Still at the Lake!! ???

I was supposed to check the house out and flush all the toilets and clean out the mail box for a return trip home on Tuesday................  Uh, that didn't work out like I planned on....

I have an older BMW car that I had before we retired, and it sits in our garage most of the time as my collector car.  But on these trips on the highway, I like to take it out to stretch its legs and boil the moisture out of the oil.  I haven't done a lot of that in 2011 because of medical trips and other sidetracking events.

But anyway, it hadn't been started in about 4 months.  It ran quite rough when it did cough itself into life.    But that was the reason for the highway trip, to clear all of that up for a while.  And it did begin to run much better after about 30 miles.  Until I stopped at the Wal Mart in Versailles.  When I restarted it, the rough running was back and even rougher.....

What to do??  Only people that work on BMWs are the dealers and some assorted enthusiast mechanics sprinkled about in random towns..   A few over in St. Louis and only a dealer in KC.  But also a small dealer in Columbia, Missouri.  That is the college town where the University of Missouri is located about 80 miles North of here.

This morning I was up and on the road before 8 AM headed for the dealer.  The car was missing and kind of shuddering but I was able to keep about 60 in a 70 zone...  Folks flew by on their way to work..

It was about 9:30 when I arrived and explained my problem, but they took me in when I explained that I was just off the interstate with a broken car.  The dealers classify that as an emergency and try and work you in.

I had to sit there for three hours while they ran diagnostics.  I thought it was a coil pack or one of the spark plugs, but they checked out OK..  Then it needed deeper diagnostics..........  that means deeper into your checkbook.....  But eventually they found a bad fuel injector, which they didn't have....  So the guy soaked it in a cup of cleaner and banged it on the bench until it came free......  (his words)

They put the offending injector in cylinder number one, so I would know where it was and sent me on my way.  It seems to be running normally now, and I have since added more cleaner to the gas.  Diagnostic session..........$180.  Will it get me home?  Who knows?  Price of injector once I find one $335.  This is a pricey endeavor.................:(

Once I returned to the lake, I became engrossed with a grass clump that has been in our planting area in front of the house for several years...  I keep chopping it off every year in the spring, but we are really tired of it, as it has grown to about three feet around.  So this afternoons project was to dig it out, with a big heavy iron digging bar with a spade end on it.

The bar is taller than I am and weighs about 20 pounds.  You throw it into the ground until you get under the roots and then pry the ball up out of the ground.  It hurts the surgery some, so I have to go slow, and I was standing on the bar to pry with it over a brick.  It was 85 and on the sunny side of the house, the sweat just poured off of me........  The job still isn't complete as the sun fell over the hill.

So see, I am still trapped here for a while tomorrow, but Loyce wanted to know if I would be home by tomorrow night........  Better get things cleaned up and be back on the road before that injector decides to stick again..........  Life is fun!!

Retired Rod

PS: to Sam over in Darden Prairie, I promise we'll get together one of these times, but for now I need to get back to KC in order to stay out of trouble.....