More car stuff

 "Remember from now on whenever something tends to make you unhappy, draw on this principle: 'This is no misfortune, but bearing with it bravely is a blessing.'" - Epictetus

I'm trying to heed these words right now, hahaha.

The new Pirelli P4 tires arrived too late yesterday to have them installed on the Subie, so first thing this morning I took them to a local tire shop - NOT the one that tried to sell me $1400 worth of new rubber and rims.  The local shop installed the new tires on the OEM stock Subaru rims, and I gotta say, the car now rides amazing.  I did a couple of brief runs up to 90 mph (145 kph), and there was no shaking or drama - it was an incredible difference.  The stuff I put up with sometimes...

 

The local tire shop doesn't dispose of your spare tires these days.  The owner explained it cost him $4000 per truck-load, and the tire removal guy was demanding he pay fuel expenses as well.  The tire shop owner told him to pack sand, so now the customers have to haul their worn tires to the county refuse disposal site.

After the tire shop, the next stop was a trip to the county refuse disposal place.  The guy at the check-in booth must have been having a bad day.  He was the only one on duty, and cars were backed up about 50 deep to get into the place.  I told him that I was getting rid of tires.  

"Any rims?"

"Yeah, four"

"How many tires?"

"Eight."

"It will cost you $5 per rim." Glaring at me, waiting for an argument maybe.

"OK"

"How many rims you got?"

"Four rims.  Eight tires."

"That will be $20, and you can only dispose of eight tires per year.  You are done for this year!"

"OK.  Here's $20.

"You pay on your way out."

"Fine"

"Do you know where to go?"

"Yep, thanks!"   

 The tire disposal run burned about two hours of my day.  Between waiting at train crossings, waiting to get into the refuse disposal place, and avoiding train crossings only to find that several major roads are undergoing construction, it was a long trip.  We have two seasons here: Winter and road construction/repair.  If you don't normally use certain roads, it's not unusual to discover that they are closed down when you need to use them.

The next time I drove the Subie, the "Check Engine" light came on.  It never ends, LOL.  Hopefully nothing more than a worn-out oxygen sensor on the exhaust. 

 Quick Subie Update 4 July 2022

I brought the engine scan tool into work last night, because I've not had time to mess with it at home.  That time is used for sleeping and briefly interacting with my family before returning to work.  So I brought the scan tool.  I was unable to locate the connection point for the data cable.  They've always been underneath the steering wheel, up under the dash.  

I had to look it up on the internet.  Those devious Subaru engineers cleverly placed it behind a tiny access panel on the lower dash. LOL

An evaporative emissions code.   I snugged up the gas cap, reset the fault code, and started the car.  No more check engine light.  Hopefully this was nothing more than a poor seal on the gas cap.  If it's more than that, it should not be hard to figure out. 

Update July 6.  It's Baaaaack. (the P0440 evaporative emissions code).  Looks like I get to learn a bit more about this gray area of knowledge

A while back, I'd purchased a "surface restoration kit", basically a 3" rotary polishing cup and arbor that fits on the end of a drill, with some abrasives.  The goal was to get the kid's car headlights from a translucent yellow to a clear condition.  Let's see how it went.  Yeah the car needs a bath, it's covered in pine and fir tree pollen. 

It looks better in person, hahaha.  The lens is really much more clear and has less amber color now.  It could probably use more work, but I was burning up.  Maybe an earlier start outdoors next time around.