しーまブログ 2012年03月31日
Fixing the car
We have a six year old Subaru Transporter. It's a box-type wagon, and it was chosen because it is cheap to run and can carry a lot of things. It's been very reliable, but recently it overheated and my wife stopped at the side of the road near Sadaikuma and phoned me. She wanted me to tow her back.
She said she stopped the car because the temperature gauge was in the red, and the inside-heating system wasn't working. It seemed a clear case of there being no water in the cooling system. The engine started OK, so the overheating hadn't damaged the engine. My wife was wise to stop the engine when she did, because the engine isn't in the best of shape after it ran too low on oil a while back and made something start to rattle inside.
So I positioned my K truck in front and tied a rope. I was a bit nervous with my wife driving in the back because she isn't used to it. I warned her the brakes would require more effort, and that there would be no power-steering to help her. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, so there was a fair bit of traffic on the road, but not too much.
We started the trip to my Hatobama school slowly, and after Yagijima tunnel I was sufficiently confident about my wife's driving that our speed was about the same as other people normally drive - about 40km/hr.
When we turned off the main road as we approached the school, I saw the driver of a car facing me. She looked horrified, so I immediately looked back and saw Yukari about to hit a light pole, and the towing rope was stretched across the road, effectively blocking it. She hadn't managed to steer around the corner, and was heading diagnally towards the corner on the opposite side. I understood what had happened immediately and ran over to her car to switch on the ignition and defeat the steering lock which had engaged as the ignition switch was turned to the off position.
After that there were no additional surprises, and now it was time to see what was wrong with the car.
The radiator was empty - as expected. So I filled it up and let the air out of the relief valve in the back where the engine is located. It wasn't going well, and after a while it was obvious that the water I was putting in was coming back out again from somewhere - ie- a leak.
My neighbour was trying to help me, but his assistance was limited to holding the hose-pipe to fill the radiator. Once this was proved futile he left.
I could see the water was leaking from the front, near the radiator, but it was impossible to see exactly where without disassembling some plastic mouldings. So I let Yukari use my car and settled on the fact that I was going to be fixing the car all night.
I jacked the car up at the front and put wheel stands in place, then took the plastic mouldings off. Once off, I could see the radiator pipes, and after looking for a short while I found there was a section of steel pipe bolted to the body which was badly corroded.
NOTE: The battery in my camera ran out, and I didn't set the date, so the date is wrong.
(I'm useless with my camera).
I took this section off and cleaned it back to good metal and found three holes.
The rest of the pipe seemed OK, so the next day I took that 30cm length of twin-pipe to a local engineering workshop, where they brazed it for a very reasonable price. Great staff at that place - can't remember the name of it offhand, but it is only a couple of hundred metres from the school on the sea side of the main road.
I bolted it all back together, let the car down, and filled the radiator and finally started the engine.
When the engine started to reach operating temperature I let some of the air out of the relief valve, and soon the heat exchanger was working and we had warm air coming from the vents.
Mission accomplished!
Trouble was that I'd discovered the front drive-shaft boots on both sides at the front were torn, so that was another job I had to get done, and I decided I'd do it within a week because left as it was, the drive shafts could soon be seriously damaged, and I don't have the money to pay for new drive shafts. New rubber boots are a tenth of the cost of replacing the drive shafts.
I asked my neighbour to help me because he's got an impact air tool, and has a lot of experience doing boots. Unfortunately he wasn't so lucky with my car. He didn't have the 30mm socket to fit the Subaru's wheel nuts, so I went out and bought one, but his air driver couldn't shift it. The only way to do it now was to use those very expensive split boots that you glue together.
So I took back the normal boots I'd bought for the job and paid twice the cost for a pair of the split kind. My neighbour kindly did virtually all of the work changing the boots, and while he was doing it I tidied up his messy yard. Next time I'll do it myself.
She said she stopped the car because the temperature gauge was in the red, and the inside-heating system wasn't working. It seemed a clear case of there being no water in the cooling system. The engine started OK, so the overheating hadn't damaged the engine. My wife was wise to stop the engine when she did, because the engine isn't in the best of shape after it ran too low on oil a while back and made something start to rattle inside.
So I positioned my K truck in front and tied a rope. I was a bit nervous with my wife driving in the back because she isn't used to it. I warned her the brakes would require more effort, and that there would be no power-steering to help her. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, so there was a fair bit of traffic on the road, but not too much.
We started the trip to my Hatobama school slowly, and after Yagijima tunnel I was sufficiently confident about my wife's driving that our speed was about the same as other people normally drive - about 40km/hr.
When we turned off the main road as we approached the school, I saw the driver of a car facing me. She looked horrified, so I immediately looked back and saw Yukari about to hit a light pole, and the towing rope was stretched across the road, effectively blocking it. She hadn't managed to steer around the corner, and was heading diagnally towards the corner on the opposite side. I understood what had happened immediately and ran over to her car to switch on the ignition and defeat the steering lock which had engaged as the ignition switch was turned to the off position.
After that there were no additional surprises, and now it was time to see what was wrong with the car.
The radiator was empty - as expected. So I filled it up and let the air out of the relief valve in the back where the engine is located. It wasn't going well, and after a while it was obvious that the water I was putting in was coming back out again from somewhere - ie- a leak.
My neighbour was trying to help me, but his assistance was limited to holding the hose-pipe to fill the radiator. Once this was proved futile he left.
