Well, there has been a lot going on in the last year. I started with good intentions of blogging on a regular basis, but as you can see, that has not been the case. Well, let’s catch up. Then we will see if I can be more faithful in our adventure updates.

Let’s start with our repair adventures. First came our Jeep which is named Jeep-Jeep after the monkey like character from the old Popeye cartoons that would hop around saying, “Jeep-Jeep!!”. As typical with Jeeps, It has terrible overheating problems. We tried changing out the thermostat, fan relay, and coolant sensor to no avail. We struggled through one of the hottest, driest summers in Texas in 30 years. Often times relying on Annie as our main form of transportation. Now I have lived in Texas all my life and have driven cars without AC since 1983. However, no AC in 116 to 118 degrees stinks. Even when you are moving, it feels like a blow dryer on high heat is blowing in your face.

So after eking out a summer of heat and no problems of overheating driving in the fall and first part of winter we saved money and planned on addressing the overheating problem by replacing the radiator and cooling fan prior to the next summer. As we were preparing to replace the radiator, I discovered that the transmission fluid line running through the radiator had developed a leak. This means I had coolant in my tranny and tranny fluid in my radiator. NOT GOOD. Fortunately we had the new radiator, but now we had to buy a new water pump as well because it was beginning to squeal. So, at the end of January, we tore the front end of the Jeep apart and this is what it looks without the front grill, bumper, and radiator. 

In addition, we had to flush the engine block and drain and replace the tranny fluid and filter. Cat is such a wonderful woman. She was with me every step of the way, covered in grease from head to toe just like me.

Yeah! We had Jeep-Jeep running, now Annie had some relief and we had two reliable daily drivers. Well that is until February 2nd, when some @#&*%#! moron decided to put a brick through the front windshield of Annie. 

I had been working on Jeep-Jeep which required me to move Cindy Lu out and put Annie on the street. When I was done, I went in for supper, and I forgot to put Annie back in the driveway. I never leave any car in the street overnight because there are too many idiot teens roaming the streets with nothing better to do than to be dumb asses and damage property. Well, sure enough, around 9:30, Glen heard a loud bang and we went rushing out to find poor Annie with a destroyed front windshield. If I could only find the hooligan(s) and be left alone in a room with them for about 5 minutes. I don’t think they would return to a life of crime when I was done. 

$300 and two months (to save the $$$) later and Annie had a new windshield and a happy smile.

Meanwhile, I decided to see if I could solve Cindy Lu’s overheating issue. After consulting with Kelly, the owner of The Bug Stop, I changed the oil to Shell Rotella-T 15W-40 and adjust the valves. Ta-Da! It worked. Now she runs just fine with no overheating issues.

When it rains, it pours. Around March 28, the tensioner pulley on Jeep-Jeep decided to disintegrate on the way home from work. We abandoned her in a nearby parking lot, got a ride from a friend, and took the next day off and returned with Maggie, our 1993 Nissan Maxima, to conduct the repairs. In about an hour, Jeep-Jeep was back up and running.

Oh, about Maggie. It’s a long story but Maggie was my daughter’s car. She was using it to get to school in Lubbock about 6 hours away. However, Maggie’s timing chain is about to go out and she is no longer reliable for such a long drive. It’s going to cost about $2500 to have the chain replaced as the engine has to be completely removed. Oiy! The car is only worth about $800. So my mother-in-law bought the car and uses it for local driving. On the day I used her to get to Jeep-Jeep, she was road worthy but could not pass inspection due to a faulty high beam switch, which required the removal of the airbag and steering wheel to replace. That has been done and now she tootles around town quiet nicely. 

We finally had all the cars up and running that is until about two weeks ago. We took Annie for a 3 1/2 hour road trip to Crockett, Texas for a family reunion. She made it fine, but once we got there, the solenoid decided to go belly up. This required us to push start her to get home. Not so bad tho. We only had to push her once when we got gas on the way home and where we stopped for lunch. Now Annie sits patiently in the driveway until I can save up the $165 to get a new starter motor and solenoid. I figure if I’m going to be crawling under the bus, I might as well replace the whole assembly. It looks like the starter is original anyway. Not bad for 41 years old.

Whewww!! Well, that should do it for now. (Well, there’s still a little pesky tranny fluid leak I have to resolve and the replacing of a bolt in a torsion bar to stop a wobbling in the steering that has cropped up in Jeep-Jeep)  Some people ask why I drive old cars. Well, VW’s are easy to work on as is Jeep-Jeep. But most importantly, I don’t have any car payments. Sure, I have to spend some dough on repairs to keep them running, but it’s still far less than a monthly car payment would be. They are pretty reliable and get us from point A to point B in style. We just love when we are stopped a  red light in Annie and people are pointing, smiling, and taking pics. 

Cheers for now and keep on Dubbin’