Nu shooz

I have written about the failure of the eccos.  Despite the tears in the sole, I was still able to wear them.  Then, the medial heel detached and the foam crumbled in between the sole and the leather.  Now they're completely unwearable.

The photo I sent to Ecco.  Replace these or else!

So I bought some new shoes.

Well, used.  I got them from Goodwill and I am very happy with them.  Months ago, I was talking to a wealthy business owner about his shoes, and I said, "Hey, Mephisto!  Nice shoes!"

And he goes, "I bet you paid more for yours than I paid for these."

"I bet you're wrong."

"I got these at Goodwill,"  he said, proudly.

"I got these for free."  At the time, I was wearing the vintage shoes.

My new shoes were $9.99.  I tried on several pair and these were the most comfortable, but I didn't think they were the most durable.  Heidi said, "If they last you one year, it's worth it."  I guess that's true because the Ecco's cost about $20/year to own.  Laaaaame Ecco.  Now Heidi's talking about me re-soling the Eccos.  Eh, I don't know.  They were comfortable and they fit well on the VFR's pegs, but I'm just so disappointed in how fast they fell apart.  They're like Mercedes:  Expensive and flashy, but poorly built.

The van is still making the clicking noise.  People on the forum say it's the expansion of the aluminum engine components.  A valid theory.  I just don't know why it only does it under load when cold.  Oh well.

2008 Sienna Transmission Fluid Project

I did it.  I successfully did my transmission fluid and filter change with components purchased from Amazon and the Tracy Toyota dealership.  First, I drove the van halfway onto the sidewalk so the drain plug was on the bottom of the tilt.  Then, using the 10 mm hex wrench, I drained the fluid and lowered the pan.

The fluid was dark brown--almost black--and there was at least 2 mm of sludge and metal filings on the magnets.  Using some stoddard solvent, I cleaned the magnets and the pan and removed the old cork gasket.  I removed the pick-up strainer and o-ring and then installed a new strainer.  The Beck Arnley kit contained the strainer and rubber gasket, which I believe is better than cork.

I torqued the new strainer to 96 inch-lbs and then put the pan back on:  18 ten mm bolts, torqued to 70 inch pounds.  It was a relief hearing the torque wrench click.  Torqued the drain plug to 36 foot lbs, filled up the reservoir, and drove the van off the curb to check the level.  Added some fluid, cleaned up, and then Scott and I took a cruise.

First, I was happy to not be able to detect any clicking.  Maybe it was just because the engine was still warm, but after three hours of being off, it was mostly cold.  Even still, there was no evidence of clicking.  Next, the transmission shifted super smooth.  You could hardly feel the 2nd-3rd shift.  I did a van power and was pleased at my little VVTi V-6 and successful transmission fluid change.

Was it worth it?  You bet, because even though it took three hours and I had to buy a torque wrench just for inch pounds, I still got all the parts for under $80 and there's no way a transmission shop could get all that sludge out with their "transmission flushes."  Just removing the metal filings from the magnets was laborious. Second, my theory about the clicking was that it was related to the torque converter because it only clicked when in gear but was proportional to engine speed.  Tomorrow will be the true test:  a cold start for the ride to church.

I'm happy about the swagger wagon.  98,709 miles.

New topic.  My motorcycle jacket's zipper broke again.  To repair it this time, I used the handpiece to do a little prep in the metal.  Then I laced some ortho wire through the holes and ligated it.  It's working well, but my jacket is getting irreversibly dirty.  Several of you have asked how long I plan on keeping the VFR.

I don't know.

I am aware of that at some point, my repairs may not be worth my while or my money and then it will be time to move on.  I recognized that point with the Riv and got rid of her.  We are not there with the VFR yet.  I don't think my repair costs are excessive and many of the projects I've taken on have been elective.  The only thing that really disabled the VFR was the ignition switch and I haven't had any stranded episodes since then, and that was over 10,000 miles ago.  

Good old VFR.

The case of the bad assistant chair

I don't get a lot of dental professionals reading my blog for how to maintain dental equipment.  Probably zero, in fact.  This post is mainly so I can keep a log of the things I repair.  This week's project was diagnosing and repairing the assistant stools that seemed to lose pressure and sink to the bottom of their height adjustment.

I called ADEC and complained.  The representative was surprisingly helpful and said, "We are aware of this problem.  It's not the cylinder (like I had suggested), but the mounting plate is too small.  So the piston is getting partially engaged."  He sent me some new mounting plates under warranty but said the labor wasn't covered.  I told the hygienist, "I'll just do it myself."

She's like, "Can you do that?"

"I'm Danny McMillan."

"Yeah, that's true."

So my new parts came, and they were the exact same size as the defective ones!  So I studied the lever mechanism and decided to use good old Joe Dandy to trim off the offending part.

I brought my Craftsman socket and box end wrenches to the office for easier chair disassembly/assembly, and when I tried in my modified height lever, it worked!  ADEC should consult my blog and give do-it-yourself dentists my instructions, rather than sending ineffective parts.  But whatev.

Now I gotta talk about Bessie.  My dad brought her from Utah to surprise Scott.  While I was at work, they fired her up and Scott drove all over the court.  I was impressed that the motor still worked because it hadn't been run since 2003 when I got pulled over at BYU for riding on campus.  I haven't even changed the oil!  The steering gears are missing one cog and they get jammed easily, so I need to machine some new ones or weld them or even JB weld them.  I also need to weld the seat.  But it's good enough for Scott!  Good old Bessie.  

