Fill er Up

First a little refresher

Last summer we got this van as a gift. Heath’s Aunt and Uncle said if we could get it out of their yard we could have it. It had sat in the yard for several years but with a new battery, air in the tires and new fluids it started up and we drove it home. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It was free but a few problems have come up. First a bad wire at the starter

This was repaired with zip ties.

Then a leaky hose

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this hose is between the outside of the car where you put the gas in and the gas tank. I tried fixing it with duct tape and electrical tape.

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Once a wheel the serpentine belt rides on broke off

I got a new wheel pretty cheep at the parts store and put it on in about 10 minutes one night after work.
(this pictures does not show it fixed but I thought it might trick you)

One time I locked my keys in the van on a freezing cold morning. I tried to pry open a window and unlock the door.

But the window shattered and I replaced it with a piece of Plexiglas.

I also replaced some fuses and attached some wires and got all the lights and TV working.

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All my little van fixes had been cheep but very effective accept for the gas leak. I got a new hose at the salvage yard and put it in instead.

I still had a leak so I tried some ridiculous things

Then I discovered a hole in my new hose.

So I patched it

A couple of different mornings I tried to put the patched hose in but it would not fit just right and I was not willing to have another leak so I wanted it to be just right.

So I gave up trying to wiggle the hose into just the right spot and decided to take out the fuel tank and connect it perfectly then put the tank back in with the hose connected.

And now we are back to yesterday.

I got home from work and started the rice cooker for Heath and changed clothes and got some tools ready. I put a radio and a fan under the van then went to get Pumpkin. I fed her some oatmeal and we played a while then Heath and Derrick both showed up at about the same time.

I talked to Heath for a bit and Derrick got ready then Heath and Pumpkin left for Peanut’s baseball practice and Derrick and I got busy on the van. We figured out how the gas tank was attached and got busy removing the bolts to free it.

The van has 232,000 miles on it and is 15 years old and spent several of those years immobile. So these nuts and bolts were pretty rusty and tough to unscrew. We lubed them up and tried to clean off the rust and crank on them a bunch but eventually we just wore down the nuts. Getting the gas tank off was going to be really tough so I decided to show Derrick the hole where the hose goes and see if we could make things fit.

It’s a tough area to get into but we took our time and slowly got everything piece together and in place and looking really good. Then I stayed under the van to watch and Derrick filled it with gas. Instead of a crazy stream there was a small trickle of gas leaking. This was a big improvement but not great. I tightened a hose clamp and the leak stopped.

We poured in all the gas we had at my house and it went well so we headed to the gas station to refill my tanks and try to fill the van. There was a little problem with the air hose cork but once I pulled it out the van filled up really well. In no time the tank showed a $75.00 tank of gas and it cut us off.

So at a minimum the van is now full of gas and possibly all my fuel hose problems are solved.

Heath had come home and started on dinner so once the van was done we cleaned up a bit then came inside for some beers and to help out Heath and feed Pumpkin some more oatmeal. I was cutting veggies up for Heath and Pumpkin was fussing a bit so I cut her a big chunk of carrot. She used her 2 bottom teeth to scrape along the carrot and really liked playing/eating it.

We had some really tasty chicken with a sweet and spicy flavor.

We ate on the deck and the four of us hung out there till it was dark and had a few beers. Then Derrick went home and Pumpkin and I took a shower. Then we got Pumpkin in bed and cleaned up a bit then read books for a while and went to sleep.

 

 

 

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