My Truck is New...

Today I did something that seems to have renewed my truck somewhat.  And the great thing is that it only took me about twelve hours of work.  I changed the spark plugs and wires.  What's that you say?  That's a twenty minute job?  Obviously you own a japanese vehicle.  I bought American.  Cause I'm a 'MERICAN.  And american engineers think it is an excellent idea to put spark plugs in the most inaccessible nooks of an engine.  And they have happily deposited the distributor cap at the very back of the engine bay against the firewall, underneath the overhanging intake manifold.  Wow.

To be fair, I was cleaning engine grease around the plug holes as I went along, and periodically got carried away with the tidying.  But it was a terrible job.  The ratchet didn't fit anywhere.  Luckily I bought some universal joint ratchet extensions on a whim, because they were entirely necessary for the job.  They bend at the middle, at the joint, which makes it so you can change the direction the ratchet handle is moving.

Then, the last plug, in cylinder one, was seized.  It seemed somehow inevitable.  This plug was giving me trouble before.  The performance had been pretty horrible, and it was stuttering badly when you accelerated.  This said ignition problem to me.  But only after it said vacuum leak, and compression loss.  Well, those things may also be true, but eventually I figured out that this might be an electrical problem.

A good test for this is to open the hood in the dark and start the engine.  If you see sparks flashing, you have a problem.  Electricity escaping through cracks in the wire boots or a cracked distributor cap can apparently have a significant effect upon power output.  In my case, I think it is quite possible that number one cylinder wasn't firing at all.

In any case, it has done quite well for me.  I took it for a test drive to Papa Murphy's to get a pizza.  Acceleration was far better.  Because, you know, you could.  Not fast, but far faster than before.  Before people had constantly been frustrated following me away from lights.  I'd be juddering up to thirty miles an hour about about a block and a half away from the light, and whoever was behind me would be three blocks on, having gone around me on the right.  So it's better now.  And today wasn't a wasted day.  So that's good too.

Oh, and Laura, about not letting that thing on my leg get infected?

Uh... Too late.