Is it wrong of me to expect T-Hoe to run well after paying $988.20 for repairs last week? As I used to say to my students when posing a question with an obvious response: "Let me answer for you..." NO! I am not wrong. The work was done. The bill was paid. Now things should be back to normal. Well. Except for our bank account.
Everything was fine on Errand Day with The Pony. The gas tank issue has been fixed. You can even put the nozzle in and clip the handle thingy so it pumps itself. Everything was fine on Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday.
The only difference I noticed was that when backing out of the garage a couple times, T-Hoe was coughing. You know. Kind of sputtering a bit. I attributed that to Farmer H putting in some gas when testing T-Hoe to see if the gas tank worked. I know he put in over $6 worth on the day T-Hoe was supposed to be done. And then the next day, he put in a little more, to make sure the problem was solved. You never know when you might get some "bad" gas. T-Hoe doesn't get the gourmet stuff. Just plain old regular. It can vary at different gas stations.
One of the days, I was sitting at the stoplight by the Gas Station Chicken Store, headed over to 10Box, and T-Hoe coughed a little more. I just thought I'd be glad when I ran some of this gas out, and got T-Hoe's regular elixir at the Sis-Town Casey's again.
Sunday, I returned home and parked T-Hoe in the garage. When I turned off the engine, it kept running! Not for long. Maybe 5-10 seconds. Kind of coughing, then stopping.
Monday, the same thing happened when I parked T-Hoe in the garage. I hadn't noticed it in town, during my stops there. Maybe I was just preoccupied, or there was other noise. This time, I turned T-Hoe back on. Then off. Same thing.
I told Farmer H on Tuesday morning. He furrowed his brow.
"Huh. It shouldn't be doing that. I'll have to tell Mick. The timing mechanism might have to be reset. He had it off while he was working on it."
"We paid all that money, and now T-Hoe is running worse!"
"He can fix it."
"Will it hurt to drive? Is it going to sputter and stop while I'm at a stoplight, or waiting my turn at the roundabout?"
There was a pause. "No... it shouldn't."
I am not very confident in that reply!
Later on Tuesday, Farmer H changed his tune. When I asked about the timing mechanism, he said, no, it was spark jumping. That's something I never heard of. He had some cockamamie description. Anyhoo... he said he had talked to Mick the Mechanic, who said to bring it by sometime.
"Mick was surprised it was doing that."
"So was I! I thought maybe it was just the different gas you put in."
"I used Casey's gas. But I don't have no idea what THEY put in it."
"It's funny because it didn't do it in the beginning. Now it does, but not every time."
In fact, T-Hoe ran just fine all day on Tuesday. I told Farmer H. We agreed (!) to let it go a few more days and see what happens. Because it's an issue that can't be fixed if the issue isn't happening when Mick looks at it.
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