Today was a pretty good day. It starting sprinkling rain as we were driving down the road on our way to our usual homeschool playday. Before we went to the park, we stopped at a tire place to see about getting our tires rotated. We knew the passenger side front tire was really worn, so we figured when we got the tires rotated we'd just have them use the spare to replace the front tire. The tire guy said we couldn't use the spare because it was a different size then the other tires, plus it was a different rim as well. *sigh* I guess the used car lot we got the van from just put on a tire that was close and called it good. Before the rotation was started the guy noticed that both front tires had spots where the steel band was showing. He said they're really bad and showed us. Sure enough, they were bad. Luckily, my wife had put some money aside in the fantasy jar as savings. But just like always, we needed the fantasy money to get new tires. Good thing she had a little money put back! But we now have two brand new tires on the front of the van. YAY! While the tires were off I looked at the brake hoses. A mechanic friend told us that the kind of van we have is notorious for having the brake hose get crimped and that there was a recall of the front brake hoses a long time back. Anyway, the hoses didn't looked crimped or kinked at all. Our friend said he would replace the hoses and brake pads once when bought some. We decided not to get new hoses (after paying for the tires we became short on 'extra' funds), but we did some new pads. I figure said friend can double-check the hoses when he comes to change the pads for us, and if he thinks we need new ones, then we'll buy some. Speaking of van problems, we had an oil change done last week. However we didn't look at the receipt until today. Apparently we have a "major oil leak around oil cooler adapter by oil filter". That certainly explains why we have to add at least a quart of oil every time we put gas in it (usually when we're down to half a tank of gas). And it also says on the receipt "Engine has lifter noise. PTS [points]." Unfortunately, we don't have the money to get it fixed right now. I assume we probably just need a new gasket on the oil cooler adapter, so wouldn't be too hard for me to do it. I'm going to ask our friend what he thinks, when he comes to do the brakes. As for the lifter noise, I think that you can just put some automatic transmission fluid in where you oil the engine oil, to reduce the lifter noise (solution I heard from my parent's mechanic about 20 years ago).
Speaking of cats, the other day while we (parents) were outside having a smoke, we saw a cat with a frog (we think) and a couple of chickens saw him and went to investigate. Our cats won't eat frogs, they just play with them until they stop jumping/trying to get away. Well, once he was done with it, he just left and let the chickens have it. Wasn't that nice of Mr. Cat to catch food for a couple of chickens? And who says that cats and chickens can't get along? *grin* Then yesterday afternoon while we were outside, another cat had caught a bird and was just starting to eat it when the chickens spotted him. It was interesting that they were so un afraid of the cat that they kept inching closer and closer hoping to steal pieces of the bird. The cat wouldn't give up that meal though! Was pretty funny seeing a cat eating with about four chickens just waiting to pounce as soon as he looked away, and one even managed to snag a small piece when Mr. Cat looked behind him checking to see how close the other chickens were. *grin*
Tags: cats, chickens, birds, frogs, catfood, tires, mechanics, van repair, oil change, oil cooler adapter, gaskets
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Aren't older vehicles fun? We were supposed to go to see my in-laws Monday but Patrick was worried about driving the truck that far. It turned out he had reason to worry. Tuesday he called me from work. The radiator sprung a leak...bad. There's a hole somewhere. Thanks to our first bit of savings in many years, I bought a new one and had the truck towed home. I went to put the new one in, and it was 10 inches shorter and three inches more narrow than the old one (it was probably from a Suburban, since quite a few parts on the truck are). So, Patrick had to take off work yesterday fabricating holders for the new radiator. It runs now, thankfully.
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