I can screw up anything... (revisited)

The insect that has been causing me pain are the darn fire ants. If I get bite once by a single ant it causes the skin over my ENTIRE body to itch like HELL! And try as I might to avoid these nasty little pests, they still find a way to bite me. The last time I was out washing the car in the driveway. It was evening quickly fading to night. I was wearing flip flops, and I had socks on too (because in the past wearing if I wore just flip flops they still managed to find my feet/skin), and was just finishing up when I started swiping at what I thought were mosquitoes or gnats nipping at my ankles. Finally, annoyed by the constant biting, I walked closer to the garage lights to take a look. Sure enough I had fire ants crawling all over my flip flops, socks and ankles. I quickly took off my flip flops and socks and brushed the remaining ants off my ankles but the damage had already been done. They bite the hell out of me and I suffered for about a week. How they were able to find my feet/skin on my driveway with all the water running and without any visible nests around is beyond me. I think they just like me.

Good to hear you're doing well.

Our dog (a Papillon -

You cleaned the mass-air meter (you mean M/A sensor, right), how about just replacing it? They're pricey, so you may want to look in a junkyard for one. That's what I did and haven't had a problem with it for seven years.

How do you know? Does the exhaust have a gassy smell?

What happened with the OD?

restrictions. I go

I'm constantly annoyed by drivers on the highway. There are too many who don't use blinkers and have no lane discipline - the left lane is for passing only -- what so ever.

Or much worse, doing 55 in a 65 zone.

Patrick

Fire ants... You should stick a tiny nanotransmitter on one of 'em and track it back to the nest. Then nuke it.

I guess that every place we choose to live has a Snake in the Garden. In some areas, it is literal snakes (rattling or otherwise); in others, it's the weather (the big giant wind and rain storms, or those spinning, funnel-shaped things; or extremes of heat or cold). After all my travels, I still like this area in southeastern Pennsylvania. Give me poison ivy and deer ticks over fire ants any day!

I seem to recall a family vacation to Oklahoma when I was very young. I can remember being fascinated by red ants, which I had never seen before - we only have those very small black ones up here. But my fascination with the red ones slowly turned into terror as the number of ants scrambling up my legs grew exponentially. I don't remember anything of the after-effects, only the sense of the sudden, "Uh, oh - I'm in trouble here." The joyful situation that becomes life-threatening - that sense has stayed with me my whole life. Probably explains why I'm just no fun.

Fire ants...

That's funny. Throw the dog in and see if it can swim. A papillon?!? You? Hell, man, that ain't no DOG. Not unless you're Paris Hilton. THIS is a DOG:

We did worry a bit about the swimming thing, though. We tend to vacation along bodies of water, so it was important that the dog take to it. She took to it, alright.

That's right... Windsor Fox recommended swapping in a different sensor to see if that was the problem, and I never got around to it. TFrog's battery was donated to CFrog, when that one died (and, since TFrog wasn't starting, who cared?). Then I got sick, went away, came back, bought a new battery for TFrog, but forgot to swap the sensors. Since CFrog runs fairly well, I've just put its mass air meter into TFrog, and I'll have to take TFrog out for a romp today. If that doesn't show any difference, I'll follow Joe's suggestion and clean the idle air bypass (which, by now, has 12 years of accumulated crud in it). (Come to think of it, the symptoms would seem to strongly suggest the IAB as the culprit.)

Very gassy. Just like me! That's what happens when you reach a certain age.

CFrog has been in need of a transmission overhaul for a long time now. It lost overdrive first (the engine just spins when it shifts into that final gear), so I just keep it in D and drive it anyway. It doesn't "downshift" now, either. I really don't want to spend thousands to overhaul or buy a new transmission for a car that's arguably worth between $2700 and $4500 (Blue Book), since I'm not real keen on keeping it. In the end, I'll probably have the trans replaced and have a new top put on it, just so I can sell it. Sweet car, but I never took to it like I have with TFrog.

Now, now... We can all go on all day about the other drivers out there, but I'm not really in the position of being able to cast the first stone. Suffice it to say that we all don't seem to pay full attention to our driving at all times.

