May 16/17 - up and at 'em

We haven't done a two day trip in a long time, from one house to the other.  Usually it has become a three day trip.  Sandy doesn't like the long days in the car.  I, on the other hand, get tired of unloading and loading ...

We set out from Beckley not quite sure what the day was going to bring.  There was definitely something going on with the car; the code reader pointed to some exhaust sensors perhaps.  They weren't persistent and only once did it affect power output.

It seems that there are several, or at least three, Service Engine warnings / modes. 

The first is easy, something is flagged but has no bearing on performance.  That would be emissions issues that must be corrected in a State with annual inspections.  I've got a persistent flag at the top of the display that reflects one of those - the P20EE.

The second, which happened with the Mass Air Flow sensor that we fixed a while ago, would be where the programming substitutes some average value for a non-existent reading.  The car runs but isn't as fuel efficient and perhaps makes a dent in the power output.   Life goes on.

The third is a true limp mode.  There's no power / torque at all, the car could take forever to get from 0-60, would never be able to climb a hill.  That happened to us with the throttle issue last year.  I was able to drive it to the dealership in flat terrain.  This happened briefly on the first travel day as we approached one of the tunnels.  It went away after a few seconds.

So what would our day bring ?  Would we be stuck at the side of the road, calling AAA (Sandy is a member), renting a car / truck / van to continue our journey ?  I'd go for an F150 ... not Sandy.

Fuel up and hit the road, cross fingers ...

130 miles later, "bong".  Ugh.  Press OK to acknowledge, no sense of power drop, code disappears.  About 50 miles later, "bong".  This time I can feel the difference, turbo is gone but still running well.  Press OK, this time it doesn't go away. We're rolling along, no problems, just no turbo feel. 

About 20 miles later we get to a rest stop.  I want to use the bathroom but that's the minor reason for stopping.  I check the code and this time it's some "fuel rail" issue.  I haven't looked that up yet.  I did the erase thing with the code reader but it didn't erase.  Oh well, turn the car off and hit the bathroom.

Loaded up with Sandy and Cassie again, I start the car and the code is gone.  We're about 200 miles into 750 at this point.  What next ?

Nothing.  Nothing is next.  There were no more bongs.  Car ran like a champ.

So what is this ?  Was it some flaky fuel from the first on-the-road fill-up in SC ?  Was there some water or dirt ?  Is this gone for good ?  After all, we did drive 500 more miles without an issue.

I'd expected continued issues if a sensor was failing, on and off through the rest of the trip.  I was thinking that I'd be leaving the car in Barrie when we go down for Lauren's dance recital.  At this point, however, there's no problem to solve.  Who knows.

We stopped in Parry Sound for dinner (Swiss Chalet) and a few groceries.  We rolling into the cottage around 8:30, 13 hours or so after leaving Beckley. 

At the border, I had my choice of empty lanes.  I was expecting some minimal grilling but nothing.   What are we bringing / leaving ?  - beer, couple of gifts, that's it.  That is it, this time.  We have food - salad dressing, chicken soup, green coffee beans - and leftovers - seeds mostly, but I generally don't get into that level of detail.  They don't care about those.  Have a good day ... and we rolled on.

We hurriedly unpacked the car, black flies chasing us.  The trailer would wait until the morning, and it did.

The next morning, bug jacket on, I unpacked the trailer and got it into the barn.  I got Sandy's car running ... rough to start but smoothed out.  Later in the day, I took it into Loring for mail.  It was running well.  She's taking it to Sudbury today for more groceries.  She complains about Sudbury but she enjoys her day alone, I think, all under her control.

The trailer dealt with, I tackled the gazebo, removing the lights and tarps.  Later in the day, Sandy cleaned.  Still later, we had a glass of wine !  It was a glorious day, as long as you weren't exposed to the black flies which swarmed me by the thousands when I was working out there.

Still later, I got the PC up and running ... whoops, not running.  The linux environment wouldn't fully boot.  Since it hadn't been rebooted or touched since we had traveled south, I restored from a January 1 backup.  All the day to day stuff is backed up automatically every hour so I wasn't worried about losing anything.  The Linux environment simply provides a working base for the Windows 10 virtual machine.

I spent 1.5 hours on the phone with Deb Banks, talking through some RUSA issues.  I've got calls scheduled with Lois, Nigel and Susan and will also catch up with Paul and John Lee.  I'm developing a Board Covenant and it's easier to get input, move to the center of the discussion, without the grandstanding that occurs in the full board meeting.  It is a time investment though.

I did some other cleanup here, putting away the auxiliary electric baseboard heaters downstairs, caught up with some bills to pay - Al Nichols for snowplowing, a cheque to the dump committee for our annual key, taxes paid etc. etc.  All this comes from the load of mail that I picked up.

We're supposed to get some rain today but the Doppler isn't showing much. 

Onward !