October 3rd, 2008

Oo-er..'s bin a long time since I updated this! I've dropped another $3,200 and change into it since then. What a long, strange trip it's been..I've put less than 10K on it since I got it in October 2006 (exactly two years next week), so it's more than paid for itself..hmm, wait a minute, no, the other thing..oh, yes- robbed me blind! Just the stuff I recorded since page one (I know I forget to do that, too sometimes): 

Another three timing belts- 'til I figured out that the belt tensioner was bent, so one of them, too; Various hoses, including both the oil cooler hoses, which suddenly sprung a leak when I was a good 20 miles from home (on my way to an important meeting); The hood shocks went quickly, too; Both headlamp wiper motors; Window roller; SID II (got a used one, but still crap); Step motor -now the A/C finally works; Oil sensor switch; Four tires, Nexxus (by Yokohama - cheap and good); synthetic asbestos-free Akebono brake pads up front; front and rear engine mounts; heater by-pass valve; neutral safety switch (a lot more expensive than its name would imply); vacuum hoses- the Volvo ones, coz they last forever; oil pressure switch (again), after finding a bunch of silicone gunk used to seal a wrong size 'O' ring on the oil return hose- the silicone came loose and clogged the line, robbing the oil pressure.

Nothing for the last 1,300 miles..except the throttle body is symptomatic of being on its way out (although it's been behaving since adding 3oz acetone/xylene mix to 10gals gas . It also fires up quicker, runs noticeably smoother (especially at idle), and burns cleaner.