Seriously, something must be broken on some saturn somewhere.

I went down to Ohio to attempt to keep my nephew's / formerly mine 95 SC2 road worthy.
I was greeted by
flat-spotting tires w 18 psi each
A scrambling noise followed by a clogged exit or inlet of the heater fan (must be inlet)
A solid ABS light with brake light

I'm figguin' the varmint in the heater chewed through my abs wiring

I drove it for 15 min (battery is dead, I know, not good) to even out the tires on it which are rapidly approaching overtaking the value of the entire vehicle
I took the 2nd to last turn just to have some fun. That fun consisted of2 wheels in the ditch, followed by some stiff armed fishtailing over the yellow line. It hugs the road so much tighter than my 97 I literally hugged the curve so tight I drove right into it.
And you all wonder why I love this 22 year old forgotten neglected nugget of joy.

You just have to be there.

 

I serviced my car this weekend and the waterpump leak is worse. I ordered a pump, seal kit, waterpump chain holding tool and three more oil filters. There are a couple styles of these tools and a good price spread. I purchased a Chinese knockoff of the OTC full circle tool. I will review the tool after the installation. The last Ecotec waterpump I installed was on the gold car and the head was off as well as the timing chains were off. The pump is driven by the balance shaft chain. There is an access hole in the timing cover that the tool fits through. It bolts to the sprocket and to the cover holding the chain and gear in place. The tool holds allowing the three drive bolts to be removed and the pump replaced.

 

Derf, if your nephew isn't going to appreciate and take care of that car, let me know. I'd be happy to come and get it and bring it to FL so it can live out the rest of it's life in a warm climate. What the hell did he do, just park it and walk away from it?

 

Thankfully my SW2 has been running good and not giving us any undue trouble. Our Plymouth Grand Voyager has been up on blocks for a couple months waiting for me to put the transmission back in. The F250 has been having multiple electrical problems I just don't have the time to deal with right now (have to physically plug in the rear lights at night with a wire running out the door and under the tail gate to the trailer connector). Been dealing with major stuff lately too (Dad passed away from lung cancer Dec. 14th, my wife might have it too) so it's good to have one less thing to worry about.

 

Im still around, just not as active as I'd like, what with not havi a consistent wifi connection.. Life has been busy and expensive... With my house unfinished, my heating bills vary strongly with the weather, varying from around $100/mo to over $250... My Ion(base model) needs some suspension work but it's still getting me around and returning decent mileage for it being wintertime... I moved my IRL the other day; even with it's battery severely discharged, the engine turned over twice and fired up, settling into a rough three cylinder idle and filling the yard with thick oil smoke... $2k will rebuild its engine, and $1k will rebuild the suspension on my base model... Yay!

 

I check the forum every day. I have no life! LOL Jamnar, I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. That truly is sad. Prayers are on the way for you. My pulmonologist just had me get a chest x-ray because he sees a spot on my left lung. Wife is worried it's lung cancer. I've never been a smoker and don't hang around them either. But neither did my oldest brother and he had stage 4 lung cancer and didn't even know it. He died of a massive heart attack and they found it during his autopsy.

 

Well, while we're discussing death,

My mother goes into hospice tomorrow. She's 92.

Details later when I don't feel like bursting into tears

 

Sorry to hear that Derf, I will be praying for you and yours.

 

Sorry to hear that, derf. Make sure you visit her as much as possible. That way you won't have any regrets once she moves on. Prayers are with you and Brenda.

 

Thanks guys.

I spent most of the last two days with her. Not sure if she knew I was there today.
Passed away Thurs around 8 pm right after I left hospice when they had gotten her properly medicated.
I got the call to turn around and come back as I was closing the garage door.
Drove most of the way at 90+ not real steady on bent rims, but did not get there in time.

She was a stubborn woman as long as I can remember,
She lived in her own version of reality, meaning she hardly ever acknowledged the true reality right in front of us.
But she was a good mother, taught me right from wrong, good from bad, and that there are consequences for things you do in life, even if they are not on the spot or obvious.