Nov 3 - time is cheap

It's great being a retiree. My time is worthless ... hmmm ... that doesn't sound very good ... my time is worth nothing ? That sounds just as bad.

Trade-offs are easier to make with my time -- shorten my bicycle ride and go to Pep Boys in Daytona -- that sounds much better than worthless or worth nothing !

I did a brisk two hour ride and then headed to Daytona, figuring that I'd have to push my way into any credit on my troubled battery. I pulled up to the service bay and a tech came out, asked me to pop the hood ... and I said that the battery is in the back. Another tech came out with the tester, went to open the door to pop the hood ... and I said that the battery was in the back :).

Before heading to Daytona I had removed the cover in the trunk, removed the spare tire, unbolted and removed the two levels of metal braces that cover the battery and support the spare tire ... all so that if I was able to replace the battery it was a simple in-and-out.

I knew from experience that it was hard to find a good ground under the hood and the battery was the best bet for this test.

Anyway, hook up the tester, run the test. I fully expected that he was going to say that the battery is fine, since I'd had it on charge and just driven for 1/2 hour, but the machine spit out on it's paper trail -- "replace battery" ... "battery may not start car" ... victory !!!

I went inside to the cash, then to the back, where the guy figured out the pro-rated credit on the battery. $84 ... great ! He got a new battery, we did our thing at the cash and out I went with the new battery in a shopping cart to do my replace and bring the old battery back. They'd already taken care of the $12 refund for returning the battery so that it was a one-transaction affair, not two.

Pop the old battery into the cart and whoops -- it's not as long as the old battery by about 1.5". Not only that but it doesn't have the external vent. Double whoops -- I probably should have noticed the missing vent hose connection.

Back inside and get the proper battery, re-do the transaction at the cash, back out and do the installation and I was off with my new battery. At home I put it on the charger to top it up and then I left the battery minder on it over night.

I learned a number of things from this exercise:

1) it's good to do the swap right there if you can, preparation is a good thing. At best I'd have had to make another trip back to Pep Boys, not a big deal. Had I not noticed the missing vent though, I'd have had to make yet another trip back to swap good batteries.

2) Pep Boys is a great place to deal with -- they took my purchase date at my word and did the credit calculation.

3) I really should have saved my receipt. I'll tuck this one into my owner's manual in the car, although the warranty will simply be an extension of the original warranty at this point and not worth much if three years from now the battery fails.

4) Battery warranties are interesting things. I guess they (the sellers) figure that the purchaser is probably the original owner and will probably sell the car before the battery fails. It's like muffler warranties. There's also no way of telling what abuse the battery has been subject to ... did I pull it from the car and use it in my boat for deep cycle use ? (which it's not); did my alternator fail (which it did) and abuse the battery; did I leave the lights on repeatedly and drain the battery ? Anyway, it's kind of a no-fault thing. If the battery fails, it fails, and there's a pro-rated credit.

What did all this cost me ? $40. That's a treat !

In the meantime, the wheel bearing arrived. It's quite a beefy thing, as you might expect, no-where near as dainty as it looks in the picture. We expect to take the car over to Tire Kingdom this morning, assuming that they have time to do the work today.

That leaves the thermostat, and I'm still researching that one. I'd like to do it myself, but haven't convince myself that I have the appropriate tools. It's another one where the parts are cheap but the labor isn't. I'm also thinking that replacing the water pump at the same time is also a good idea, based on my reading. It's even cheaper than the thermostat itself and is easily accessible when the fan and belts have been removed and coolant drained, to get at the thermostat. I'd like to do this once !

What else ... I hung a picture. I don't think that there was anything else that I did that would qualify as move-in activities. I think that we'll tackle laying the rug in the living room in the next couple of days.

One of the replacement disk drives arrived, so I have to package the two drives up and setup the UPS shipping labels to get them off.

It is November, so I have to consider when I'm going to do that next 200k Permanent, rather than leaving it until later and finding cold wet weather !

Onward ... not sure what today has in store.