Apr 3 - down and out ?

As planned, I headed over to the marina at 9:15. The boat wasn't in the water yet, a new forklift driver fiddling around moving boats. Finally Al went over and pointed to me and my boat and we got things rolling. Norm, Steve and the two boys were a little late so it didn't matter though.

With more gas and oil, we were on our way. Since we left early, the ocean was still calm. Norm said that he'd never seen it so calm ... but I have ... and that was that flat-glassy-calm day with Angelika. It was almost like that only with ripples.

We cruised south on the ocean until we were out front of Norm's condo. He called Patti and she came out on the balcony and waived. Well, someone came out on the balcony. I certainly couldn't identify the person or even see the waiving ! Of course that's because we were probably a half-mile from shore. I didn't want to get warned off by the beach patrol.

From there it was back to disappearing island. With it almost being low tide, that island was big. Moored, the boys jumped off but not before Abby. We wandered for a bit and then headed back. Steve's objective was to be home for lunch and I think that they made it by about 12:30. That's not too bad !

I then entered phase two of my day's plan -- checking out that alternator. Driving to Daytona, the voltage stayed at 13.7 with some fluctuation below that as the A/C cycled on and off. The alternator was clearly keeping up. Hmmm.

I got to Harbor Freight, picked up a couple of small things, and dithered about buying the ball joint tool -- a series of tubes, a huge clamp and washer-things that would press on the center of the bushing. I can see how it would work but I'm not convinced that they need changing. I've got the parts ... will decide later. I probably could have bought the tool and returned it ... but didn't.

So ... on the way home, I opted to drive along Nova Road and skip the highway. I also decided to add more load to the alternator, since I did see it fluctuate down when I braked and it idled down.

It's over 90 outside, so some of this is crazy ...

Turn on the seat heaters, rear defrost, lights, fog lights, brake to a stop at the intersection. Hmmm. The voltage is showing 11.8. This is not good. Rev it up as in driving along, and the voltage hovers around 13. It almost, but not quite, keeps up.

Back home, I reported my findings to the M5Board and as I was typing those, it occurred to me that I could probably do the same thing with the X5 ... so I did. With the X5, I also got the 13 volt reading with all the accessories on, but when it idled down, the voltage was more like 12.9. Obviously the regulator and alternators were doing their jobs.

So I now have two samples, one behaving itself and the other not. The M5 could last a long while like this, with daytime driving or even night driving without all these power-hungry accessories. Unless we go on a long trip, for instance, the seat heaters will never be used.

One fellow on the M5Board suggested that I check the belt and tensioner. That's not easily done but I'll try spraying some belt dressing on that and see if it makes a difference. I'd hate to replace the alternator and not make a difference !

In the meantime, the car's ok. Sandy is going to take it into Orlando today and pick up Marda. It's good for that. Marda will be reading this blog, no doubt, and might weigh in :).

So that was pretty much my day. We had Pompano for dinner along with asparagus and leftover rice. I've been using the griddle on the grill for some of this fish and liking it.

Today ... biking. Gym with John shortly. Sandy's picking up Marda. I've got some vacuuming to do upstairs. One of these days soon, I'll finish up my taxes, but probably not today.

Onward !