I could see the water was leaking from the front, near the radiator, but it was impossible to see exactly where without disassembling some plastic mouldings. So I let Yukari use my car and settled on the fact that I was going to be fixing the car all night.
I jacked the car up at the front and put wheel stands in place, then took the plastic mouldings off. Once off, I could see the radiator pipes, and after looking for a short while I found there was a section of steel pipe bolted to the body which was badly corroded.
NOTE: The battery in my camera ran out, and I didn't set the date, so the date is wrong.
(I'm useless with my camera).
I took this section off and cleaned it back to good metal and found three holes.
The rest of the pipe seemed OK, so the next day I took that 30cm length of twin-pipe to a local engineering workshop, where they brazed it for a very reasonable price. Great staff at that place - can't remember the name of it offhand, but it is only a couple of hundred metres from the school on the sea side of the main road.
I bolted it all back together, let the car down, and filled the radiator and finally started the engine.
When the engine started to reach operating temperature I let some of the air out of the relief valve, and soon the heat exchanger was working and we had warm air coming from the vents.
Mission accomplished!
Trouble was that I'd discovered the front drive-shaft boots on both sides at the front were torn, so that was another job I had to get done, and I decided I'd do it within a week because left as it was, the drive shafts could soon be seriously damaged, and I don't have the money to pay for new drive shafts. New rubber boots are a tenth of the cost of replacing the drive shafts.
I asked my neighbour to help me because he's got an impact air tool, and has a lot of experience doing boots. Unfortunately he wasn't so lucky with my car. He didn't have the 30mm socket to fit the Subaru's wheel nuts, so I went out and bought one, but his air driver couldn't shift it. The only way to do it now was to use those very expensive split boots that you glue together.
So I took back the normal boots I'd bought for the job and paid twice the cost for a pair of the split kind. My neighbour kindly did virtually all of the work changing the boots, and while he was doing it I tidied up his messy yard. Next time I'll do it myself.
2012年03月29日
生徒募集・新ポスターです
ただ今、春季生徒募集中です。
ムーン英会話教室、新ポスターできました。
今回はいろいろと、凝ってみました。
じゃじゃ～ん
これです。うまく見えないかもしれませんが、「ウォーリーを探せ」
のリチャード版です。
この中に隠れているリチャード先生の数が当たれば・・・
な・な・なんと、入会金なしにしようという・・思い切った！
私だけの、プチ企画
楽しみながら、待ってます。皆さんの反応。
そのうち、街のあちこちで見かけたら
数えてください。
そして、下手なバックのクレヨン画は私です。
いろいろ楽しんだ私でした。生徒さん来たらいいな～。
待ってます。このブログ横、お気に入りに英会話のｈｐもあります。
見てください。
ムーン ゆかりさんでした。
ムーン英会話教室、新ポスターできました。
今回はいろいろと、凝ってみました。
じゃじゃ～ん
これです。うまく見えないかもしれませんが、「ウォーリーを探せ」
のリチャード版です。
この中に隠れているリチャード先生の数が当たれば・・・
な・な・なんと、入会金なしにしようという・・思い切った！
私だけの、プチ企画
楽しみながら、待ってます。皆さんの反応。
そのうち、街のあちこちで見かけたら
数えてください。
そして、下手なバックのクレヨン画は私です。
いろいろ楽しんだ私でした。生徒さん来たらいいな～。
待ってます。このブログ横、お気に入りに英会話のｈｐもあります。
見てください。
ムーン ゆかりさんでした。
2012年03月28日
英会話教室・・春季生徒募集
ムーン英会話教室、生徒大募集中です。
子供から大人まで、英会話のことなら当教室へ。
リチャード先生はご存知のように、英国フォルクストーン
出身。教えることに関しては、厳しいと思います。
しかし、基礎からしっかり教えます。
英語を学びたい方、是非一度当教室へいらしてください。
体験レッスンは勿論無料です。
入会金：５千円
月謝 ：６千円（月４回レッスン）
特待制度の案内
私たちは、真剣に学びたい生徒さんに関して、数年前から特待制度
というものをを設けています。月謝の面でサポートいたします。
今、社会をみわたすと経済も大変な中、子どもを英語まで習わせること
容易ではありません。私も実際感じることです。
厳しい状況でも、英語を、習いたい、習わせたい方はどうぞ遠慮なく
このシステムご利用ください。
心から、お待ちしています。真剣な奄美の方、出来る限りのサポートさせて
ください。（月謝を最高額・・半額まで、免除いたします。）
電話番号：英会話教室 ５２－７７７５ 自宅：５４－６０７７
子供から大人まで、英会話のことなら当教室へ。
リチャード先生はご存知のように、英国フォルクストーン
出身。教えることに関しては、厳しいと思います。
しかし、基礎からしっかり教えます。
英語を学びたい方、是非一度当教室へいらしてください。
体験レッスンは勿論無料です。
入会金：５千円
月謝 ：６千円（月４回レッスン）
特待制度の案内
私たちは、真剣に学びたい生徒さんに関して、数年前から特待制度
というものをを設けています。月謝の面でサポートいたします。
今、社会をみわたすと経済も大変な中、子どもを英語まで習わせること
容易ではありません。私も実際感じることです。
厳しい状況でも、英語を、習いたい、習わせたい方はどうぞ遠慮なく
このシステムご利用ください。
心から、お待ちしています。真剣な奄美の方、出来る限りのサポートさせて
ください。（月謝を最高額・・半額まで、免除いたします。）
電話番号：英会話教室 ５２－７７７５ 自宅：５４－６０７７
