Running Blazer!
Thursday, I bribed Uncle Alex to come help me figure out what I was missing in the Blazer's electrical system.
Uncle Alex is a professional mechanic, pretty much the best mechanic I know - even Daddy would ask for his help when he got stumped.
I was fully prepared to have Uncle Alex spend about 5 minutes looking at the Blazer, and say "Well here's what you did wrong, you doofus!"
After two hours of double-checking all my work and finding nothing wrong, HE had to call one of his buddies for some advice, utilizing a seriously expensive piece of troubleshooting software.
Come to find out, unlike many (most?) vehicles, a '97 Blazer doesn't run system power (basically everything that's controlled by the ignition switch) through the starter terminal - it goes through the alternator terminal. And since, inexplicably, those power leads are BLACK and not RED, I'd forgotten since disassembly that they were hot, and had bolted them to ground. IE, no power anywhere.
Once we figured that out (thanks Frank!) it was about 5 minutes to having the truck running. Now I only have to warm it up, change the oil, flush the coolant, and let Bud have it back.
Then a good shooting session - lots of fun, although I'm not a fan of the trigger on Uncle Alex's Ruger Security Six. The GP101 seems to have a much better trigger, but I'm open to trying both of them out more :) Uncle Alex also has much meatier hands than I do, with shorter fingers, so our tastes in grips are quite different. I found the grips on the Security Six to be TINY, but they fit his hands just fine. Yay for diversity!
And the bribe wasn't bad - some beer, firewood I don't currently have a use for but Aunt Gail loves in the winter, some of Texas' Best BBQ, and some collard greens from the garden. Aunt Gail doesn't like, and apparently won't cook greens, but Uncle Alex should be able to get his Mom (Granny) or sister (Aunt Liz) to cook them up for him.
All in all, a good day - Littlest Alex behaved pretty well (he napped more or less when needed, so didn't fuss much) and Uncle Alex and I had fun.
Uncle Alex is a professional mechanic, pretty much the best mechanic I know - even Daddy would ask for his help when he got stumped.
I was fully prepared to have Uncle Alex spend about 5 minutes looking at the Blazer, and say "Well here's what you did wrong, you doofus!"
After two hours of double-checking all my work and finding nothing wrong, HE had to call one of his buddies for some advice, utilizing a seriously expensive piece of troubleshooting software.
Come to find out, unlike many (most?) vehicles, a '97 Blazer doesn't run system power (basically everything that's controlled by the ignition switch) through the starter terminal - it goes through the alternator terminal. And since, inexplicably, those power leads are BLACK and not RED, I'd forgotten since disassembly that they were hot, and had bolted them to ground. IE, no power anywhere.
Once we figured that out (thanks Frank!) it was about 5 minutes to having the truck running. Now I only have to warm it up, change the oil, flush the coolant, and let Bud have it back.
Then a good shooting session - lots of fun, although I'm not a fan of the trigger on Uncle Alex's Ruger Security Six. The GP101 seems to have a much better trigger, but I'm open to trying both of them out more :) Uncle Alex also has much meatier hands than I do, with shorter fingers, so our tastes in grips are quite different. I found the grips on the Security Six to be TINY, but they fit his hands just fine. Yay for diversity!
And the bribe wasn't bad - some beer, firewood I don't currently have a use for but Aunt Gail loves in the winter, some of Texas' Best BBQ, and some collard greens from the garden. Aunt Gail doesn't like, and apparently won't cook greens, but Uncle Alex should be able to get his Mom (Granny) or sister (Aunt Liz) to cook them up for him.
All in all, a good day - Littlest Alex behaved pretty well (he napped more or less when needed, so didn't fuss much) and Uncle Alex and I had fun.
posted by Aaron Neal at 11:36 PM
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