Off topic but maybe the married folks will laugh. So my wife and I have been carpooling this week. We got into a big fight last night on the way home, mainly due to her driving, but also about how goofy it is to have all these cars and all are sick. We have five cars at the house, and she said all of them are crap. Hahaha.... I slept alone in the guest bed last night. Ahh marriage! So here's the story, if you want to laugh. On Friday, her 160K-mile '01 Grand Prix blew a power steering line while she was on her lunch break. After work I went home and got my tow dolly, drove the 30-miles to her office, and towed the GP home behind my Ram. The ps leak is directly under the rear ehaust manifold, and it would only spray when the steering wheel was turned. It's so tight you can't even see exactly where it is in there ( I HATE FWD!), and what I could see was all covered in p/s fluid. I tried to figure it out Saturday, but it's a real big mess, plus it's 100-degrees outside and I was roasting on the driveway and sweating like mad. I gave up and towed it to my friend's shop on Sunday....this is a job that needs a lift. My '88 Cutlass is finally almost alive, but the Overdrive is not done yet, and the a/c needs a charge (R12). Plus with the t-tops, even with the a/c alive, it doesn't keep up against the sun coming through the glass roof when it's 100-degrees outside. That and you can steal the car with a paperclip, so I really didn't want to drive it to work, sweating, and have to worry about it sitting in the lot. It's a toy, a NICE toy, and I want to save it for weekend cruise-nights and fun cooler-weather drives this fall. The '67 GTO is totally dead. No need to explain that. It's the project car. Has not run in years. I have the two motorcycles at the house, but again, it's 10000-degrees outside here now, and I just don't want to come to work sweating, and also climbing on the bike after work in the heat just to sit in traffic...well it just doesn't sound fun.... The registration on the '79 Buick Limited has lapsed. It's still registered in New Jersey to my friend Ben. I don't mind driving it with the Jersey tags, but I'm not going to drive it with the registation out. Too bad too, it had GREAT a/c. Need to call Ben again about this...again. So that leaves the Ram pickup, which is still running fine, but has developed a bad stutter when braking (gotta love Chryslers). It feels like the rear of the truck is boucing up and down when you get on the brakes. I went and bought new brake drums last Friday. The shoes are new. The truck STILL stuttered. Took new drums off, had them turned, cleaned the rear brakes really well, and put the drums back on. The truck still shakes. Dammit! So Sunday I took the drums off again and exchanged them, thinking I might have just gotten some out of round ones. Nope, still shakes. New rotors are $100 for the pair, and frankly, until I figure out what the GP is going to cost, I'm not buying them. So since I work 5-miles from home and Misty works 30-miles away, Monday morning I put her in my Dodge and we've carpooled since. I asked her to please be careful and easy on the brakes....I know all that jiggling is really bad for the truck. I think it has to be up front...even though it sure feels like the shaking is from the back...you don't feel it through the steering wheel when braking, you feel it through the seat. It must be the rotors though. SO, again, I told her to please go easy on the brakes. When I drive it I've been leaving lots of room to stop, so I can feather the brake pedal. The truck hardly shakes when you do this. Well she picked me up from work last night, and I swear she was waiting until the last second to brake, and then braking hard....truck is shaking all over the place, I mean BAD, and she seems oblivious. At first I tried not to say anything....didn't want to start a fight, but then traffic stopped in front of us and despite the red lights ahead, her foot was still on the gas until the last minute. I, sitting in the passenger seat, jammed my imaginary brake pedal with my foot....total reaction. She saw me do it, and made a comment about me not having a pedal over there..... I told her if she would drive the way I'd asked her too, the truck would not shake like mad. It escalated from there...... We don't pick up her new Impala for two weeks. It's down at her Uncle's house in Corpus Christi, about 5hrs from us here in Austin. My plan is to get the Grand Prix back from the shop and sell it in that time. The leak tuned out to be part of the rack itself. There is a hose mounted to the rack itself, and it's been rubbing the transmission dipstick tube for who knows how long. Well it rubbed through. Car should be done today, then I can give it back to Misty and get my truck back...and hopefully get her off my back. Will clean the GP up this weekend and post it on Craigslist, hopefully it sells fast. Going to use the money from it to buy new rotors for the Dodge...hopefully that's what it needs, and also get the Overdrive mod done on the Cutlass, and put a pound of R-12 in the Cutty to bring the a/c back to life. The rest will go towards the new Impala purchase. Such fun. Five cars and two motorcycles, and we're carpooling. I guess I should suck it up and put up with the heat, right?? Life is never boring! -Mike
Maybe the Dodge needs new rear shocks or spring bushings. Chris has one with 60,000 miles on it, and I like to stick my hand in the front of my pants (like Al Bundy) and remind her that the manufacturer was smart enough to put a warning on both ends of the truck: DODGE. Thats a lot funnier to me than it is to her.
Does the Dodge have anti-lock brakes? If so, maybe a fault in the system. What's that part at the wheel that measures the wheel speed?
