Truck and Girl

Air.

2007-11-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

Wow. Haven't been here for a while. Thanks for all the fucking crap spam shit, guys! I don't need it though because I have MEGADICK.

I'd been noticing that my steering was particularly soupy for the last few weeks, especially trying to turn at slow speed. I was worried there might be something wrong with the whole steering column/axle shit.

Turns out all it needed was a little air in the tires.

So easy!

By the way, am considering co-opting the Snatch blog to turn it into vitriolic-spew-blog, like the good old days.

Maintenance.

2006-12-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I helped Charlie and Modesty buy lots of stuff - their first big shop since coming to America. Trouble was, it got to a point where Charlie was holding my hatchback door open with one hand, and baby Z in the other while Dan and I unloaded the car. This is bad.

So, today I called John my mechanically inclined boy-friend to help me fix it. We went to Kragen, where we purchased 4 new hydraulic hold-the-door-open thingies, some coolant, some radiator sealant, a toolkit, a chamois, some sealing tape, and 3 Forest Pine leaf things for the rear view mirror. And a new globe for my crustily corroded rear brake light.

So, all I have to is reattach my rear view mirror so I can hang the leaf from it. Then, we're DANDY.

The Money Pit.

2006-10-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

I still haven't spent that much money on the car. There have been things that everyone should just do if they buy something second hand (like wheel alignments, all-fluid flush & change etc). Then there are things that can't be put off (for too long), like having a faulty seat belt replaced. That's done, by the way.

Then there are problems that come up as a result of wear and tear. The driver's side window got stuck down. It wasn't that funny, driving at 70mph, feeling like you bobsledding across an Antarctic tundra. And it was a bit chilly after dark.

I took it to the shop. They called back and told me it would be $350. To replace the motor, and for labour.

What choice did I have?

I've decided I don't particularly like the chaps at the garage. They are a little bit too slick, and the car is never ready when they say it will be, and somehow, they always manage to charge me just a little bit more than I had agreed to on the phone.

At least I'm in warmer weather now.

"That's gross, George."

2006-10-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Gross? on Vimeo

C90

2006-10-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

By Rev Dan Catt

My new best friend in the whole word, the Reverend Dan Catt, has put together a ROCK TAPE for my car.

Now all I have to do is re-wire everything (driver's side window is stuck down, auto-lock doesn't work on the passenger door, and the "stereo" is flaky) and then I can turn it up!

Thanks Dan!

Snatch commutes!

2006-09-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

By heather

I took the truck to Noe Valley Auto (thanks Fred!), where the guys gave her an oil change and a smog test.

Because I was curious about all the switches and buttons and things on her last journey to San Mateo, I inadvertently popped her into Low Range, where she remained stuck until the mechanics could make the switch work again. That really helped with the smog test.

They also recommended a complete flush of all fluids in the car, given that she'd been sitting for probably over a year: brakes, differential etc...

Picked her up last night, drove to work this morning! (Singing Queen's Greatest Hits very loudly with Heather.)

So, not long to go now, until my dream of red Bronco II with red interior is fully realised. I need to finalise my registration now that she's passed the smog test, and take my practical driving test to get my proper license.

Seems like years ago that I was car-challenged.

Go America, go!

Girly swat.

2006-08-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

I bought some new super-duper wiper blades, a new rear-view mirror and a USA/Canada/Mexico atlas today.

When I got home, my new (old) manual had arrived.

I popped down to the basement to whip out my old wiper blades and whip on the new, I couldn't for the bugger of me work out how to get the old ones off. Upon further inspection, one of them had been virtually welded on, with little bits of metal and shit. Even after consulting the instructions in my new manual, I couldn't release the bloody spring thingy on the one that wasn't hobby-horse mechaniced on, and ended up busting the plastic stupid thing that holds the whole wiper casing thing on that little metal knob thing with the bump on the end that's connected to the springy thing that comes off the bonnet.

I'll be taking it to the nice men at the nice garage for a smog test on Friday, so, perhaps I'll just hand over my new super-super wiper blades.

I can change a freakin' tire though, capiche?

Snatch!

2006-08-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

Snatch!, originally uploaded by heather.

Took her through her paces today. Apart from some strangeness with a "Low Range vs 4 Wheel Drive" issue, she was great! Should have that whole "transmission" thing looked at.

