Fuel for Thought

Simple Rewards

I find that even the most simple repairs that I can make give me a sense of rewarding satisfaction. The original plan last night was to make my delivery then work on the blog introduction to my van.  After one of my stops I smelled fuel when I restarted the vehicle. Quick check, nothing obviously major, so the new plan was to deliver and then tear into the van. My guess was that it would be something as simple as replacing a short piece of fuel line. The van is getting that old. I didn’t want to gamble on tinkering with the van while a load came available, so after delivery I immediately went out-of-service and to sleep. In the morning O’Reilly Auto Parts had the fuel line I needed, and I started digging for the fuel leak. In less than a half hour I was back in service. I was back in service before my original delivery protect time, and I didn’t lose any board position.   (Fist pump)--Yes!

My first two years owning the van I wouldn’t have known where to begin, and it would have meant a trip to the dealership. My first year I didn’t want to mess with anything to include routine service, because I didn’t know anything about the van and didn’t want to gamble on the warranty. After the second oil service that was messed up by a dealership, I learned the simplest maintenance task in automobile maintenance—a sprinter van oil and filter change. The next year I figured out how easy it was to get under the air filter to change the fuel filter. Learning my way around the vehicle continues to help me keep track of what’s working and many times head off problems before they become bigger problems. This job is an example of that.  

Guess where I met the people who taught me what I know about my van?

eb