What's funny is when someone decides to harrass the slow-moving convertible, sort of like poking a stick at a wounded animal. Sometimes, that's not the smartest approach.

dwight

Top posting because the thread below is too big to handle on a Sunday morning. But here are a few random comments anyway...

a) Fire Ants: Ortho Orthene Fire Ant Killer. Use liberally when dry. Works wonders, at least down here.

b) AOD: If the rest of the car's basically ok, it might be worth having it rebuilt if you're considering keeping the car. I've dumped thousands into the LX over the years even though the book is only a few grand or so. My rationale is that it's a helluva lot cheaper than getting a newer car. So far so good.

c) Bad/crazy drivers: Down here in SoFla there are basically two ways to deal with them. Either be conservative and avoid them like the plague, or be crazier than they are so they avoid you.

d) Ernesto: Patrick, you might want to start watch the weather reports. If you have a generator, it might be time to give it a test run. If not, you might want to take a trip to Home Depot or Lowe's.

Joe Calypso Green '93 5.0 LX AOD hatch with a few goodies Black '03 Dakota 5.9 R/T CC

"dwight" wrote in news:9fqdnSLpD5ArNGzZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Oh, I agree on both points. Ideally, I'd have preferred a Fox convertible with stick, though (no offense, as you know). CFrog's a great car, but I still doubt that I'm keeping it, thus the wrangle over whether to have the thing rebuilt. Hell, if I DO decide it's worth keeping, I'd put a new replacement tranny in it.

Hah! More often, as I get older, I decide that I'd rather have them in front of me than behind, and more often I decide to just "let it go." Unless they're riding my back bumper, it's not my problem.

Still, the ones that REALLY piss me off are the "bullies".

And, finally, you win. Swapping the mass air meters between the two cars had little or no effect. I just pulled off the idle air bypass and sprayed the CARP out of it with throttle body cleaner. And I do mean crap. 12 years and

Thanks, Joe. You wrote: "As for the symptoms up top, have you checked the idle air bypass on the throttle body? That thing could be cruddy."

It was.

dwight

I found Albuqerque/NM to have the fewest "snakes". Very few bugs/no flies, lots of sunshine, no real natural disasters, very little rain... does it seem I miss the place? I do! We'll have to see what the housing market does in the next few years. Right now we're sorta locked in, but if things improve I'd like to go back West. But a small little cabin-type home and get done to just the basics, except with a real nice garage and a cool car.

We/I wanted something that looked like a Border Collie (my favorite dog), but in a small package. She fits the bill perfectly! Smart (they're the smartest toy breed and dominate in the agility contests), active, not yappy, and very cool looking. While some Papillons have longer fur and are "fluffy looking". Not this one, her fur is thinner and she's the right color -- black and white. They're great! I wouldn't own another breed now.

THIS is a DOG:

"The girls"? I thought you were an "empty nester".

I'll bet that's what it is.

TFrog's battery

There aren't any codes showing up? The quick way is to just pull into a national chain parts store and have them scan it. They'll/most do it for free.

Have you ever replaced the coil? Oh, and a gassey exhaust can quickly kill a set of cats.

You old geezer, lay off the prunes and eat bananas. They work great.

Not good. Too late to ask, but did you ever have the trans fluid/filter changed out? I'm religious about tranny fluid. Servicing transmissions is a pay me now or pay me later deal. I change it about every 50K.

If you don't plan to keep it, that's probably the smart thing to do. First though, I'd price the cost of the work then see how much someone will offer you. Then do the math.

'Verts are fun, but they are something I'd rather visit than live with.

If I'm not passing someone, or trying to pass someone, I'm in the left lane. Patrick

I've just been using Amdro around any mounds I see in the yard. But that night in the driveway there weren't any mounds anywhere to be found. Little suckers!

Since Ivan blew through here, I'm on these storms... I watch them closer than Max Mayfield does. The latest has it running over Cuba and then hugging the west side of the Florida peninsula. That's good news for us... it should take a lot of steam off it if it makes it up our way. Patrick

restrictions. I go

Talstar. I think it will kill deer ticks as well.