Criminal intent.

2006-08-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Turns out I was totally lying about only getting 2 questions wrong. I got 4 wrong.
The thing is, those 2 other questions were both issues of law, and frankly, one of them made me take on the guise of a hardened criminal, so I found myself taking the WWJD* tack, so the nice lady didn't send me straight to jail.

A peace officer** is signaling you to drive to the edge of the roadway. You decide to ignore the officer's warning and flee the scene. You are guilty of a misdemeanour and can be published by being:
   Fined up to $1,000 (I ticked this one, but)
   Jailed in a county jail for not more than one year (It's this one)
   Given a warning and a citation

The other question was something about when you're supposed to report things to the powers that be. Whatever. Apparently I have to write a report to the DMV if I have an accident which causes more than $750 in damages.

* WWJD = What Would Jesus Do?
** Peace officer means police officer.

Flying colours.

2006-08-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

I had an appointment booked at the DMV in San Francisco for today at 10. I got there at 9.45, and there were already loads of people. No fear! Appointments actually do come in handy.

I was able to keep my Australian license (there was rumour of having to surrender it), had a not-too-bad photo taken, then wandered along the red carpet to the written test lady. She was actually remarkably chipper and polite, quite the exception to the normal demeanour of government office person rule.

Question 1:

It is illegal for a person of 21 years of age or older to drive with a blood alcohol limit (BAC) that is ____ or higher.
  0.08%
  0.10%
  0.05%

Gack! Couldn't quite remember. So, it's OK to drive with *some* BAC... I'll just go with the Australian rule.

There were a few reverse-the-road-in-your-brain questions about who goes first and right of way and stuff, and out of 36 questions I only got 2 wrong. (You can get up to 6 wrong.)

So, for posterity and future reference:

If there is a deep puddle in the road ahead, you should apparently steer your vehicle around the water, if possible. You shouldn't shift into neutral as you drive through the water (duh!), or maintain the posted speed to make it through the water. (But if it's wet, why would you want to be swerving all over the place? Who cares if you get a little water in your distributor??)

Also, when you see a crosswalk sign (the one with a figure holding someone else's arm), you should be prepared to stop if there are children in the crosswalk, not just always stop. Good to know it doesn't matter if there are blind people or the elderly trying to cross the road. (I picked the "nice", "safe", "not axe murderer" answer there.)

My study proved beneficial. There was a question about what to do if you see a blind person crossing a crosswalk. Here was I thinking that I lean on my horn and shout at them out the window, but luckily, I found out you need to pull up to the crosswalk so they can hear where you are.

Mwahahahahahaaaaa!

(PS - Finally received the effing title. About 10 minutes after I got home from the effing DMV. I'll have to go back first thing Monday morning to register the car, otherwise they'll start charging me. Just got insurance on the internet too. So, won't be damn long until the plan finally comes together.)

For fuck's sake.

2006-08-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

I sent a check to this person promptly. (Payment in full.) It was cashed on July 14. The car arrived about a week later in not-starting order. Whatever. I was expecting a total lemon, so I figure I got a pretty good deal. Only had to spend a few hundred bucks on fixing stuff up so I could start it. Still in the black.

M.I.A. tells me once, twice, three times a lady that he's sent along the accompanying paperwork. I am a patient woman, but after being told it was going to be sent to me a week ago, and 2 sternish messages I get an email today:

The title is being sent, please call Patricia @ 555 222-5555 to confirm address, the title will be sent certified.

Does that mean you've sent it? Or...? WHAT?

You can bet your house I'll be calling Patricia. I'll be expecting chocolates and cash. You can also bet I'll be recommending a little Fucking Learn To Communicate With Your Fucking Customers Properly course as well.

Tip #1.

2006-08-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

It's not a desperately good idea to start your car in your garage just because you're a) so excited and b) want to make sure all that work on the starter motor last week wasn't a complete waste of time.

Turns out carbon monoxide comes out quite quickly and is very stinky. I had to open the windows upstairs too, what with central heating and all.

Perhaps I should get an effin canary while I wait for the paperwork to arrive from weird internet seller person.

Trouble.

2006-08-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

As I continue to investigate the new beast, little unsolved mysteries reveal themselves.

