C-O-R-N-E-R!!!

&

R - A - N - C - H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, there's a brief separate thread on my saga. But this thread seems a much more appropriate forum. And now that I've returned home (and can type on my laptop instead of my PSP) I can rattle my experience off relatively painlessly (at least for my digits).

Okay first things absolutely first... I had a WICKED great time at DB'05. With the last few "Dragon"fests possessing a little of the liquid sunshine, I couldn't have been happier to see soo much sunshine this weekend . Next?...The Bruised Banana freakin' ROCKED The Dragon this year. I was literally in true form (yes, when not behind a cruiser ). When I had my reign to run, I presented high speed with 4-wheel drifts through turn after turn after glorious turn. And Sheila?...God bless ya girl, but that Sunday morning drive was truly Zen-like. When the radio came over that you were having clutch problems and to fall back ...a tear came to my eye . While I did stop...I pray you appreciate that The Bruised Banana has a very difficult time attempting U-turns against cambered curves dropped as low as she is . I'da drug da dragon as it were. Glad you're clutch proved to be repairable & kudos to the dealer that backed you .

Oh...skipped a bit of the timeline there... Hmm...what was that again? Let's see... Oh yeah....RAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!!!! Had an absolute blast Friday night. Great day on the Dragon...great friends...a great promotion...and a great abundance of RUM!...and whaddayagit? RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCH!!!

So all in all a sweet weekend, right? Point The Bruised Banana homeward (Richmond, VA). Following airgate & Anna on I-40E...80mph...aaaaand..."sputter" [then nuthin'! ] Car dies on the roll at 80mph. Veer off the highway to the side of the road & hollar on the handheld for Raul to do a uduit at the next exit & come back to me. Car is ed . No physical evidence for why it won't start...but its dead as a doornail . Never had a vehicle die on the road before...and at 40 years old this October, and with easily 500,000 cumulative road miles under my belt (115K on The Bruised Banana alone) that may be a likely surprising fact. But there I was...stuck on the side of the interstate at 6pm . Planning to be home Sunday night to spend Monday off with my wife -- our 16th wedding anniversary was Aug 26th...and she gave me DB'05 as my anniversary gift -- I was very disappointed to realize I was going to have to consider a tow truck . And did I mention this was Sunday at 6pm? Right...who's open that's going to have half a clue??? Anna & Raul arrived...we gabbed a bit...and decided its gonna have to be towed to a dealership. I trudged up through the thicket up the nearby overpass. Walked to a convenience store & rummaged the phonebook & called a wrecker service (they'd be there within 30 minutes). Wrecker arrived on time. Good egg the young driver. Very willing to work with me. The Bruised Banana is dropped pretty damned low. And my Distinto bumper was NOT going to clear the roll-up before the front wheels got on. So I removed the bumper, he pulled the car up, I reinstalled the bumper, then he ratcheted her down for a ride up the road to a nearby Honda dealership approx 20 miles up the road. Dealership...Crown Honda of Greensboro . Only Monday would I realize how fortunate I was to be able to deal with such a professional operation. But as for Sunday night, the tow driver set my car such that she perfectly rolled off into a parking space. I reattached the bumper again. Raul & Anna had followed along, and Raul filled out the overnight drop bag. Tow driver offered to drop me off at a local motel . Tow bill...$65 (nice guy! ). Raul, Anna & I grabbed a bite to eat at Ruby Tuesdays...then they left & I spent my first evening of the week...[yes, read that again]...at Microtel.

First thing Monday morning, I receive a call from Crown Honda. I ask them for a courtesy van pickup so I can review what occured to possibly assist them in diagnosing problem. You see, I was sure I had a fuel problem. That "sputter"...then nothing but engine turning over and over...sure seemed like no fuel to me. Plus, for the last couple months I've encountered a total of 5 CELs reporting the same thing (misfire on all 4 cylinders simultaneously). Yup, I felt certain that a new fuel pump, or injectors, or such was in my future Monday morning....

So I meet up with Blain, my Service Consultant. Great guy. Very willing to listen. Took me back to my car on the service bay to meet my mechanic, Nick, who was presently removing my valve cover to make his own inspection. We all exchanged pleasantries. At the same time I receive a call from my Richmond, VA Honda mechanic who was responding to a vmx I'd left him. Impressed...Blain seemed to realize I was a particular customer and he and Nick accomodated my desire to be "right in the thick of it" during diagnosis. So with the valve cover off...Nick spins the engine with a push of the START button. Yet......if he's pressed the START button......how's come the valve train up top...isn't...turning...a...single...bit . Yup . Didn't take rocket science to see that I've got BIG problems.

As I've dumped a number of smilies into this post...I'll leave this as a bit of a cliffhanger and will continue in another post shortly...

 

...... No, wait! I'm suppose to be home with my honey! Why aren't my cams turning?! Why isn't my timing chain moving?!!!

