I said before, I didn't get very far before I decided enough was enough. It had already been a long day at home and I was just trying to get close Chicago. It's easier for me to drive early than late so I figured I'd get to bed early and hit the road early.
So here I sit, thankful that I do not have a back haul already lined up. I don't have to rush tomorrow for anything. Just take my time and get the job done. A good book is calling my name.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
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3 comments:
just so you know i commented TWICE on this post.
TWICE.
and blogger apparently ate it.
I'm sure there is an important lesson to learned here. What is it?
Kimmy, blogger is just that way, you know. Voracious.
Mom, the only lesson I could come up with was one I thought I'd learned a while ago. Don't get in a hurry or providence will surely slow you down.
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