Things we have learned.

This is the list, of odd things I’ve learned over the years. Some are first person, some from friends and family.

#1 Although it may seem like a good idea , never use a shop vac to get that last little bit of fuel out of a gas tank.

#2 When a semi gets stuck in the mud, it’s really stuck.

#3 Heaters only break down in winter, A/C only in summer.

#4 Semi trailers take a shorter route around corners.

#4A Stop signs snap off really easy.

#5 Cell phone calls are less expensive from Scotland than from Canada.

#6 At 35 below zero, it hurts to breath. Also snow cries when you drive over it.

#7 Buy plane tickets from the airline, not an internet site.

No more Canada trips.

It was fun, but it’s over. After running to Calgary, Alberta since last August, a scale master stopped me and measured my truck.

The overall length is fine (74 feet). But as it turns out Canada has a limit of 244 inches of wheelbase on the tractor. Mine is 260 inch, or as you math whiz-es might figure out, about a foot and a half too long . Mind you this is the land of the B-Train, and trailer made up of two segments with a flex point about 2/3s of the way back, and lets not forget the double 53s. Yes they hook two 53 foot trailers together and run the highways.

So I’m sitting at the scale getting a ticket for over length, while much longer trucks rolled through. Go figure. Had to hire a local to get the trailer to the border, they wouldn’t even let me take the trailer out of there.

Asked the next day at a truck stop south of Calgary, and the drivers from Canada where not aware of this law. Seems that this is a law only enforced on U.S. based trucks. Many of their 4 axle trucks have 280 to 300 inch wheels bases to make room for the extra “Drop Axle”. For those of you not up on trucking, the drop axle is the unpowered axle just in front of the drive tires. This axle can be loaded with airbags to carry extra load, or when it’s not needed, the air system can pick those wheels up, so their not rolling on the ground.

So lets take a guess. A typical over-the-road truck has about 20 feet of truck in front of the first trailer. Lets give them 2 feet between trailers. Two 53 foot trailers plus the two foot gap= 108 feet. Add the 20 feet for the tractor, now you have 128 feet. I guess I’m having trouble understanding why this is legal and my tractor and trailer at 74 feet total is not.

About the best reason I was able to find, was that these rules come from Ontario , and while they may make sense back there, none of the bureaucrats have ever seen the western part of Canada.

Well I payed for a years licence for B.C. , Alberta, and Saskatchewan , in the unlikely event that the rules change, I can always start running up there again. Although a $1.22 per liter for fuel (that’s about $5 per gallon) I wont be buying much fuel from them.

I guess they will figure out someone to deliver their tea to them, it wont be any of our trucks. The other drivers legal to enter Canada (there’s a whole other story) had truck a little longer than mine, so we are for now, shut down for Canada.

Intrepid update: Check your shops work.

 Well, June did make it home with the Intrepid. For those of you that don’t know, it’s a 1993 Dodge Intrepid E/S, that lives on only because of a large amount of work put into the car in the last few years. To be fair, at 190,000 miles, some wear is to be expected.

To go back to the start. Several months ago, on the way to Arizona, with some items for our daughter; the Intrepid had a head gasket fail. Left the car with a shop in Susanville, California, rented a U-Haul truck and went on our way.

Fast forward, the car is “ready” but I’m on a trip to Ohio, so June gets to Susanville and picks the car up. She makes it home OK, but there is a check engine light on. Also an occasional fuel smell.

Well I got to looking things over, and one of the O2 sensors was not plugged in, and one of the fuel lines was being bumped by the steering. The other fuel line didn’t look right, so I had my brother look while I ran the steering full left then right. The line was being pulled on a hard left turn, enough to cause fuel to spray out on the engine. I disconnected the lines and ran them along the back of the motor, in the brackets that are there for them. End of problem.

Still, you have to wonder. If we pay people good money to do technical repairs for us, don’t we have the expectation that the job will be done better than we could do ourselves.

I’m not a mechanic, but over the years, well really decades, I’ve replaced engines, transmissions, done brake work, updated older cars with newer parts, and modified several vehicles. Always with less follow up correction than this head gasket replacement.

