Let’s see if I can catch up a bit.
I put the ancient Monte Carlo out to pasture last month and have been driving the Aztek since then. I can’t complain about the Monte Carlo, it was purchased with over 120K miles and as of now it has 160K miles, the A/C and all the equipment still works fine. It’s just been limping along with a water leak that I managed with Stop Leak for the past two years rather than repairing it properly. The Stop Leak finally gummed up the water level sensor and every time I drove the car I was treated to the warning light flashing on the instrument panel. It was time to euthanize it, the car served me well but it was at the end of its life.
I performed some deferred maintenance on the Aztek since I’ve been driving it. I changed the trans fluid and filter three weekends ago and did a deep cleaning of the inside. Two weekends ago I removed the driver’s seat and carried it inside to disassemble it and replace the internal heater. The heater has been non-functional since the car was about three years old but since it was out of warranty and since we lived in the South I just tolerated it. I decided to order the new heater from GM and replace it myself so that everything would function properly again so two Saturdays ago found me sitting on the living room floor with the seat completely disassembled, the power motors and tracks in the kitchen, the seat back in front of the fireplace, and the upholstery removed from the seat bottom. It was obvious where the wire had broken and arced in the part of the heater that warmed the side bolster for the seat cushion, it had arced enough to blacken the foam and the underside of the leather. The new heater had omitted the heating wires for the side bolster, I knew from talking to other owners of this vintage GM minivan that the seat heaters commonly failed so GM had issued a fix for the problem in the replacement part. I got everything reassembled and reinstalled the seat to the car, once I figured out what electrical plugs went where it worked flawlessly. I also found one of the plastic covers that hide the seat mechanism from view had broken where one of the screws attach, I repaired that with fiberglass resin and cloth while I had it apart. The car honestly looks like a 1 or 2 year old used car now, not like a car that’s almost 8 years old. I should be able to drive this one for years, since I hardly put 5,000 miles per year on a car.
The Aztek has a trip computer also, I’ve been entertaining myself by trying to see just what sort of miles per gallon I can achieve on each tankfull. Last week I had my best yet, I went through the entire week and only used 5.6 gallons and the trip computer said I averaged 18.3 miles per gallon. Not bad for a vehicle the size of a minivan with a 6 cylinder engine that is driven approximately four miles each way in morning and evening suburban commuter traffic. None of that is on the highway, it’s all just daily traffic. I’m on pace to exceed that this week but one bad day stuck in traffic for five minutes will put me back below my record.
Yes, I’m easily amused…
Speaking of “geeky” and “easily amused”, I’ll be driving to Atlanta next month for a model car show. I have attended every year since I’ve lived here, it’s become my favorite show of the year and I plan to never miss it. I’ll take tons of photos, for those who might care. My friend and I will drive to Atlanta the Friday evening before so that we can be there early. |
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