Stop, think and don't panic

[coloradosean2009]

Tonight I was enjoying a brewski at a friend's house. As some of you know, we have an early winter storm moving into the west. As I sat, drinking my beer and watching the weather get bitter, I thought about how much I love my classic vehicle. Naturally, when I left the warm comfort of my friend's couch and keg, I ran into a little problem.

I had been ignoring the warning signs of a clogged fuel filter for a few days. While I knew something was "not right" with start-up and shut-down, I did not bother to put 2 and 2 together. Of course, since it is 28 outside with 30+ mph wind gusts, now is the time that she decides to clog up.

After I calm my wife down from the failed start; I stop and think.... why did my old faithful pickup not start? "It must be the fuel filter" I think out loud.

Thankfully, I knew this time was going to come, so I previously put my flashlight and screwdriver in the glove box. I just did not want it to happen when it was but as$ cold outside and I am wearing my nice work clothes.

Since the filter was clogged and I was cranking on the old gal, she was good and flooded. Now, all the cranking in the world did not get her moving. Again, I stopped and thought about the basics. "It is cold outside and the engine is flooded.... I bet she is way too rich."

So, with the wife behind the key, I removed the air filter and held open the choke. "Hit it" I told my wife. With just a little cranking, she came to life. 30 seconds later, she had blew about 10 oz of fuel out the tail pipe and I was back in business.

I figure there is two morals to this story:

(1) when your faithful pickup tells you that something is "up".... listen to her or else she will wait until the most inconvenient time to have a break down.

(2) when you do have a problem out on the road, stop and think about the basics. Like my shop teacher said "a combustion engine has basic life functions, fuel-compression-spark... if she don't run, it must be one of them that has failed." Once you think it through, you will be back on the road in no time.