Just a word to you. When that shop is done with your car, take a good look at what they did. You don’t need to be trained, just look for sloppy work, if they missed a little thing, like a mounting bracket, they might have missed something bigger.

On a big ticket item, like transmission replacement, it might be worth paying a second shop to inspect the repair.

Diesel Mini Cooper, Euro Volkswagen Polo.

Got to wonder why we can’t have these cars here. Yes I do know some of the reasons, but they’re not good enough.

For those of you that have driven a Mini, you know that they’re a kick to drive. Lot of room for a car that small, and the handling is great. OK now take that car, put a turbo diesel in it, what you end up with is a car that get 60+ MPG in the combined city/highway test. The little Mini will net you close to 70 on a road trip. Another option with the Mini line is the new Mini Traveler update called the Mini Clubman (think station wagon but cute) this slightly stretched Mini holds four comfortably and has room for their bags. I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that the Wagon may drop a mile or two per gallon, but would still be well over 60 highway. Neat little wagon and the double doors are easier to work with than the standard hatch, or tailgate.

The Volkswagen Polo, while not as well known in the US, is basically an evolution of the Rabbit. Like the Mini room is good for a small car, and handling, a little softer than the Mini, might be the better commuter car, but personally, not my cup of tea. The 1.4 liter turbo diesel giving a combined MPG in the mid 60s, and highway over 70 is worth a look.

For those of you that are serious about mileage, there’s the Volkswagen Lupo, a little smaller than the Polo, but an outstanding 78 MPG City/Highway. Not a car you would want to take cross the country, although I did once drive a Honda 600 Sedan from Portland, Oregon to the Chicago area, and I’m still fine.
All three of these cars fall a few percent short of meeting the US emission standards. Mind you these are the standards established for the 1 ton Dodge, Ford, and Chevy pickup trucks. In some cases these regs didn’t make sense when you were replacing a gas guzzling 440/460/454 with a diesel getting nearly double the mileage. They really don’t make sense when we would have the option of have cars that can cut in half our use of oil.

Check my logic on this one. If I can keep warm with a fire that’s half the size of my last one, but the new fire pollutes 2% more by volume, isn’t the half sized fire, though a little dirtier a net gain ? This is a perfect example of the saying ” Perfect is the enemy of good”.

Washington (DC not the State) needs to open the flood gate for these fuel saving options from Europe. I’ve been there, seen them, driven some, and they’re a good way to get us off imported oil. The technology can make a quick transition to our own small cars. The Big Three all have platforms that would accept a small turbo diesel with no problems.

Wake up Washington, and let’s not forget California. What a nightmare that state has created for business. I just wish that one of these times when some idiot in the Cal State House brings up a total diesel ban for the state, they voted it in. Bringing their entire state to it’s knees might wake them up.

Intrepid is back

  Well,  I had to make a trip to Edmonton, Alberta, so June went to Susanville to pick up the Intrepid.  Had to be a fun trip, get down there on the bus, then drive an untested car home. The guys had done a pretty good job.  It seems a few connections are not quite right, but can be fixed.  One fuel fitting loosened up, and my brother was able to repair that.

Nice to have the Intrepid back, of course now I’ll have to figure out what to do with the Sebring we picked up for something to drive.  Probably keep them both around, the Sebring being a convertible, could be good fun this summer. The Sebring is a nice enough car, but really the M.G. is more fun to drive.

The Intrepid gets good mileage, is big by todays standards, and has a good road feel.  Also it has had so much work done in the last few years, that it’s pretty much a new car.  That and it now has a trailer hitch and  that make it useful for those times I don’t need to get the Maxi-Van and the car trailer out.  That and we just like the old car, and we are not the sort of people that  trade every couple years.  Come to think of it, I’ve had the Van since 1973.

In any case, looks like the Intrepid is back for a while, maybe this year it will make a visit to a paint shop. The finish is showing early signs of the paint wearing out.  I’ll have them leave the color the same, take a few little dents out, should look pretty good.