Dear Diary; Today I took my XJ6 in for a smog test.
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| photo source: powercontrol.co.uk It's good to keep a record. |
It passed!
No one was more surprised than I was. The CEL ( Check Engine Light ) had been on for some time, and I had scanned it for codes. I looked around and discovered a vacuum hose to the MAS had become disconnected. Perhaps when I was changing out the radiator? It couldn't be that easy, could it? I reconnected it, then I had driven the car around for awhile. I found that the CEL went out on it's own. I scanned it again and didn't find any codes. Could the car now be successfully smogged, or would it trip a code on the way to the test station?
I didn't know. I had been planning on selling the car cheap, no smog test provided. The buyer was going to get a deal on a beautiful car, if they bought it they could spend their time, energy and funds to mess with it.
When the CEL went out, I thought that I would take a chance on smog testing it. At first, I thought that it would just make it easier to sell the car. The next owner would have the two years of use.
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| photosource:casefurniture.com My waiting room is not this fancy. |
I drove the twelve miles to the station with my fingers crossed and knocked on the wooden dash several times for good luck while on the way down. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. I gave the tech the keys and just sat out in the parking lot in my Covid Waiting room. That's what I call the folding chair that I take along with me. I don't want to sit cooped up in a building and when I bring my own chair with me, I've always got a good place to wait!
When the tech informed that it had passed smog, I was quite happy. Ecstatic would be too strong a word, but not by much. I thought that I had run out of time to mess with the car, and I hadn't want to drive it around and work on it while it was unregistered. I just had too many other things to do.
Now I had a second chance, and I decided that I ain't gonna sell this thing now!
I've written that I'm kind sick with looking at cars, and I just bought that Flex.
While I have already driven it on several long trips, just under three thousand miles total, in fact. While It's a great road tripper, I can't ever imagine myself just taking it out for a spin, just because I enjoy driving it.
Not like my Mustang. With the Flex, the journey is what counts, not the driving experience. In many ways it's like my old Town and Country. I liked it, but I didn't love it.
On the other hand with the XJ6, I actually love driving that car. Just the act of driving it is satisfying. I hadn't wanted to give that up, but I just had too many other things going on.
Now I have the option of holding onto it, at least for a couple more years.
I took it home and gave it a good washing and general cleaning. I took it out to drain all the water out and to dry it off. Just as I was on my way home, the CEL came on again.
With Jaguars, it's never that simple!
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I had some free time so I finished organizing any old work orders and receipts that I had for my vehicles. I never really thought that it was too important to keep all the oil change work orders, they didn't reveal anything about the mechanical state of the car. Besides the current reminder label was pasted on the windshield.
Smog test readouts reveal a lot more about the condition of the motor. If you compare the emissions readings over the years, you would probably notice an increase in these readings, due to mechanical wear. The cylinders and valves wear, and the breakdown of their sealing properties will increase the amount of blow by at the cylinder walls and the the erosion of the valve seats will also result in a reduction of compression pressure. These will result in increased readings of CO2 and hydrocarbons. The acceptable margins for testing can be quite lenient, and even high mileage motors like my Mustang's 4.6 and the Explorer's 5.0 V8s (both with over 200,000 miles) can still pass with a lot of leeway. But this is a measurement that the owner can keep and eye on. It will also give an indication of the condition of the emission equipment like the catalytic converter, air pump, and oxygen sensors. These can be be a good indicator of potential impending trouble.
After I got the paperwork separated, organized, and in chronological order, I then transferred it to my newly adopted, service, maintenance, and repair logs. This will allow me to quickly access the dates of repairs and parts replacements. Now it will be easy for me to know when things had been done. Just how many miles are on those brakes, battery, hoses, fuel pump, or spark plugs. I can note unusual conditions that I should be keeping an eye on. There was no way that I could keep this info straight in my mind, I've just got too many cars for that. I anticipate that this will be a tremendous aid in keeping on top of my fleet's condition.
I think that I have been putting too much energy in looking for replacement vehicles. It's been kind of a distraction from what I need to be doing, though we often welcome distractions. My other projects with the house are somewhat longer term projects, progress will be slow but steady. As long as I keep working at them. I think that I'll just try to display a little more discipline and keep my nose to the grindstone. It turns slowly but it keeps moving.
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| image source: dreamstime.com |
Okay Diary, That's enough for now.
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