JIM'S LITTLE BLOG

. Our 124,000 mile 1999 family car

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Now for the car rebelling in Iowa. I really thought I had gotten some bad gas in West Memphis, Arkansas. When we accelerated after leaving the [pretty raunchy] station heading up I-55, it sputtered a little. That isn't a good thing to have happen in the middle of the night, it was around midnight.

We kept on anyway and had breakfast in St. Louis. Like the feeling a frog has when you boil him, it was getting a little worse but we weren't noticing. Just in case, in Peoria, Illinois, where we next filled up, I added a bottle of fuel injector cleaner.

That didn't help one bit, we were a little worried, but decided to go for broke. It is hard to tell what someone you don't know will do with your car if we let them mess with it. We hoped to get to our Conroe dealer for him to check it out. Car Travel Life Family

Now this car has 124,370 miles on it, so it doesn't owe us much. [We got it used four years ago from a LOL--a little old lady--having only 16,000 miles on the 1999 Cad then.] Sure enough, it was coughing a little when going up hills, but it got us home pretty well.

The problem was a leaking fuel pressure regulator. The dealer in Conroe replaced the regulator and fuel filter. I also requested a spark plug change--the originals had lasted those 124K miles--and a check of the plug wires, which needed replacing.

That was $748.50 parts and labor, but with my $69.96 senior discount it came down to $678.54. Free was a Goodwrench Multi-Point Vehicle Inspection which the rest of the car was fine, even the belts and hoses. The wiper blades could be replaced, I will do that. There wasn't any way I could get to all those spark plugs.

One other thing, I think we insulted this older car when we brought it home. There was no place at the inn, it had to stay out in the driveway. No, we aren't replacing it. But it did lose its garage spot for a week.
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Sitting here in the garage, where Mrs. Jim's car belongs is Karen's new (hybrid) Toyota Prius, the one she bragged on about the tremendously good gas mileage. That is my 1950 Ford beside it, the '98 Mustang GT convertible is to the left of the little school desk. Mom's 1974 Mustang II Ghia is in Conroe with Mema, in her garage.

We are keeping the Prius for a week, while Karen is abandoning the U.S. She didn't want it left at the airport.

Even though it gets around 50 miles to a gallon, she left it empty for us. Mrs. Jim bought $12.00 worth, which was only four gallons. But those four gallons should take it around 200 miles.

*** A tidbit: Our trip to Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska and back to Texas was about 2400 miles. Coming back from Iowa was 1167 miles, using 47 gallons of premium gas. That is 24.8 mpg, for a total fuel bill of around $290. We generally drove between 70 and 77 miles an hour. The car sure runs a lot better now with the tune-up and fuel system repaired. BTW, our hotel bills were $57.00 with our senior discount.

# posted by Jim : 8/05/2006 12:56:00 PM