Tuesday, July 31

Alternating Frustration

So, Sunday evening, my car decided to start making smoke from the general vicinity of the alternator. Trying to start the car on Monday resulted in terrible screeching, grinding noises from the engine, which is never a good thing. Which means Monday evening consisted of calling up KC for help, and pulling out the alternator. If only the alternator in my car were actually designed to be removed.

It turns out that it's not too difficult to unhook the alternator, once you find the two bolts that hold it on. It's a bit of a squeeze trying to get the wrenches and sockets to the nuts and bolts, but it's not impossible. What is impossible, however, is removing the alternator from the car, even once it is complete detached. We were stuck at the stage for about 45 minutes yesterday. The alternator was free to wiggle, but there is no available path for it to come out. We finally managed to take enough things off that we pulled it free. But the auto parts stores all close at 9:00 in town, and were closed. We're going to Vegas tonight, which means we'll be working on part 2 of the adventure on Wednesday.

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