Riggins with little brother Charlie and little sister Sadie.

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Monday, May 17, 2010

Monday, Monday

Another slow news day here in Dardenne Prairie, more clouds and rain, got Donna off to work, then Adam off to school, then later I went down to head off to Wally world, to look at a TV for the trailer. I climbed in and turned the key and when the glow plug light went out, I cranked, and instead of a second later hearing that soul stirring rumble and smell of good ole diesel fumes in the morning, it would not fire, it cranked plenty fast, the batteries are brand new, but no fire. What now, I just knew it was fuel related, but I checked for anything loose or a disconnected wire. Nothing. So I thought maybe the fuel filter lost it’s prime, So i got a screwdriver and backed off the bleeder valve and gave it a couple of pumps on the primer and fuel squirted out of the bleeder right away. Tried it again, more of the same, fast cranking but no start. So I called the Chevy dealer and asked for idea’s luckily,  Fred the guy I know who called me when they had a recall on the tailgate straps answered and I told him what the problem was and what I had done so far. He said if it isn’t fuel starvation it could be an engine control module, or the fuel could be contaminated. I told him I filled it where I always do and made a 130 mile highway trip with that fuel and then put it in the garage for the weekend , so I didn’t think the fuel was bad.  Well  He said, before you call the tow truck, try pumping the primer about 12 or 15 times before you open the bleeder and then just open it for a second and close it quick. So out I go and do that and my son who by now came to see what was going on turned the key to start and whammo it fired up just like normal. Boy, Our Lady of compression ignition must have been looking down on me  on this one. All I could see was big bucks headed to the tow company and the dealer and no TV for the 5th wheel.
I know you are thinking boy for a slow news day he sure got a lot of mileage out of the the truck not starting,but there’s more.
I still had my quest so off I was to Wally World, remember, Donna has the other car at work, and my son’s car is dead with a bad starter. so no backup available. Pretty risky. I get to  Wally World and head right for the Electronics area. the smallest flat screens they had are 26 in diagonal which will be plenty large for our bedroom wall, they had three a Vizio LCD,for $308, an RCA with a built in DVD for $338 and a Vizio LED for $348. I had already been told that if the difference in price wasn’t much the LED was the way to go because of better contrast and picture, I talked to the gal in the department and she said not to even consider the RCA, that they just put there name on some Gold brand and it was not anywhere near the quality of the Vizio. I looked at the picture on the two Vizio’s and the LED was head and shoulders over the LCD in color quality and sharpness, I then looked at the specs, and the contrast ratio for the LED was 10,000:1 compared to 4000:1 for the LCD. So I decided on the LED even though it was 40 dollars more. When I told the lady I would take one she looked and there were none, I asked if I could by the display model and she said wait a minute, then she came back and said that’s why they aren’t here that’s a brand new display and some of the stuff is due in this week. She said come on over to the computer, then she looked up the shipping date and it was supposed to be in the store, I said can I pay for one and pick it up when the come in, she said I can do better than that, how about I have one delivered to you house,There is free shipping on TV’s this month. I said great, so now between Friday of this week and Wednesday of next week it will be delivered to the Weeb Ranch. Also it was thinner than the other two which is always a plus in the bedroom of a 5th wheel. And the truck started right upwhen I left the store.
Adam just came roaring in the house yelling, “Grandpa, Grandpa, we don’t have anymore home work till the end of school”,  which is a week away. Now that is a happy kid.
I guess I got all I can squeeze out of a slow day. Be safe out there.
Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

7 comments:

  1. No more homework until next school year. I wish I was a kid again. The home work keeps on piling up so I guess there are some chores to do around here.

    Thanks so much for your comment. Sorry my Blog is mostly about weight loss but I do manage to do a little bit of fun stuff too. I am just not up to running a separate blog so it's all mixed up ... That's Life.

    I must do some posts of our NZ travels in the Old Purple Bus. I think of ourselves as the ancient Hippies More about that in a post sometime.

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  2. Sam,
    Glad to hear it is all working out. Love those guys that give some troubleshooting ideas, especially when it works!

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  3. That sounds like enough excitement for one day for me. :) Glad you got the truck going.

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  4. Whew! I'm tired just reading about all you got done today. Maybe you should rest up on Tuesday?
    Have a great week ahead.

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  5. As a retired teacher I can so remember the joy when the kids hear those wonderful words...no more homework.
    Glad you got a great new TV for the bedroom. You all will enjoy that! :)

    Take care,
    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
    http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

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  6. Good choice on the TV - for only $50 more you'll get much better picture quality. You did better than me on your diesel, I'd have probably had to call a tow-truck!! But, at least, I have coverage for that cost!

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  7. Soooo what did Riggs do about all this excitement today?

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    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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