Masculine Conversations

Masculine Conversations

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Springtime Wrasslings...

Taking a look at the inner workings of the gear shifter

The past few weeks have brought a sudden flood of unexpected projects. First there was the van's power steering trouble. Then, only a short time later, our Ford excursion quit going into first gear. Thankfully, given the symptoms, Papa deduced that it was only a linkage problem, and after wrassling around under the dashboard for a while, I found the problem - simply a couple of loose bolts!

It now works good as new, and we're praising the Lord it wasn't the transmission going out.

One down, another coming...

Just a few days later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table studying enzyme kinetics when I hear Ems calling from the laundry room.

Ems: "Ike, can you come look at something?"

Me: "Coming!"

Ems: "Do you see what I see?"

Oh no! A large puddle seeping from underneath the washer, and growing fast.

There's only one thing to do - open up the washer and attempt a diagnosis. Thankfully, we've had this one open before to give it a good cleaning (Note: you probably don't even want to know what is living inside your washer. It may look clean on the outside, but inside......)

I open it up. There it is. Water seeping from a crack in the drain water pump. Finding the part number, I locate one on Amazon for $15, then call a local parts shop to get a second price. Only thing is, I should have thought to call just a parts shop, and not one that also sells new machines.

Me: "Hi, I need a replacement for a leaky Kenmore washer drain water pump."

Her (sounding skeptical): "What makes you think it's leaking?"

Me: "Well, there's water all over the floor, and it's pouring out of a crack in the pump"

Her: "You sure there's a crack?"

Long story short, after assuring her that yes, I knew what I was doing, and yes, we did want to repair this machine even thought it is 10 years old, their price turned out to be three times Amazon's.

Amazon won, and a few days later we had the new part. It was a simple matter of a few clips and hoses to put in the new pump, and the washer is now running again without a stray drip in sight!

Despite the inconvenience of things breaking down, I must say I'm always a little excited when something does go wrong, since I get such enjoyment out of getting in there and seeing if I can fix it. Next on my list is the Excursion passenger door, which currently refuses to open!

2 comments:

  1. that's an awesome story- love it! Every family needs a man that just "knows" how to fix things. Or maybe it's just that they're persevering enough to figure it out.:) Either way, it is a blessing!

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    1. Your family has a lot of guys like that! Thanks for your encouragement.

      Ike

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