A recap on the car issues.. (sans the re-use ramble)

That last car post ended up rambly and encompassed a bunch of topics I've been thinking about lately. I think it is worthwhile to get back to the car issues for the sake of anyone else who may encounter the same problems and is googling for a solution.

First, we're talking about a 1998 ford escort ZX2, however the issues experienced could be common to any Zetec escort 98-2004 as well as other cars with the Zetec engine, like the Mazda MX3 etc.

So first was the shifter problem. The car just stopped going into gear. It appeared that water got into the shifter ball joint and gummed up the grease, eventually wearing big holes in the shifter ball bushings. These bushings, two little rings of plastic, are unavailable on their own. The dealership's solution was to replace the whole shifter assembly for $500 something, but that seemed kind of dumb. I checked several auto salvage yards, but no cars with this shifter were available. Also notable, a lot of the yards said that they don't even keep manual transmission vehicles around... weird.



I eventually found that the bushings came with aftermarket short throw shifters, which can be had on ebay for as little as $25 shipped. The setup in these was a little different than OEM though. In the OEM assembly, below the shift ball on the shift lever there was a rubber boot with a metal ring at the top, as best as I could figure this part was held in place by a small lip at the bottom of the collet plate. Then the lower bushing went above this, then the shifter ball, the upper bushing and then the spring retainer that held the whole thing together. The aftermarket piece had the shift ball and bushings all contained in an aluminum tube held together with a snap ring. This tube seems to be intended for friction fit in the collet plate, because there is no room for the spring retainer. It seems to be really stable there, so "oh well" I guess.

The other problem here was that the OEM shift lever had little rubber bushings that went around the shoulder bolt that attached to the shift linkage. The originals were pretty trashed, but again, this part appears to just be unavailable. I tried ordering a couple of pieces from energy suspension, but when I finally got the correct one for this vehicle, I found it to be for the transmission end of the shift linkage. In the end, I finally just used the tattered remains of the OEM parts, and it seems to work fine.





Then there was the temp sensor problem. Basically, I found out that these cars have 2 temp sensors. The top one apparently only gets readings for the ECM in regards to engine A/F calculations. The lower one (that's really difficult to get to) reads for both the temp gauge on the dash and the cooling fan operations.

The hangup here is that autozone and every other parts store I went to only had the top sensor. After taking it to the stealership and getting a quote for $280 something for them to change it out, I went back to autozone with the old sensor and went through other cars with the zetec 2.0. They should have actual photos on their search terminal, so you can check to make sure it's the right one. I think I ended up getting one from a 98 contour.

Getting to the part on the car was pretty brutal. I ended up removing the upper rad hose, and the coolant hose below the thermostat housing, then removed the thermostat housing. Even then, I could barely make any progress with an open end wrench. A regular socket was not deep enough, and a deep well socket wouldn't clear the space to get it on the sensor. If I had to do it again, I'd cut a bit off a deep well and see if that would land on it.



Everything is working well now, and to my surprise, the ebay shifter is holding up and shifts as good as the original one. Also, I would like to mention that the Ford Escort owners association site was helpful in gathering info on these problems. At the end of the day, I couldn't find _all_ the solutions there, but there was a lot of context to the problems that helped.

Food review - Hawaiian Hut

I'm not sure if it's got something to do with the economy or other factors, but I just haven't been seeing many interesting developments in the world of fast food. As such, the fast food portion of my blog is shifting more towards the intermediate, sit-down, but still fast restaurants that seem to be popping up around here lately.

So today I am reviewing the Hawaiian Hut. Located at the River Road and State street intersection between Green Leaf and Kibu cafe, The Hawaiian Hut is as the name suggests, Hawaiian cuisine.. apparently. I say apparently because I don't really know what Hawaiian food is like. The menu seems to be mostly made up of a meat item served with rice and fruit. There are also a few salads, barbecue ribs and grilled salmon, etc. It seems like this is the only restaurant of the chain, but they have a franchise link on their site, so maybe more will come.

I was unsure what to get so I took the cashiers advice and hat the Teri Hamburger Steak in the smaller size. It consisted of two small hamburger patties cooked in a very weak teriyaki sauce with a pineapple ring on each. The burgers were served on a bed of diced avocado, mango and tomato with a side of rice and some raw pineapple slices. Everything was about as one would expect. In fact I think I was a little let down that it wasn't any weirder than it was. It was all tasty though. I think the avocado and mango were the best part for me.



The bottom line is that Hawaiian Hut has some pretty good food, but the value (nine dollars and change for a small meal and drink) is not really there. I think the bright simulated cabana decor might be a draw for the place, especially on a cold day like this, but the price tag still seems a little off when you consider that I can totally pig out next door at Kibu for less. Still, definitely worth a try, and could be a nice place for dates, etc.

