Of the many entertaining stories about the $60 Renault
R10 sedan I had when in high school, this was by far
the most memorable (& preventable).
Soon after renderering "Le Junk" (as it was
affectionately known) drivable, Mr. Starter gave up.
Now, at the tender age of 17 my frugal demeanor would
not allow me to pay $90 for a new starter, so I
relegated myself to parking on inclines until I could
either find a used replacement or have this one
rebuilt. Either option required that the starter be
removed from the car, as at the time in Tallahassee
there weren't many folks familiar enough w/an R10, let
alone what it's starter looked like, to be able to
match it up w/o seeing the old one. So off the starter
came, but HEY, what to do w/all of these wires ? I
mean, some of them are bound to be HOT, right ? So I
better insulate them so they don't short out. For some
reason the first thing that popped into my mind as an
insulator was glass (or maybe it was just the first
thing I laid my hand on), so I confidently wrapped the
wires individually within a *greasy old rag*, stuffed
the whole mess into a juice bottle, & happily duct-taped this
to the fenderwell. Off I went on my merry way, push-
starting Le Junk & looking for a starter.
This went on for about a week until Trouble found
me. Motoring along in a *bad* area of Talla. (hey,
that's where the junkyards are), I smelled something
burning. Probably just a BBQ. Then I smelled something
REALLY BURNING. Looking around, I happened to glance
into the rearview mirror and saw Fire & Smoke ! (The
R10 is a rear-engined car). Stop, run to rear of car &
open hood. See greasy rag on fire because it fell out
of bottle & shorted out against frame. See full tank of
gas very close. worry. pull off shirt & put out fire.
stop worrying. Tell crowd gathered around car that no,
they may not start BBQ-ing. isolate wires again,
better. push start car. FIND a starter.
lesson learned by-
dstone@sc9.intel.com
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