Call Me The Exterminator, 'Cause I'm Working The Bugs Out

5/9

I think I've more or less got the carb where I want it, short of having an under-hood tachometer available. But that hasn't stopped the Eagle from misbehaving a wee bit since then.

Friday morning I decided I would do an all-day test. This consists of:
Take the boy to school-> drive several miles to my internship in downtown Gilbert-> drive from there to north Tempe for my regular job-> drive home.

I hit the gas pedal once to set the choke, and turned the key. It acted like it was starting real quick like, but it didn't, and then when it did start, it didn't want to stay running. I re-started it in the driveway, once I got out of the garage, and it was a little better, but it stalled once on the way to the school.

When I got to my internship, I popped the hood and fiddled with some things a little, and it didn't seem to help. I turned it off and on again, and it was very slightly better. I thought that maybe it had hit some old gas in the tank and that's why it was running rough (yeah, I don't know), so I left early from the internship to go to the gas station.

When I got to the car, it started fine and was like, "what, me worry?" just like a couple days before. I put some gas in it, and it was still fine, maybe even better.

So fast forward a little, and I'm on the freeway going to work. I notice that the engine is running a little hotter than I like, on the higher end of the green zone. I turned off the A/C and exited the freeway but it still kept rising. Never quite got out of the green zone, but still a little unsettling.


5/12
I took the freeway home from work on Friday, but it stayed a lot cooler than before. Then, when I took the freeway to work today again, the engine heated up in exactly the same way as before. Time to visit the store for a coolant additive, because this is no way to go into the Arizona summer.

On Saturday I spent an hour or so removing tons and tons of dog hair from the trunk bed and the carpet on the back of the back seat. I also used a bottle of automotive carpet cleaner back there to get rid of what were probably pet stains of various colors and sizes. Same thing for the upholstery on the seats, but with a little less success. I also washed and ArmorAll-ed the rubber floor mats, so the interior is really starting to shape up. The only bad part of the cleaning is that it has liberated some pet smells so I'll have to hit the Febreze pretty hard this evening so it won't smell so much. Some time this week I'll try to get the rest of the stains out of the seat upholstery and clean the leather (or whatever it is) as well.