Farmer H liberated SilverRedO from Mick the Mechanic's shop last week. His intention being to take SilverRedO to another mechanic to get the head gasket fixed. But the more Farmer H drove SilverRedO, the more uncertain he became that the head gasket was the problem.
The new plan was to take SilverRedO to the local Chevy dealer where we bought him. It has changed hands now, and Farmer H doesn't have the close personal contact with the family owners like he did before. Still, he wanted to get SilverRedO into their shop, and either get the head gasket fixed for around $1600, or get a new engine put in for around $6000. I KNOW! But it's still cheaper than the new used truck Farmer H had his eyes on for $29,000.
Anyhoo... the Chevy shop couldn't work SilverRedO in until March 30. That's just for an exam, heh, heh. To see what they think is wrong. Meanwhile, Farmer H has been putting his own fallow-lying automobile expertise to use.
"I noticed that my truck smokes sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. Yesterday, it backfired really loud. And when I turned onto our blacktop road, I couldn't get any power out of it. I had the oil changed. It didn't lose any oil. The more I think about it, the problem is something with the fuel system. Like maybe there's water in it. Or an electrical problem. It kind of seems like something is wrong with the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve. It builds up pressure inside the engine, and lets oil leak by the valve seals. That's what my other buddy told me. He works on the vehicles for the next county over's sheriff's department."
"So are you going to tell that to the Chevy mechanics?"
"I'll let them see what they think is wrong, but I'm not agreeing to any work until they tell me, and give me an estimate. When I came home, the CHECK ENGINE light came on. So I'm not going to drive it until I take it to the Chevy dealer."
"Don't you have a chip thingy I got you to plug in for the CHECK ENGINE light? And it gives you a code for what's wrong?"
"Yeah."
"I remember I got it for you to check T-Hoe."
"Yeah."
"So you have it?"
"Yeah."
Okay. Am I missing something here? Farmer H can just take that gadget out and look up what's wrong with SilverRedO. I'm pretty sure that's where the Chevy shop mechanics will start.
There is no rhyme nor reason to how Farmer H does things. But he DID say that fixing PCV valves is a lot cheaper than fixing a head gasket.
4 comments:
Tell him from me to get that gadget and use it! At least he will know as much as the mechanics do. Fingers crossed for a cheaper fix than a new engine.
River,
We are hoping for a cheaper fix. Farmer H even says he can do that valve thing himself, but it's a pain. He knows a lot about engines, and has worked on many.
I don't know why he won't take that gadget out to check SilverRedO. It didn't seem to be hard to do on T-Hoe. Maybe he's misplaced it in all his "collectibles."
I felt like I was there having the conversation about the chip to check things out!! If you have it why not use it? You are probably right about him not being able to locate it!
Kathy,
He finally DID use that gadget, and said the code was for 'misfire on cylinder 5.' So it's going to be cheaper than he first thought. He must have been frantically searching for it while I was in town!
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