Hawaiian Hut Teri Hamburger Steak - 7/10 stars

A rant about the auto industry OR consciousness about our material culture

This post isn't about the US auto maker bailouts, although that's another issue I have strong feelings about. This post is about the end effects of America's culture of short life-cycle, disposable products on the automotive industry.

How long do you think a car lasts under "standard" circumstances? It's hard to say, and I've seen data that is all over the place so I'm not going to speculate, but I can share my personal car lifespan limiting experiences. I first became aware that cars could reach a point of uselessness when researching Chevrolet Chevette's in the mid nineties. (They are an interesting vehicle, and at the time the interest was in putting small and large block V8s in them) It turned out that around that time, no manufacturer was making replacement starters for the cars. If you owned a Chevette that was in otherwise good shape and the starter went out, the car was suddenly useless. (barring the few weirdos who didn't mind push starting their manual transmission models, and those of us who could fabricate well enough to modify a different part for the job) [Note: this situation as since changed and someone has put the starter back into production]

Another Lifespan limiting factor (LLF) that I've encountered is rust, especially here in Indiana. Rust on a cars body is usually live-able until you get to unibody designs (which most today are) or other modern designs where function imperative chassis hard-points like strut towers are made of stamped sheet and susceptible to rusting away.

The last, and most acceptable LLF I'm going to mention is emissions standards. In most states your car has to pass the test, and if not, you can't get it plated. It's not an issue here in Indiana, and for my own sake I'm thankful for that, but on the whole, it really should happen everywhere. US emissions laws are actually pretty lax. One could argue that the cost of the level of technology needed to attain even these liberal standards is prohibitive to many, and they'd be right in my opinion, but I think if legislating bodies and auto manufactures were more concerned with doing the correct, logical thing (that would probably pay off for them in the long run) than the quick profit thing (that will [and is] putting them out of business) really cheap MPFI controllers and the rest of the hardware could be readily available. I guess we're kind of past that now since you can check instructables.com for people making homebrew gasifiers and all flavors(literally!) of greasel.


All that said, let me tell you about what instigated this post. I bought a "backup" car some time back. (as someone semi-handy, and without the funds to have a dealership "fix" everything, I commonly keep a spare car for when the main one is down for repair) I experienced some strange shifter problems with the car, and took it to the shop, hoping for a quick, relatively cheap fix since the problem was as simple as one worn out piece of plastic no larger than a quarter. To my surprise, that part is simply _not available anywhere_ by itself and the only immediate choice was to buy a "shifter assembly" from the dealer which cost over $500 and included not only the part needed, but a new shifter stick, collet plate, several gaskets, retainer pins, shoulder bolt, and even more ridiculously, the shift linkages. (I know these are vague terms, but we're talking about an assembly of parts larger than would fit in the cars trunk! all for one tiny piece of plastic) Better yet, this part was only available from the dealership, and in checking junkyards, none were available, probably because it now makes more financial sense to crush a car and sell for scrap than to sell the parts to people who need to maintain their vehicles! (and this is because steel prices are through the roof since China is buying all of our scrap... because they are doing way more manufacturing than we are... because walmart buys everything from china! this is somewhat exaggeration, but it IS an issue to be thought about)

This is for a 1998 model car. That's 10 years old. Should something that costs $25k new last longer than 10 years? I suppose that's debatable, but I say yes. Cars _can_ be made to last longer, but that would mean less revenue for the automakers. Witness the Delorean. While it had it's drawbacks, (namely a sketchy electrical system) it was leagues ahead of the pack in terms of lifespan, for the simple reason that it was made out of stainless steel. That is just one singular design decision that contributed a lot to the useful life of the vehicle. Now I know driving the same car for 20 years isn't "cool" in a commercialist/capitalist country, but it makes sense.

So the moral/point of the story is that in most of our material culture we "repair" things by replacing assemblies. (and even then, we end up junking the whole thing a few years later) And in the process, we are simply tossing out all the good parts instead of just fixing the problem. this is how the whole of dealership based car repair happens, and it's not dissimilar to the way we handle electronics, appliances, furniture and anything else we use. The reasons are many - costs of incidentals, time investment, etc.. but I think when you look at the amount of money that could be saved, especially with the US economy the way it is, it starts to look like things need to change.

An example of what I personally think is a more correct way of dealing with this situation are the junk shops of Eritrea, Africa. Here's a link with some photos of what I'm speaking of. Basically, there is a huge junk yard somewhere in every town that contains all manner of any material item discarded. There are expert handymen that can either repair these things, or turn them into something else entirely and sell them back into the community. That link is really the low end of this, with a lot of tin-work ladles and storage containers, but lots of other things are made.

