Camaro Work

I am losing water from the cooling system on the Camaro, but I'm able to quantify it to about 1/2 gallon for every three tanks of gas. I'm pretty sure it is a head gasket leak.This could also be cause of "knocking" noise I have on some startups. But I've decided to drive the wheels off the Camaro, so fixing some things:

1. Repaired air conditioning. NEX autoport did the work. They charged about $350 less at $650 than Goodyear was estimating.
2. Oil change while repairing AC.
3. Oil pressure sensor leaked right after oil change. It is right above the oil filter. Coincidence? Eh. Hardest part of the repair was not having right wrench to screw it on with.
   
4. Turn signal relay. Right turns would sometimes just come on solid and not blink. Seems to be working.
5. High beam dimmer switch. I bought a replacement, but it is not broken, just sometimes hard to get to switch. The switch is in a very difficult to get at location, so I think I'll let it be for now.
6. Started some work on rust around the battery. I need to remove the plastic base, but I do not have the tools with me to do it. Put some Rustoleum Rust Converter on the rusted areas. We'll see how that goes.
   

VNCs revisited

TightVNC is the program. Seems to be working well, and the ability to access with a simple web browser (with Java) makes it easy. Shirlee set up a recording while watching TV today... That's my definition of success.

Put Gateway Laptop back on XP

Tired of my Gateway computer waking up, not shutting down, and emptying the battery. So I'm shifting to XP. Restored last XP image, updated, reimaged. Seems to running well.

Painted Jennifer's room...

Last night painted Jennifer's room to cover up the remnants of putty for pictures on walls. Sanding, followed by a bit of drywall mud. Edger, and roller - looks as good as new. Very pleased with how it worked out.

New tires yesterday...

Four new tires for the Camaro. "Falken" brand tires, $114 each. Goodyear says I need new front end bearings and tie rods, and as they looked at the air conditioning as well, my compressor needs replacement. $1000 too much to spend right now, at least until I make up my mind as to whether or not fix the head gasket leak as well.

Tires

Goodyear no longer makes tires for a 13 year old Chevrolet Camaro. If that is not a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is.

Which is probably the case. I will get "Falken" tires instead, and the AC recharged. I'm pretty sure I have a head gasket leak, but I'm willing to live with it for now.

Roombas Revisited

Battery charging for long period of time (48 hours) seems to have worked. Each battery ran the Roomba for about an hour yesterday. And it really does a reasonable job when it runs for that long.

CamelBak Bladders

Facts about CamelBak Bladders:

1. Your wife will ridicule you for hours about calling them bladders. And this is probably appropriate.
2. You CANNOT dry them out by microwaving them for a short time in the hope of vaporizing the water. Turns out the plastic is pretty heat sensitive. Don't ask me how I know this.
3. Using a paper towel to absorb the last remaining water is the best trick I know for drying them out and storing them.