Not Welcome Cold Stuff

 Well, the serious Winter made it's way to us down in SW Louisiana for sure. For sure not a fan of cold weather probably due to my years as a land drilling rig mechanic and the 50-60 hour work periods without sleep in cold rain and in the 30's and 40's .  Peeps that like cold weather  never worked outside much.  

Keeping warm and learning  Da Wagon is the main theme for me lately and it's absorbing into my old brain slowly on how the Infotainment system works and the DIC on the instrument panel.  

Did give it a good cleaning last week for sure. 

Even found  out I could haul 8 foot long 2X4 's  and that's it for the length. ;-)  

Did find the battery under the right side passenger's footwell. Did watch video's on changing the oil and filter. Did put a trap in the rear up to the back of the 2nd row of seat's till I get a floor mat later. 

Did find and photograph the information sticker hidden by the left side passenger's door. 

So I then found the complete file on what all those codes mean. And the important bottom one  BC/CC U 8624 which is the paint code.  Promise you, this bunch of codes exceeds my 03 Truck and Vette together on amount of codes. But, then it's 13 years newer. 

Did get a trailer hitch set up for it in but that's not gonna happen till it warms up. So, it and the parts sit in the garage and my room till that happens. 

And yesterday afternoon's broke faucet ordeal sealed my thoughts on that. Lucky it was at the Washing machine and not under the house. So, shut down the water at the city meter and took it apart and it required a trip to Stine's for 1/2 inch T and a couple nipples just in case. Only had to use one T and a new faucet to repair and get back in shape. 

Than done , wife says problem in the house.  Yikes,  filter above stove falls on open flame and catches fire. Which she quickly put out. So, looked at that filter system I've never liked that well due to not fitting tight but had never really studied it. Hmmmmmmm.  Being as she could not get parts for it locally to replace worn stuff., to the Inet I go with measurements and names on the hood. Bingo, Ordered new stuff with filters.  Bad was her being stressed out got her a bit sick so off to bed I put her. Much better later.  Told her,  " Don't stress, call me and let me stress out".  The look i got and the words " You don't know what stress is "  Hmmmmmm. 

So, that about catches us up but rest assure by this pic I saw and coped from a Vette Forum. 

Out with the old

 A new chapter in my life started this month of Feb 2021.  

The Vette was finished and back on the road and feeling so good to drive it again after 40 days of downtime.  

Maybe around 100 miles of riding about and the ABS/Traction control light appeared. What a disappointment !!!  The DIC cleared about 20 miles further driving so figured it was one of the wheel sensors. But took it on a little gravel road after turning the engine off and restarting to let the dash light's clear.  Which they did. Spun the back wheels to let the Active Handling engage a few time and locked ip the brakes to let the ABS engage a few times. 

Stopped to visit my niece and her hubby in their newly purchased home near Welch.  Then noticed on the front of the car that I had forgot to bend the right side fog light back in place from the wreck damage. La yuk.  2nd downer of the afternoon. Oh well, next time I need to get it up in the air I'll fix that was the thought. 

While Sis In Law was here with us, the pic shows the parking style to be able to get to either of my vehicles.  My 03 Vette with 159 K miles plus and my 03 Truck with 110 plus miles. 

So lets think about issues with the truck in the last year. Transmission tailshaft seal starting to leak again. Ever since putting the new throttle body on, does not return to idle rpm when in gear. Lowest it returns to is 1000 /1200 rpm. 

A week ago, I went with Dee ( sis in law ) to Texas to get money for her home she's buying in Jennings and drove her Ford Explorer which was a 2015 model I think. What a different ride and wow on even thinking of having to learn the instruments .  The Idea came to me. It's time to stop worrying spending money and fighting issues with my vehicles.  Let's check and see what's available in town in the Explorer type vehicle. 

Called a salesman / good friend and asked him about it and what they might have in something in the 4 to 5 year old trade in field. And I trade both my vehicles in and keep the price owed around 5 thousand. 

Looked at a few smaller but wanted something to tow my little trailer and had good storage in the rear. And bingo , a 2016 Chevy Traverse with around 68K miles and looking great. And in White.  

So, $9500 bucks later . The car and truck are a fond history and this is my present ride. 

So , onward with a new chapter in my life of just one vehicle to maintain and learn.  My 2016 Chevy Traverse. And already loving the much quieter and smoother ride. 

Next for it is a trailer hitch set up to tow my little trailer if the need arises.