I thought about that, but now codes and now lights on. Been reading up and I think it could really be the front rotors. Will tear into them this weekend and see. -Mike
Grand Prix is done, just got off the phone. The hose that rubbed through is actually a metal line, is only sold with the rack itself, so my buddy welded it up. Man it's good to have friends in the business. On top of that, he's taking the Ram in to look at the brakes. I'm about to go play musical cars...get the Ram, drop it off, pick up the GP, and cross my fingers the Ram is something simple. Here we go! -Mike
:banghead3:Mike, Mike, Mike you gotta learn man. Oh, its tough, no doubt about it, but it CAN BE DONE!!!! I had a major health issue several years ago and for a while my wife had to do all the driving (and towing the trailer with the truck and our more often the '57 safari wagon with most of our trips through the mountains on 2 lane winding roads, keeping up with our fellow hotrod buddies) and I suddenly went from the primary driver to the, well, let's just say the primary driver not driving. Just because I didn't have the steering wheel in my hot and sweaty hands doesn't mean I wasn't driving My wife is a good driver, a tad nervous when I'm with her, but a good driver. Her driving record proves that and the fact that she does a lot of driving on her own without me there to "coach" and she does just fine, thank you very much as she would say. BUT - she doesn't drive the way I THINK I drive. So I provide my sage driving advice, or sometimes I can't help it and wince or put the brakes on or reach for the dash, all of the above includes a deep intake of air and I know she can read my mind and knows I'm praying and saying this is not the way I wanted to die. In discussion with the "other wives" (very scary, trust me) they were threatening to help her duct tape my mouth, hands and arms and legs, before long trips. The duct tape did actually appear at one point and sad pointedly on the console for some time till I hid it. Now I do a lot of the driving but she also takes it on and I've come to acknowledge that she is going to drive the way she is comfortable and that is all there is to it. Looking two or three vehicles ahead? Why, that's the guys job up there, she is focused on the guy very close ahead of her. Slow down before she has to really apply the brakes? Why, the light might change and then she wouldn't have to at all. Slow down half a block from a green light because it might turn orange and then she'd be breaking the law......you starting to get my drift? Sound familiar? So I have forced myself to not say anything, good or bad. I look around, if she chats I hmm and haw but don't want to over engage her and distract her, and I sport much fewer bruises than I used to . It is hard, but frankly, when she is behind the wheel I have come to realize, she owns the results. If she breaks it she is the one who has to live with that like I do when ever I break one of ours. Take a bottle of water or a pop along and when things are getting scary take a drink and swallow it slowly. They can't misinterpret that as anything but you taking a drink (beer would be better but an absolute no-no). Sometimes on a short trip I only get through half a bottle of water, some are two bottle trips if you get my drift. Oh sure I have to hit the bathroom a bit more often but at least she's happy, I'm not damaged, and what the heck, no matter if it is her blazer or my chevelle, safari wagon or the truck, none of them are worth what a happy and loving wife is .
I really enjoyed reading this. Glad to know I'm not alone! You think I'd know this stuff after 18 years with her... She hardly ever drives when we go somewhere....I drive. And actually it's not my choice, I'd really like it if she would drive some on our road trips, but she says I drive her crazy. I try not too. Good tip on the drink idea... Just got back....Grand Prix has power steering again. Left the Ram there. He's going to drive it this afternoon. We'll see! It seems to get worse the more you drive it (hotter the brakes get?). To me, that says it's got to be a rotor...but I'm tired of guessing. We'll see what he says. -Mike
I really enjoyed both of your reads... You guys are kidding yourselves if you think your wife isn't thinking the exact same thing about your driving! Just for the record I go through several bottles of water and get a kink in my neck from looking out the side window, on our drive to NH. After I hit the imaginary brake a few times hubby made a comment about no petal on that side. I just told him we obviously have different driving habits but if he would just give that 3 second space between us and the car ahead I could relax and enjoy the drive abit better. Just between you and me, it amazes me how much he complains about the guy behind us tailgating and he's up here doing the same thing.
Yup and...IMO, does not matter if it's Dog, Furd, or G.ot M.echanic C.oming...although there may be other ishues.... a 200? GMC a boss had kept burning through 1 rear set of brake shoes all the time, to the point of the drum got so over heated so many times it went out of round and the vibration when braking just about rattled your teeth lose. After all the BS this and that it turned out to be a stickey internal rusted e-brake cable that caused all the $ problems.....
I don't complain at all about my wife's driving. Sure, she does a few things behind the wheel that are different from what I do (not wrong, just different). And, heck, she's got a better driving record than I have. So who's the better driver?
YOU ARE . Your different driving is better than her different driving. She is just luckier than you If my wife reads this I'm dead.
The problem is that your 'old cars' are too new! You need really old-school to be reliable. Forget the front wheel drive, computer on wheels nonsense. They are too complex for true reliability when they get old. Better to have mechanicals that give you warning when something isn't quite up to par. That way, you can fix it before it lets you down. Thing is, with proper updates, the gas mileage is not any different, either. Just good, old fashioned dependability. That is why I drive Nora. 34 years old, and up to 1,000 miles a week with almost no issues.
I'm really enjoying all your comment. Lots of laughing and head-nodding! She says I never come to a full stop at stop signs (even though I swear I do..) and that I drive like an old man. It's all part of the fun. As for the Dodge Ram....it appears it's my fault. Looks like I overtightened the rotors after I had them turned....or underlubed the bearings. Also most likely the rotors should not have been turned...they're below spec now. My mechanic friend, who I trust, says it needs new inner and outer bearings, new rotors, and wants to replace the pads while he's there. Pads are still under warranty, so those swap out....the rest is just more $$$$. Ouch. He said there are some light grooves in the spindles, but they should be ok. Never a dull moment. Will update once it's back...today or tomorrow. -Mike