Pulled the airbox, and an unbelievably quick inspection of the front of the engine shows that the central bolt that retains my lower crank pulley (for the little boys & girls)...this pulley is attached to the crankshaft...yeah, that bolt is backed off approximately 5 rotations from the crank pulley How in the good Lord's name a bolt...bound with 181 ft/lbs of torque...could back off like this was simply flabbergasting (I can and will explain later). But the fact remained directly in front of my eyes... This play allowed the car to jump time Sunday evening at 80mph. And all my valves...kissed all my pistons . And the reason my upper half wasn't turning over is because the play was so severe that the crank key had slid nearly completely out...allowing the lower timing gear to NOT spin in tandem with the crankshaft. Its over...done! I'm suppose to be home this fine morning right now spooning with my wife and instead...I have a major engine overhaul to consider still 5 hours away from home .

Nick calls a local machine shop explaining the nature of the problem along with my circumstances (yes! spooning is VERY important to a mature marriage! ) and he wants to help me get home as soon as possible . Machine shop sends over a fella while Nick pulls The Bruised Banana's head off for the shop to consider how bad things have turned out. Meanwhile, I opt to review with Blain my relationship with both s2ki.com as well as hardtopguy (aka Jeff of Ganley Honda, the finest Parts Manager north of the Mason-Dixon line ). With a respectful and tactful approach, I asked Blain to allow me to order any parts I'll need overnight through hardtopguy. Without going into just how accommodating Blain was, I'll just say that after I reviewed with Blain the prices I could get for the necessary items from hardtopguy, I couldn't have been happier with the resulting agreement regarding parts costs through Crown Honda. My hat off to Jeff for helping me out...and to Blain for coming through locally and having the wearwithall to recognize some percentage over cost was better than zero percent parts margins . Good man Blain! Jeff also gets good points for advising me to replace all my upper valvetrain bits-n-bobs (valves, retainers, springs, timing chain, etc.) rather than replacing only those bent/stressed once diagnosed by the machine shop. So Blain ordered all parts overnight for a full valvetrain replacement. Cams were fine by the way. As were the piston heads. So that said, that ends...um...day one Monday in Greensboro, NC. Back to the glorious Microtel for the remainder of my day.

Tuesday morning, I call for courtesy van. Arrive & hang out. Machine shop had pulled the head down Monday evening in anticipation of the parts arriving Tuesday morning. Was to go like heart surgery...parts arrive at Crown, get shuttled to machine shop, shop in turn builds head, and sends it to Nick for reinstallation. Only...some valves didn't arrive Tuesday . So with no other option, Blain set supplier straight for need of expediting remaining items to be shipped. Well, that kinda hurt . Now I'm a day down for sure, still no car, now burning into work days that I'd not anticipated taking PTO for...and on top of all expenses, I'll be spending another night at Microtel . Needing some kinda entertainment fix, I considered the fact that I'd purchased Vol 3 of Tailofthedragon's annual DVD. But with nowhere at Microtel to play it, what was I to do . Still at Crown Honda, I considered that they might have a TV with a DVD player (for promotional demos, etc. perhaps). I asked a sales manager if there might be such a setup... Nope...buuuuuuut . Sales manager snags a set of keys to a minivan on the lot and says, "Follow me." He fires up the van, cranks the A/C, pops the DVD in the dash, drops the vid screen and says, "Just return the keys when you're done." Cool! Great video. And The Bruised Banana made Tailofthedragon's cut for Vol 3!!! But once done, the fact remained.... I have to return to Microtel for another evening .

Wednesday came and basically went . Parts arrived very late due to Atlanta-based shipping delays with regards to the little princess that dumped the gulf of Mexico into the South . Once the parts did arrive...and it was determined that there would be an unprofessional rush if we were to over-push both the machine shop and Nick to get it all done into the evening...I returned once again to Microtel. And with my PSP in hand, with the new ver.2.0 installed with my wi-fi browser, I opted to begin trolling the boards back at the motel. Not a fun browser for typing (kinda like text messaging on a phone), but easy and fast for reading others posts, viewing pics, etc. So I trolled the Dragon threads post-DB'05 to see how others fared home, etc. And I posted a brief account that I was stuck and not yet home . Wednesday evening I get a call from Jay (aka GoldenEagle). He's calling me to say he just read my thread & shucks...he's only 25 minutes from where I'm staying. Had he known, he'da put me up, lent me a car, the whole shabang. Grateful as I was for the offer, the fact was the room was now paid for, and all accounts pointed to me heading home Thursday. Very nice offer. And I wish I would have considered posting a thread immediately in the Carolina's forum as I'm sure I'da been put up and with better company than a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall-length mirror for 4 nights.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon all the bolts go back where they belong. Fresh conventional dino-oil & filter (instead of my synth...since dino's necessary to seat the valves well). Fire The Bruised Banana up (must have been 12 mechanics around the car by the end of the effort). Nick babied her the entire time tho' . Settled up with Crown for just a titch over $2000 (believe me...while that hurt my wallet, it is no ill-reflection on Crown). They offered fantastic customer service both to me and to The Bruised Banana. I gave Nick a DragonBall'05 T-shirt as a thank you for all the TLC he put in the car. Drove around town for approximately a 1/2 hour just to be sure all seemed good. Hit the Interstate heading for Richmond (no VTEC for 600 miles again ). Rolled the odo to 116K on the way home . Stopped first in the office to check e-mails...only 253 . Cleared/replied to all so that I'd be prepared to work at the office Friday.

