Rolling Again
Jul. 1st, 2020 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeLisa has been spending the last couple of days working on getting the Big Orange Van moving again. On Tuesday, she was able to pump enough fuel into the carburetor that it actually belched back to life, but we couldn't take it anywhere because one of the tires had gone flat. On Wednesday, we took it to Big O in Sparks to have it repaired, leaving it with them while we went to Winco to get groceries. After we got home and put the groceries away, Lisa put the tire back on, restarted the van, and for the first time in more than two years, drove it on a public road. It was only a couple hundred meters up and down the street, but its moving again.
Backing back into the driveway, she saw that there was a fuel leak, so (with me handing her tools and fetching parts) she replaced a couple of fuel lines. The cracked rubber hose was very obvious, and was part of the problem she'd been having getting the van restarted, as she says the line would have been sucking a lot of air. Fortunately, the siphon she used to pump gas into the carburetor has lots of extra hose so we didn't have to go buy more hose. Unfortunately, while working on this, she determined that the fuel transfer valve isn't working, so only one of the two tanks is actually feeding the engine. The switch works (she tested that), but the valve itself probably needs to be replaced.
Also needing fixing is a leak in the power steering system, but she says she has a pretty good idea how to fix that, and in the very short term for the short hostling moves, she can just put more fluid into the system. We should be able to get a new fuel transfer valve either locally in Fernley or at worst by going to Summit Auto Parts in Sparks. (Having one of the national distribution centers of a major auto parts company only 25 miles away is quite handy at times.) And even without the transfer valve, fuel is flowing from the one tank, so she can move the van around as needed.
So everyone is happy except the bunny that had dug a scrape under the van and was sheltering from the midday sun under the van. Lisa's work means all the rabbit's work has been torn up. Also, the wasps that had built a couple of nests in the driver's side door hinge are probably not too happy either after Lisa destroyed their nests. I have no sympathy for the wasps.
Backing back into the driveway, she saw that there was a fuel leak, so (with me handing her tools and fetching parts) she replaced a couple of fuel lines. The cracked rubber hose was very obvious, and was part of the problem she'd been having getting the van restarted, as she says the line would have been sucking a lot of air. Fortunately, the siphon she used to pump gas into the carburetor has lots of extra hose so we didn't have to go buy more hose. Unfortunately, while working on this, she determined that the fuel transfer valve isn't working, so only one of the two tanks is actually feeding the engine. The switch works (she tested that), but the valve itself probably needs to be replaced.
Also needing fixing is a leak in the power steering system, but she says she has a pretty good idea how to fix that, and in the very short term for the short hostling moves, she can just put more fluid into the system. We should be able to get a new fuel transfer valve either locally in Fernley or at worst by going to Summit Auto Parts in Sparks. (Having one of the national distribution centers of a major auto parts company only 25 miles away is quite handy at times.) And even without the transfer valve, fuel is flowing from the one tank, so she can move the van around as needed.
So everyone is happy except the bunny that had dug a scrape under the van and was sheltering from the midday sun under the van. Lisa's work means all the rabbit's work has been torn up. Also, the wasps that had built a couple of nests in the driver's side door hinge are probably not too happy either after Lisa destroyed their nests. I have no sympathy for the wasps.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-04 07:12 pm (UTC)(Some sympathy for the rabbit, none for the wasps.)