As for the RC cars, well, I got some replacement parts in the mail today.  I put a new front right suspension arm on Rustler and a 26 tooth pinion on Bandit and the boys and I had a bash in the court.  RC is a good hobby for Tyler because he's not super physical.  I also ordered a 3000 mAh NiMH battery for pumpkin.  That way, we can tow the boat and Scott's friends can have a car to drive.  Pumpkin still has the 55 turn motor, so we should be able to get about 70-90 minutes per charge.  

Another successful repair

I rode the VFR to SF tonight.  I was pleased about how the VFR felt.  She seemed to move effortlessly and nimbly, even though all I did was lube the center stand, throttle grip and cables.  Nevertheless, I believe in the placebo effect and the engine was singing all the way to San Francisco.  The idle was way high, though, so when I parked, I adjusted it.

The manual had discussed the throttle freeplay and as far as I can tell, the cables are within normal limits.  At the hospital, I met a guy with a BMW GS1150.  I said, "My college roommate had one of those and it was getting to the point that some of the maintenance things were due and they were way too expensive, so he got rid of it (Dan-o, I don't know if that's why you sold Anna, but I remember we had discussed the ABS and stuff).

He said, "No way!  You just service things yourself!"

"Well, he wasn't willing to deal with the ABS."  Then I had to talk about the VFR's mileage.  Yar, mateys!

The case of the sticky throttle

On last weeks cruise into SF, I noticed the VFR's throttle was sticky.  It wouldn't return to idle unless I pushed it.  On the freeway, it was almost like having cruise control.  After researching it on the internet, I decided to diagnose.

I took off the handlebar weight, undid the cables on top and bottom, ran some teflon oil through the lines, greased the bar with some of Lyle's synthetic grease, and put it all back together.  It still stuck.  Then I removed the bar end weight and it turned freely.  Was it the handgrip rubbing against the end weight?  Perhaps, but I'm pretty sure I tested it with the bar weight off.  Nevertheless, I pushed the grip more onto the plastic and reattached the end weight.  Now it turns freely.  At the least, I lubed it and verified function.  Or, I may have just avoided a bigger setback.  118,700.

N stuff

I am in San Francisco for Tyler's surgery.  After work on Wednesday, I rode the VFR to UCSF.  On bypass, I split the lanes up to the light at Sand Creek.  The BMW to my left began inching forward, as if to convey the message that he was going ahead first.  I thought, "First, I don't need to beat you to feel self worth.  Second, I will beat you anyway."

I gave the VFR 60% and chewed the BMW up and spat him out.  I nestled into a nice rhythm at 80 and didn't have much traffic until the bay bridge.  I spent Wednesday and Thursday night at UCSF, and while we were waiting for Tyler to come out of surgery, Heidi and I were reading some magazines.  She tossed me a Car and Driver and I said, "I don't care to see these new cars.  I want to see who's getting to a million and how are they maintaining their cars."

I am still curious that Italians make exotic-looking, high performance cars with a terrible reputation for being unreliable.  Toyota, on the other hand, has the reputation of building boring, trouble-free cars with decent performance.  What about GM?  I really don't care, but their cars are still ugly.  You can call the swagger wagon what you want, but it is the most powerful, pleasant-to-drive car I have ever had.  The eldo had a cool engine sound, but was too heavy to be fast.  It wasn't as much an engineering nightmare as Boy's Ford Bronco, but a wiring disaster just the same.

One of the UOP students told me that his high speed was failing every week.  I checked the bearings and said, "You got any handpiece lube?  No?  Got any WD-40? These bearings are rough."

The manufacturer of these particular handpieces claim a lube-free design.  That is complete and utter rubbish.  I oiled up said handpiece and tried it out:  Smooth as can be.  Then I started thinking that if the university's sterilization techs just spent an extra 6-10 seconds oiling the handpieces before autoclaving them, they could save up to 60K per year.  But what would I know?  Actually, I know a lot about how to maintain things and get like fifty times the normal expected life.  But they're never gonna listen to me, which is sad, because the cost is going to eventually get passed on to the students in the form of higher tuition.

Ah, and while I'm on the subject of dental equipment maintenance, I have to talk about the other sterilizer:  the Midmark M11 in pedo.  One of the girls asked me to look at it because it was leaking.  Sure enough, quite a bit was dripping out of the lower left panel.  I said, "Shut it down.  Use the other one."  Within minutes, I had it taken apart and it looked like the water maintenance hose was loose and the hose clamp was detached.  I tightened it up, refilled it, and said, "It looks like someone pulled too tightly when draining the water."  My repair seems to have worked.

Sienna Transmission Fluid Project

I'm gonna do it.  I have sufficiently studied the manual and consulted my professional friends.  I'm going to perform a complete transmission fluid service, including draining the fluid and replacing the strainer and gasket.   Several sources recommend I use only Toyota ATF type T-IV, so this morning, after our Tracy DMV appointment, I got some from the Toyota dealership there.  It was 2.25/quart less than the Walnut Creek dealership.

Next, I'll order a kit from amazon which contains a new gasket and strainer.

Then I'll jack up the van and do it.  I have to get a smaller torque wrench to accommodate the 69 inch-lb torque value on the drain pan bolts.  That's a little under 6 ft-lbs, and I learned my lesson on the VFR trying to negotiate 9 ft-lbs with a big wrench. 

So that's that.  The condo continues to stress me.  The other night, after work, I needed some time to unwind.  The kids were extra demanding and I needed to escape.  I went out to the van, turned up the stereo really loud and blasted the subwoofer for about 15 minutes.