Oh...I'd received a call on my cell from work earlier Thursday afternoon. Around 1pm. Seemed my dearest co-worker and right-hand lady had a family tragedy that put all this week in perspective for me.

I'll post horrific story in a moment......

 

So......what backed that damned 181 ft/lb crank pulley bolt off! . Well, it took me my return drive home to put it together. And it goes back nearly 3 years ago now to my first valve adjustment I did on the car. Not paying attention at the end of the entire valve adjustment effort, I'd forgotten that my socket wrench was still on that bolt (to turn the crank/pistons to proper position for each set of valves). Yup...with that little bit of forgetfullness, I'd pressed the START button . Heard a CLANGKAEDEDGED...popped the hood...and eyed my socket wrench laying in the plastic body tray below the motor . Now, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought on that fateful day that I should have checked to see if I'd loosened that crank pulley bolt...but you can guess the outcome of that oversight 3 years later ... That's a $2000 lesson I'll not repeat.

As for my co-worker...and why my week's ordeal just wasn't all that big an issue in the big scheme of Life... You see, that call I received was from ANOTHER co-worker explaining to me that Bonnie would not be in the office Friday. Bonnie left in a frantic fear that her daughter, Jennifer, all of 18 years old, was heading to the hospital and might not survive the trip . As you read this, I'll ask that each of you please keep Jennifer and her family in your prayers. Jennifer is presently going through a tremendously tragic experience due to the most bizarre of accidents. As of this Friday morning, I'm aware that Jennifer Marchetti has come out of surgery (although the surgeons have indicated she will need at least 3-4 additional reconstructive surgeries...). Throughout Thursday night and into Friday morning (nearly 12 hours), surgeons worked to reconstruct the left side of Jennifer's face. Her nose had been pushed inward and they were only able to find 90% of the bones for her nose. Nevertheless, I understand they were able reconstruct the nose with what they had. She presently has about 15 metal plates in her face. They were not able to save her left eye and it had to be removed. They have put a tube down her back to relieve leakage of spinal fluid. They are keeping a watch on her because she is susceptible to infection and spinal meningitis.

In a time when folks seek out others to blame for bad things...this accident Jennifer suffered has no "owner." A piece of debris (a heavy metal ball with a hook on the end) was inadvertantly kicked up by an on-coming vehicle and smashed into Jennifer's car...specifically where Jennifer was sitting as the driver. The Marchetti's will have to bare all financial/medical expenses for Jennifer's recouperation. I pray for Jennifer and her family; that she might recover with God's grace, and that her family will not weep but will be strengthened in the knowledge that God has spared their daughter and that she will survive this. My hope is that a chorus of prayers will be elevated to Heaven and God's mercy will wash over the Marchetti's. With all the blessings of God's Love, please offer your prayers for this family...

Not to put too somber a point on the thread (believe me, that's not typically my nature)...but I pass this along to say that I still relished DragonBall '05, the time spent with great people, and the helluva fantastic bit of incredible driving I enjoyed this past weekend. Because the fact is indeed that, as my s2ki.com sig proudly displays, "Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting --"WOW, WHAT A RIDE! THANK YOU, LORD!!!" And I give thanks for every wonderful day I have to live life to the fullest.

- Dave

 

Very nice recap of your journey. Thanks for the pointers.

And my thoughts go out to your co-worker and family, I wish them well.

 

Dave...Great "Blow-by-Blow" story!! Bet this is "One-Anniversary" you will NEVER forget !! My prayers to Jennifer and her family.....Dang road hazards! I don't remember, ever seeing SOOOOO many pices of truck tires and ALL sorts of debris on our highway system as been lately. It's just "Sorrowful"

 

There is alot. Today coming back from getting my haircut there was a dump truck in the fast lane. He had his signal on, but I didn't want the rocks coming to put more dings in the front end. So as I hit the accelerator to get past him, side by side I hear like a huge bang, and as I looked back, a nice piece of rubber flying into the air behind the truck. Yes, another piece of rubber to add to the highway. Had I let him over, I would have probably had it blow right in front of me. Can you say I am lucky. Damn retreads should be outlawed.