truckishness

We've been home bound for a few days now. Today is our first pretty sunny day in a few. We've had rain, which is wonderful because we're so dry here! The other day Superman checked the tires on the van. They've been in bad shape for a while, and we are playing the "will they or won't they" game. Can they last one more pay period before they fail? And we've limited our driving. Well, on the latest inspection the back tires were deemed in critical condition, so only Superman has driven it, and only to the drug store about a mile away. (I suppose he could have walked, but it was raining and I needed my meds!)


And Manny has been acting up recently. He doesn't want to start, and has been running rough. It has been so bad I've been making plans to take him to the shop on Wednesday. He has a new starter; that works fine. But the engine won't catch 9 times out of 10. I suspect a fuel supply problem.
And I know this is at least a portion of the problem:


The latch on the glove box door broke, so the glove box hangs open. Of course this causes a knee hazard, and some might consider it unsightly. But how, you may ask, would this cause starting problems? Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have here a 1990 model Ford F150. We're talking some upscale shit here. There is a light inside this glove box! With a switch that automatically turns the light off when the door closes. Door doesn't close, light stays on, battery slowly runs down, engine doesn't have enough power to start.

So we obviously need to get that door to stay closed. But this is Manny we're working on; MY truck. So the fix is going to be uniquely me. I've been contemplating it for a week or two, and recently got one of the supplies I needed - a package of industrial strength Velcro™. Superman spent the last two days cleaning out the garage, and I knew he'd find in that mess the other article I needed: a lone glove. This afternoon the fix was accomplished:

I love it. I showed Light and Superman the supplies I was going to use for the fix. Neither of them could figure out what I was planning. When I brought them out for the big reveal both of them had a hearty laugh.

However, if you look carefully at that second picture, you may notice the door is not completely closed on that near corner. Indeed, this fix doesn't solve all of the problems. Alas, the light is still on. So I fixed that, too. I unplugged the wire from the back of the light bulb fixture.

The switch is that long black button thing on the right, the plug is the dangly thing to the left. So, no more light to drain the battery. No more light to illuminate the glove box, either, but that's why we have flashlights.

As I mentioned, Superman has been cleaning out the garage. He had Manny's bed full enough for a dump run, so he hopped in the truck. It gave a wimpy attempt to start, so Superman got the jumper cables out and charged up the battery with the van. I don't know if he tried to start the truck again or not, but he came into the house and said "Will you go start your truck please?" I went out to the driveway, patted the edge of the truck bed and made soothing noises. Asked him if he was ready to start now. I got in, turned the key, and vroom! Back inside, Superman asked if it had started. Yup. What'd ya' do? Turned the key, I said, trying hard not to gloat. He then allowed me the opportunity to drive to the dump, which I did. Manny drove fine; no fits or sputters. The last time I fueled up I put premium in the tanks to take advantage of the engine cleaners and stuff they put in the pricey gas. Superman told me about the little bottles of injector cleaner sold at the auto parts store, and we decided to try that. On the way back from the dump we picked up a bottle, he put it in the tank, and away we went. Manny is running great now. So I don't have to take him to the shop! And in about 3 weeks I need to drive him down to Florida to meet my mother and go on the cruise! (Mama and me, not Manny. He can wait in Mama's driveway until we get back.)