On the road again...
It never fails that when I am on the road it seems like there is always a little problem that pops up. So after celebrating Blondie’s birthday on Monday evening, Tuesday morning had me leaving town for a few days down to Victoria, TX. I like Victoria, it is not a small town by any means but it isn’t some massive place either and the people there are all pretty friendly.
Anyway, Tuesday was the day that my father in law was supposed to get his vehicle back from the mechanic shop, he had to take it in on Monday and by the time they figured out the problem and got the parts delivered there just wasn’t enough time for the shop to get them installed so the work carried over until Tuesday.
Tag, you're it...
That meant that on Tuesday someone was going to have to take him to pick it when it was ready. Well, I wasn’t able to since I had left town bright and early and the wife works at the church on Tuesdays so that left only one person, the oldest boy. Tag, you are it son, enjoy the company, he is your Grand Pa.
The mechanic shop is less than a mile and half from Papa’s place so it isn’t like the boy was going to have to chauffeur him all over kingdom come, but anytime you ask these kids to do something it is like you are just inconveniencing them to no end.
I warned the boy that scenario might take place and so I told him to make sure if he had to do it, to take his IROC Z to haul his Grand Dad over there. The reason is; I have been telling him for a couple weeks now to stop by there and talk to Bob about the issue his car is having with not cranking every so often and he just never seems to find the time to stop there.
He damn sure has plenty of time to do everything else a twenty year old has on his schedule but doing something that would actually help himself seems to be pretty far down the list except for his going to the gym everyday and working out.
Another daily dose...
I will give him credit on that; he has his own daily dose going on with the gym. I think there are a couple hot chicks that work out in the evenings over at that gym so that might have something to do with his “motivation”. But I will give him credit, he has lost in excess of 100 lbs since he started working out over there and he is really getting to be in great shape.
As luck would have it, he took the Z and he said it was quite a sight watching his Grand Pa trying to get in to that low slung car, he isn’t the most mobile old guy you will come across, but he did manage to get in.
Buckle up...
So off they went, the boy said he decided to show his grand pa just what his little IROC Z was capable of doing so when he left his drive and got it out on the road he put the pedal to floor and smoke the tires all the way through second gear, he left a pair of black tire tracks for about 150 feet according to him, I haven’t seen it yet. He did also say he thinks he might have scared his Grand Pa.
Utt Ohh...
Getting Pa Pa out of the car at the mechanic shop wasn’t an easy task so he shut his Z off while he helped extract his grandpa from the passenger seat. When he went to start the car back up it was dead, it wouldn’t do anything. Now he was forced to talk to Bob.
So he went inside and when Bob finished collecting his money from Grand Pa the boy asked if Bob could take a look at his car. The boy explained that he could unhook the battery for five minutes and hook it back up and it would crank right up, and Bob said he thought he might know what the problem was.
Hammer time...
Bob got a floor jack from the shop and drug it out to the Z and jacked up the passenger side of the car and then he hollered to his young teenage son to bring him the big guzbucking sledge hammer. Bob crawled under the front of the car and gave the starter one good whack with the hammer and then said. “Crank it over now.”
You don't say...
My boy got in and put the key in and it cranked right up. No disconnecting anything, just one good solid hit on the starter with a big hammer did the trick. The boy was excited as hell that Bob was able to diagnose the problem so he called me just as soon as he got back home. It didn’t surprise me one damn bit that Bob was able to figure out, hell ,I had been telling him to go by there for a couple weeks and talk to him.
Of course I would...
So my boy asked me if I could help him fix when I get back in town, he even asked me if I could go online and check and see if I could find the exact part he needed and how much it would cost him. Of course I would do that for him, he is my son.
So Tuesday evening I called the boy up and told him that I had gone online and looked for the part, but that I wasn’t sure so I called Bob and left a message to see just how many pounds that guzbucking sledge hammer was. He wasn’t amused and didn’t even say good bye, just a click and he was gone.
He's learning...
About ten minutes later I got a text from the boy with a picture of the starter from the local auto supply store, and asking me if it was the correct one and if the price seemed fair. It was on both counts and it has a limited lifetime warranty. I texted him back telling him to buy it so it looks like I will be putting a starter on the Z this weekend or at least I might just supervise.
The real battle is over...
Either way, it really doesn’t matter to me, the good part is I no longer have to try and figure out the problem; that has been done already and to me that was the real battle. I would have never thought it to be the starter since when it cranks it cranks strong and starts right up. I was inclined to believe it was in the security system or the damn ignition switch and I really didn’t want to have to tear into that.
So a big thanks to Bob, he doesn’t “practice mechanics” he knows what he is doing, big hammer and all.