However, Talstar One and Bifen IT are safe towards non-target animals such as birds, reptiles, dogs and "girls"...

After Katrina I got a super silent Honda EU3000. Over priced to start with, but it will make up the difference in fuel economy (if I ever have to use it) and due to having no real goo place to put it other than outside my bedroom, the quietness will be well appreciated.

Just keep in mind that cleaning the IAB for some reason doesn't last long and doesn't have quite the effect of a new one. Whenever you do replace it get a *good* one. The cheapass ones from AutoZone are only slightly better than the dirty one.

I totally agree! Factory stuff is MUCH better. And, IMO, if you're going to take the time to tear it apart/down, just replace the old/dirty stuff and be done with it.

Patrick

Lost in all of this somewhere is the fact that I actually took a wrench to my car. And it turned out well.

And thanks for the word of caution - I don't generally go cheapass on my cars, anyway, but it's something I'll definitely keep in mind.

dwight

Now that I've seen Phoenix (and the country to the north), I understand your affection for the Southwest. But me, I couldn't live without my cable (TV and internet) and my greenery. And I'm not talking cactus farm - real green stuff. Hell, I took out a half-dozen small trees this weekend, that were actually overgrown weeds. So overgrown, that they WERE small trees.

A small dog that isn't yappy is a rare breed, indeed. But I certainly meant no offense. That's just not the dog I'd have pictured you with...

Yep. She runs and trots like a small horse, too. But the camera adds ten pounds - she's not nearly as big as she looks.

Hell, no. I was an empty nester for exactly one month, some years ago. Princess still lives with us, and is welcome to stay as long as she wants. Problem is, now that we've moved to Paradise, she may want to stay longer than I thought.

Nope.

That would take initiative, and I don't have any. My CHECK ENGINE light has been on for the last 5 years, and I've had a Ford dealer and several mechanics give up on finding the cause. The dropoff in performance was a gradual thing over (I don't know how many) years, but it only recently became embarrassing trying to start the car in the morning. My current mechanic's advice was to buy a new mass air meter. I didn't ask him if he'd pulled any codes, but one would ASSume that he had. Maybe I should ask, next time I see him.

I suspected coil, when the car wouldn't start at all. No, it's original and probably should be replaced "just because." And now I'm curious whether I'll still get that gassy exhaust tomorrow, or whether that problem's been fixed. (Also curious to see how my fuel mileage changes...)

It's the meds I'm on. Swear to god. Normally, I'm much more discreet.

Me? You're kidding, right? My cars only go in the shop when it IS too late. But that's another good idea. Since dropping a couple of grand on TFrog's trans last year, I should probably start a strict regimen of annual refresh. I'll do the same with CFrog, once I get that one squared away.

Tranny work has to be between $2-$3,000, plus a new top at $1,000 (ballpark). At MOST, the car would sell for between $5-$6,000. I think I'll take CFrog over to the shop and see about swapping in a manual, instead. If I can get that done, I'd keep the car for sure.

If I had only one car, it'd be a difficult decision, but I'd probably go droptop. But I've got a choice, which makes having a convertible that much better.

(I think there's a "not" missing in the above.)

dwight

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:1156702420.208711.220820@

Yah, I've gotten into the habit of watching for fire ants whenever I'm on strange turf. Been bitten way too many times. BTW, I've tried both the Amdro and the Ortho; the Ortho always seems to get them so they never come back in the same place. Could be location though..

Max is retiring after this year. He was quoted in the paper as saying that the last two years sort of wore him out. Can't blame him one bit.

Yeah, saw the track a little while ago. One station here had it going up across north-central FL across Jax. Looks like you guys are out of the cone, but we're on the east/dirty side. We'll prolly get some nasty wind and rain this week. The Dak's still scratched up a bit from Wilma last year. What's a few more scratches, eh? ;)

I mention it because when I had idle problems I cleaned mine and got a lot better, but not perfect. A few months later it was about back where it was. Then I changed it, with one from AutoZone that was about half the price of the one from NAPA. It lasted a little longer than the cleaned one did. Went and got one from the dealer and it's been there several years now.