My cat runneth over

[stephbg]

Today I got that warm fuzzy feeling of well-timed and justified maintenance. I also got that sinking feeling of maintenance deferred perhaps a little too long.



Sector 7 benefitted from the former warm fuzzy feeling: had a locksmith out today to investigate the increasingly buggy front door deadlock. Turns out (a) the pins were worn which was repairable (which is nice), (b) it would have failed completely (so I did in fact catch it in time and wasn't just being paranoid and melodramatic), and (c) the repair was in no way doable by me (always a potential guilt factor in outsourcing). The lock still--as it always has--requires jiggling because surprise surprise the original job of door hanging was a bit of a bodge. Apparently 7 years is a reasonable life for a lock under these conditions :-( *grumblegrumble my parents never had to replace a lock grumblegrumble*

While I was waiting I checked under The Catmobile's hood to see if there was anything obviously wrong that might explain the rough running that started with the hot weather yesterday. For something to be obviously wrong it had to be pretty damn obvious. The coolant was a bit low, so I topped that up. No drama, although the reservoir had bits of crud in it so I might have a corrosion problem going on. I don't recall ever replacing the radiator on this one so it's possibly the original '96. I'll not begrudge her a flush or possibly a new radiator. Still cheaper than a new car.

The oil was too black (more crud) and definitely low. Below Low low. Oops. It's not a leak, so it means she's burning oil now. I'm sorry environment. No car of mine has actually consumed oil between changes since the mid-late 90's so I confess I've become lax in checking. Even back then I'm not sure I ever actually poured in oil myself (back then most petrol stations had humans to do such things for you - remember the "fill-it up-with-unleaded-and-check-the oil-and-tyres-please" speech?), although I did go through a mechanical phase where I merrily changed my own hoses and spark plugs. Not mine per se... I'm embarrassed to say that it took courage to go out, get oil, and pour it into what I fervently hoped was the correct engine orifice. In my defence, drugs = bad mojo today.

The power steering fluid was also very low (which I imagine is bad, yes?), and one of the fuses has a broken plastic cover thingie of unknown significance. I have a new candidate for small broken automotive plastic thingie. I don't quite trust the greasy marks around one of the fuel injection hoses, but I'm not in there often enough to know if it's abnormal. Ditto marks around one of the gaskets on the (I think) clutch. It's a largish thing that plugs into the larger thing that I think is the gearbox. Oh the shame. I haven't watched enough Scrapheap Challenge lately to maintain my sketchy automotive knowledge levels, and I lack baseline data. I am a bad Catmobile mother :-(

She's booked in for a service at the local garage next Tuesday. I had planned to use the next service as impetus to take her to a highly recommended mechanic so I could (after much delay) get a second opinion and quote on gearbox repair, but this can't wait for me to climb out of the Too Hard Basket. Something must be done. This is something.

And the microwave is misbehaving - I've had two porridge overflows in the last three days, and trust me when I say I use exactly the same measures and convoluted four-step nuking process every day.

On the bright side... I'm coping better than I otherwise might. Flat, but not crushed. Also, aircon FTW.

Comments

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

Has the temperature been the same though. It's been quite a bit hotter the last three days, so if the micro is starting to heat while the podge is at a higher temperature to start with it could explain it.

But if your aircon is maintaining an even temperature, of course, the microwave could just be cactus.