Many of you have been following my saga with TRs. Well, yesterday was
the day to finally take the new TR-6 down to the inspection station,
hopefully to get a sticker. I could not have guessed how things would
turn out.
I had taken the car in three days earlier for the inspection, even
though I knew there were problems, just so I could be sure I hadn't
missed anything. When I got there, and drove up, the mechanic says,
"Umm, you're going to have to drive that into the garage, there's no
way I'm going to fit in it..."
I drove the car into the lift, only to find that the car has to be
*precisely* positioned so that the lift arms will swing inside the
tires. (The combination of a short car with big tires makes it
*barely* big enough for this garage's lift, with only about 1/2" of
clearance between the tires at each end to swing the lift arms under
the car.) Once positioned though, the arms can be placed securely
under the car.
The mechanic was *sure* there had to be an exhaust leak somewhere.
(It has a *LOUD* Monza exhaust on it.) I told him it was *intended*
to sound like that! (Yup, right.) Eventually, he managed to find
two. In both connections between the front and rear pipes there is a
small gap where the inner pipe isn't inserted far enough in the outer
pipe to cover the expansion slit in the outer pipe. There is a small
hole there where a puff of exhaust emanates (on the top of the pipe,
where you can't see it, but only feel it). The gap has clearly been
there since the system was installed, many years ago. (The system is
completely intact, but getting awfully close to needing replacement.)
Then, he found the excessive play in the right outer tie rod. (I knew
about this, had already ordered and received a new replacement, but
hadn't found the time to put it in yet.) So, just two things to
fix.
I replaced the outer tie rod that night, (the old one was a *%$# to
get out), and temporarily fixed the exhaust leaks the night after,
until I replace the entire exhaust this winter. So, yesterday, I took
the TR6 in to the inspection. Everything went smoothly (except for the
notice that some *REAL* strict emissions regulations are coming next
year -- to New Hampshire!?! What happened to "live free or die?")
The clincher was when I drove home, happy as a clam, in a TR6 with a
valid inspection sticker! When I get home, my wife has had a horrible
day. She had needed to go out, and my "regular" car, a Ford Taurus
was parked behind her car (another Ford Taurus) in the driveway. No
problem, she thought, I'll just take Ken's car. So, she put both kid's
seats in my Taurus, got all the stuff for their outing in the car, and
gets in the car to go. Turns the key, and "click." Nothing. Dead
battery. On the day I get my TR6 inspected, my Taurus, which has
never failed to start for as long as I've had it, would not start.
Well, at that point, Nancy was a little bothered, but figured that she
could probably get her car out of the garage around my Taurus behind
her. So, she moves the car seats all back to her Taurus, all their
stuff, get the kids buckled in, and turns the key to start her car.
"Click." Another dead battery. Her car, which we knew had a weak
battery last winter, but which has been fine (although sometimes
marginal) all summer, picks the same day to die. Amazing coincidence.
Now, she has gone from being a little bothered, to quite frustrated,
but also laughing at the situation:
Two late model Fords that have been a model of reliability both refuse
to start on the very day a working, inspected TR6 ousts one of them
from the garage!
--ken
PS: The TR6 happily succeeded in jump-starting my wife's car, so we
could all go out to dinner, forget about our troubles, and plan to buy
a new battery today...
Kenneth B. Streeter | ARPA: streeter@sanders.com
Lockheed Sanders | UUCP: ...!uunet!sanders.com!streeter
PTP2-A001 |
65 River Road | Voice: (603) 885-9604
Hudson, NH 03051 | Fax: (603) 885-0631
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