A good day
Today was a good day. I was able to get the fuel pump changed on the Chevrolet. It went pretty easy, for a Dale project. I'm convinced I had some help from above, though, to get across the finish line.
I had to tow the car to the street in front of the house to do the job, though. My driveway is too steep and there wasn't a good practical way to get the car into the garage. I did a dumb thing, though, and left the key in the run position so I had to charge the battery. I should have known something was up when the burglar alarm kept sounding.
Oops.
From start to finish, including charging the battery, it was about four hours. If I hadn't spliced the wrong wires together (to be fair, I spliced the black wire to the black wire, but that black wire was supposed to go to the black wire with the white tracer. That was a 30 minute trip to the hardware store.
Did I mention I dislike working on cars?
There was also a very helpful YouTube video about how to do this task. I followed the video and it worked just like on the interweb. The fuel line connectors I was dreading actually came apart quite simply. Except for one, and that one I just didn't have enough strength in my hands to squeeze it while pulling it. It took me several tries but I finally found the right tool for that job and it came right apart.
So, the Malibu is up and running again. And taking a fuel tank out of a car is something I can now do, because I now have.
The part was $65 with shipping. That should explain why I did it myself. I can't afford to be a job creator right now.
I was really apprehensive about this project. I don't fit under the car and the logistics of just getting one safety stand under it was bad enough. With the way the car was sitting, though, one and the jack as a backup was just enough for me to crawl under from behind and undo the fuel lines and drop the tank. I had enough clearance from the sides to get at what I needed to. I was just concerned I was gonna be all alone and have the car fall on me and get dead.
But that didn't happen. For that, I'm also grateful.
At $3 a gallon, the last two weeks of driving Chevron have been expensive. I'm so happy to have the Chevy back. This week, I'll wash her, check the fluids, and make sure she's got what she needs. It's nice Chevron is a back-up but she needs some love, too. After today, though, I'm ready to tackle dropping the fuel tank on the truck and replacing the bad fuel pump in the forward tank.
It's a job I know I can do.
I had to tow the car to the street in front of the house to do the job, though. My driveway is too steep and there wasn't a good practical way to get the car into the garage. I did a dumb thing, though, and left the key in the run position so I had to charge the battery. I should have known something was up when the burglar alarm kept sounding.
Oops.
From start to finish, including charging the battery, it was about four hours. If I hadn't spliced the wrong wires together (to be fair, I spliced the black wire to the black wire, but that black wire was supposed to go to the black wire with the white tracer. That was a 30 minute trip to the hardware store.
Did I mention I dislike working on cars?
There was also a very helpful YouTube video about how to do this task. I followed the video and it worked just like on the interweb. The fuel line connectors I was dreading actually came apart quite simply. Except for one, and that one I just didn't have enough strength in my hands to squeeze it while pulling it. It took me several tries but I finally found the right tool for that job and it came right apart.
So, the Malibu is up and running again. And taking a fuel tank out of a car is something I can now do, because I now have.
The part was $65 with shipping. That should explain why I did it myself. I can't afford to be a job creator right now.
I was really apprehensive about this project. I don't fit under the car and the logistics of just getting one safety stand under it was bad enough. With the way the car was sitting, though, one and the jack as a backup was just enough for me to crawl under from behind and undo the fuel lines and drop the tank. I had enough clearance from the sides to get at what I needed to. I was just concerned I was gonna be all alone and have the car fall on me and get dead.
But that didn't happen. For that, I'm also grateful.
At $3 a gallon, the last two weeks of driving Chevron have been expensive. I'm so happy to have the Chevy back. This week, I'll wash her, check the fluids, and make sure she's got what she needs. It's nice Chevron is a back-up but she needs some love, too. After today, though, I'm ready to tackle dropping the fuel tank on the truck and replacing the bad fuel pump in the forward tank.
It's a job I know I can do.
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