And I have heard accounts of folks from Africa, working here in the US, who go to garage sales and Goodwill, buying all kinds of "junk" - tvs, appliances and old busted cars, with which they fill up a giant shipping container and send to their relatives in Africa, who then take it to these handymen who make them work again. An example I was given was that a person here in the US could buy a non-running 80's toyota for $200 off of craigslist, send it overseas, and once the handyman has it running, it would sell for like $5000! You may think that's unbelievable, but happens, and the reason is that Africa has very very little heavy industry of any kind. With all of the political turmoil and warlording, it makes sense that no legit business would want to get involved with anything over there. That 80's Toyata is simply the only thing you can get.

Ok ok.. Back on topic. I think we as consumers need to start thinking more about what we throw away. This may mean finding independent mechanics (or informing existing ones) who can fabricate and "fix" your car rather than just order assemblies and bolt them on, or it may mean simply thinking about other functions your old junk can perform. Turning your old mac classic into an aquarium may be novelty, but using old cat litter containers as a mop bucket saves you a few bucks and saves that container from the land fill.

I don't know if this country will ever get to the point of Eritrea in these regards. I personally kind of hope so, but I think the fact that here we always have a _really_ rich upper class combined with the pan-class penetration of media driven pop culture, it's likely not going to happen.

So I guess I am kind of making a call to action to be a little more aware of what you have, what you need, and what you can reuse. Recycling is more than a blue box on your curb.



[for the few who are interested in what I did with the car - I told the ford dealership to suck it, and found that I could get the plastic part as part of an aftermarket, china made, "short throw shifter" that I got on ebay for $25. ]

Toppers pizza

So I managed to get "Free food for a year" from Toppers pizza. The deal was that the first 50 customers on opening day won. I researched and monitored the event, but was too apprehensive about what the free food for a year actually entailed to brave a 24 hour wait in freezing rain. I did stop and talk to the first two guys early in their sit. Said they were just bored. Anyhow, I alerted my brother to the situation, as he too is a fan of free food. I had given up on the idea of waiting, but got a text from him the day of the event at 7:30a saying there were only 35 people in line. (The store opened at 10:30) By the time my brain started working, I figured that there was still a possibility I could win, and headed to the store. I got there at 10:20a and was #66 in line. That wasn't all-she-wrote though. 13 more FFFAY prizes were to be raffled off. I waited around and got the last one. Oddly, only 3 people who came to the "event" didn't win. They got free pizzas though.



As it turns out, the terms of the deal are that I have a coupon book with one coupon for each week for a specific item. This week it was a 12" grinder. Next week it's a large 2 topping pizza, etc, etc. At around $10 an item, I figure the coupon book it worth around $520 - not bad for waiting in line for a half hour!



For those unfamiliar with Toppers, (as I was) it's worth noting that it is a Wisconsin based franchise with the first store opening in Champaign, IL. (I am noticing a trend with "college" oriented restaurant chains starting in C/U.. see La Bambas) The West Lafayette store is their first in Indiana. The food seems to be of good quality. The chain's image seems to be mildly goofy and pop culture centric.. For example, when calling for an order, you get hold options like "hear Morgan Freeman read a page from his diary", etc. You can check out their site at www.toppers.com

So anyway, the food.. So far I've had the bacon stix and a baked italian grinder. The bacon stix were pretty good. Similar to Mad Mushroom cheesestix and covered in bacon. They have several other topped cheesestix, and I will investigate those in the coming weeks I'm sure. The grinder was not bad. It was pretty basic, with bread like Quiznos, and for what it's worth, a 12" is definitely enough for two people to split.

I'm looking forward to trying out the pizza. I will report on it when I get the chance and see how it fits in Lafayette's pizza landscape.

iPhone death.

Well, my iPhone bit it yesterday. It was a somewhat common problem of the headphone jack thinking that headphones were plugged in, even when they weren't. this made it unpossible to make/receive calls. The frequent cause is lint stuck behind a contact in a jack. [ see this link for a dissection of the jack ] Not a terribly huge deal, with common prescriptions being to plug and unplug your headphones 10 times, spray with canned air, and even cutting the end off a q-tip and inserting the stick part into the jack and twisting. None of these worked for me, so I had to make a trip to Indy to get a replacement at the Apple store. Thank goodness I still had 15 days of warranty left.

I couldn't really ask for anything more from Apple. I'm surprised that they will replace a whole phone over such a simple problem. (and less.. I saw a system abuser while I was there getting his 3rd iPhone 3G replacement, apparently because he wanted a different color)

The bummer of it all was getting my data back into the new phone. The lesson of the day, and this is probably obvious to some, but I didn't get it, is that iPhones don't store any contact information on the SIM card. On the upside, sync-ing at least got me my apps and associated data back. ..and once I installed my enterprise profile, my email accounts and some of my contacts came back. the remaining 26 contacts showed up in the morning after I had left it plugged in all night. I am still unsure why they didn't sync immediately with the rest, but I wont complain. I'm really surprised that the app data restored. I didn't expect it to.

I'd also like to take a moment to simultaneously recommend the Apple support forums and thank Allan Sampson there for helping me with all my questions in a extremely fast manner.