The boot (trunk) contains some flotsam:

a crowbar,
some weird strips of plastic that I think might be related to the roof rack,
a big red light that's not attached to anything,
a can of "Ezy Start" stuff to spray somewhere liberally on the motor (since jettisoned as my starter motor is now perfect),
a cassette, unplayed, that I'm saving for my maiden legal voyage
the rear-view mirror...

The driver's seat belt doesn't work. The fire-red upholstery is in fine shape, but the clicky thingy doesn't click when you put that thingy in the thingy. (It's kind of OK temporarily. I can stretch that belt over to the passenger thingy.) I really should get that fixed.

My symbol of liberation has a faulty restraint device.

Dark past.

2006-08-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

A Challenging Situation on Vimeo

Terribly shitty video, but still... hopefully you are gripped by the fact that this was my first meeting with my Snatch, hence nervous laughter throughout.

Getting a license.

2006-07-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've looked into it a bit, but am confused.

The DMV website tells me:

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

That would lead me to believe that I don't even need a Californian license, because I still have my Australian one, and that's valid for another 10 years or something. But!

If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner's property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

So, ummm... am I that privileged or do I benefit that much that I need a Californian license now? Just because I work here? I wish I could vote here, but I'm not sure that's possible unless I become a citizen or something.

I suppose I'll have to talk to someone. It's just not worth the risk to do something against the law.

This needs to work.

2006-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Turns out if you leave a car sitting around for a while, the starter is often the first thing to deteriorate. Actually, I totally made that up. It was true in the case of my Bronco II.

When I went out to meet the dude who drove my truck on the back of his truck from Southern California, he was able to start the truck once, but then it conked out. I had it towed (eventually) to the Firestone on Mission. I asked them to perform a mechanical inspection (tires, brakes etc) as well as an electrical inspection (since I knew that there was an issue with the starter, because the chap who'd towed the truck told me as much).

I got a call during the operation from Donnie (turns out he's nice). He said they couldn't complete the electrical check because there was a short somewhere in the starter system (above). Not really understanding, I agreed to the additional cost. (Hate that!)

Anyway, in the end, the truck needed a new battery, a new ignition switch and a new starter relay.

Thinking all was well, I drove off. First stop was the car wash. That was fun. Pay $3 and get a high-pressure squirter thingy for 5 minutes. I started the truck again to leave, and a horrid noise came from the engine. I wondered if I had dislodged something with the force of the water, but no... I headed straight back to the garage.

As I entered, Donnie and his 3 or 4 chaps approached the whirring, smoking car they'd just fixed. Opening up the hood, we saw that the motor was running about as fast as it could, and turning off the ignition had no effect.

What does happen if a car sits too long is that the solenoid degrades and may fuse. If that happens, the starter circuit remains closed (I think), and turning off the ignition switch doesn't stop the engine anymore.

Needless to say, the boys gave me a free solenoid (installation and everything), and sent me on my merry way.

The Vein.

2006-07-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

It seems I've hit it with various friends. A big truck, red interior, that proper noise you hear when you shut the door... Cammie, Sasha and Jeremy came in this evening to see the car and there were lots of oooohs and aaaahs.

"Can we sleep in here?"

"When are we going?"

Etc.

Yeah, baby.

A bit of history.

2006-07-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Even though I had been eyeing off Bronco IIs for some time now, it took finding the dream version on eBay one day to tip me over into an actual purchase. Here are some of my thoughts about buying a car, particularly buying a car on the internet:

Faith, hope and charity.
It all started when I first came to Merica. I saw a modestly proportioned jeepy, SUV-y, truck-type car called a Bronco II. It had a RED INTERIOR. It was love. That was 3 years ago.
Sorely tested.
Fuck! He's skipped off to the Bahamas with my $1375! Assface!
Livin' the Dream.
I mean, we all love the environment, right?

Do you have any ~~horror~~ success stories?

A girl and her truck.

2006-07-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have posted a few entries on my other blog about my new truck, buying it on the internet, my frustrations around that, and its final arrival.

I decided to splinter off this conversation to a separate place, in the hope of attracting readers who might be interested in a bit of Truck Talk, and potentially even in helping me with maintenance of my new baby.

Or, is it beast?