Feeling lucky

Yes, I have two wonderful kids that make me a father. I have a step-father who's been a fantastic roll model and father, and I talked to my dad today. More on that last bit in a few.

Coffee, headed out, jacked up the van, cleaned off the interface a bit more with a razor blade. Got it installed. Couldn't really remember the belt routing, took me a few tries before I got it right. No, I don't have a manual for this car, but looking at the gasket, next time I'm going to look for 2005 Pacifica 3.8l instead of '09 Caravan data. Thinking about it makes sense, Chrysler sold VW all those engines for the Routan. We'll see next time I get it apart for the next issue. Or hopefully never have to think about it again. Doubt that will be the case.

Got it together. Did a handful of drain and fills with R/O water. Man that was rough and time consuming. Managed to get only about 6 quarts drained out of the 16 that were in there each time. But I did it three times. Warming the engine up between each, letting it get hot enough to open the thermostat, then letting it cool down until it wasn't dangerous to drain.

That third one I bolted the wheel on, headed out to repeat the last trip when the temps went from 220-240 in the engine and the heat took 30-60 sec to come on in the cabin and then wasn't really all that hot (it was hotter with the engine not even up to temp during the flushes). Did the loop, temp never went above 190 or so, always one tick below 200. Paying attention to it I could actually see the opening and closing of the thermostat. Temps dropped, and then came back up. Also noticing and liking that the temp gauge actually seems to report the temp, not just be an idiot gauge that they use in all the german VWs.

Also of key notice, unlike after the drive on the 1st with the lower rad hose being stone cold, it was hot. Waterpump WORKING. While it was cooling down from the test drive I put the fender liner on and the lower shroud. Put the wheel back on and torqued the bolts all down. But man those lugnuts were scorching hot. Had to be careful with the rotor and caliper there - also not cool. Also not cool? TODAY. A scorcher and brilliantly bright sun. At least there was a breeze and the hood gave me enough shade so I could hide and cool everything down easily enough. I may have gotten even more sun today. Oops.

Anyway, after that test drive...

I drained as much of the system as I could, even got the rest out of the block and the engine cooler that last time. Managed to get an extra quart. Toped it up with straight coolant (yeah did the math sort of). Unfortunately, I needed to get the leading plastic clip out of the lower shroud. It didn't come off in one piece. But there were well spaced holes that a zip tie worked well to hold it in place. So I did manage to fuck something up. With all that out I filled it up with the coolant. Not mixed because I had some pretty well diluted stuff in there, and going up to 70% coolant isn't bad, I don't think i'm there but I'm bad at maths. Three flushes 6 quarts added drained the first couple times, closer to 7 on the last one 16 quart system, assuming it was 50% at the start? Good enough. I hope.

Topped up the oil while waiting for it all to cool down. Was going to wash it but baking sun isn't supposed to be the right time to wash a car, although as little as we've washed this one I'm sure anything would have been better than nothing.

Once all set, I grabbed the impact gun I'd borrowed from DiPinto at the shop and headed over to return it so he could sharpen his mower blade.

Driving over there, well I am pretty sure I haven't seen it spend this much time below 200 line in a very long time. And being pretty damn near 90 in the shade, it was a good day to test it. Made it there, hung out and chatted and caught up with everyone, added a bit more coolant before leaving. Drove a while down the drag to the cheap gas, filled up the car. Paired the bluetooth with the phone, and drove home and the temp was pretty stable.

Nothing seems to be leaking under the car. The oil cooler line looks pretty scary but it is intact for the minute. I as much as I hate pre-emptive maintenance I may look at replacing that at the next oil change.

Right now I'm just cooking up some sauteed carrots, some hot italian pork sausages, and mashed potatoes for dinner, and drinking my 4th or 5th can of ice cold seltzer water.

Eat, shower, read, sleep...

After the test drive I did call my dad. Actually got him on the phone and despite the warnings from my brothers at how slow he's gotten (it did take a good number of rings to answer his cell phone) he sounded no different than the last time. We had a good talk, talked about the upcoming move and how it really wasn't what he planned, but that this was the best way forward, he would have liked to change it all and have certain things not happen that lead to this, and he's not sure about going from 8000' elevation to basically sea level... and stuff. But he did say not to worry or stress too much about getting out there, there's plenty of help to pick up any slack from me not being there, and it was good to hear something different than what my brothers have been saying.  It was the kind of stuff I needed to hear from my Dad, he knows I'd be out there if I could, and I could, but it would destroy the week before I head out and then I'll be gone at a conference and two weeks of no one doing what I need to do means I have to spend a month playing catch up assuming there are no interruptions. And yes, I'm maybe a week away from being caught up from the beginning of May. I'm much much more at peace, mentally, when i'm caught up with everything. And if May and the first two weeks of June are any indication, I need to actively make sure I balance everything for me a bit more than I have been.

Anyway, a good day, not the classic Father's day of many folks, but it wasn't so bad. Got something done (hopefully, fingers still crossed, it takes a while for the grip of anxiety to wear off). But I'm a bit more settled than i have been in a while.

Roller coaster eh? But this time I put the brakes on and took a bit more control. Life's a process eh? Always testing, prodding, pushing I guess.

Being more mindful of where I step, not just blindly putting one foot in front of the other.

And I think writing has been helping. It helped me realize what the issues were that were super dark, helped me shake some of it, gave me some accountability for the new choice/change. Maybe I'll stick with it for a while.

heddwch
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