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Well, the Beastie is out running around again, after a week of sitting in the Garage Mahal with its hood open. I guess it was my turn with the Continuum.
Last week my wifey and I were out running around and decided to stop at a Mexican food place for a late lunch. (We had a buy-one-meal-get-one-free coupon.)
As I rolled up to a traffic light to make a left turn into the strip mall where the restaurant is, something got under my foot! I felt it rolling around there. Traffic was heavy, and I was worried that whatever it was it might jam under a pedal preventing me from stopping or shifting. I notified my wife/co-pilot, who leaned over and started reaching around by my feet. I looked in the rearview mirror to see a guy in a Chevy with a big grin on his face... and realized what it must have looked from behind when my wife suddenly leaned over and put her head in my lap. Good thing it wasn't a cop, I guess.
Anyway, she came up with the part in her hand (the CAR part, guys!!!) about the time the light changed. I turned into the lot and parked. The Beastie seemed to be operating normally. As I let the engine idle for the usual 20 seconds before shutting it down, I examined the piece -- a cylindrical plastic doohickey with a plunger sticking out of it and a metal nut on the threaded end. I put it in the ashtray to figure out later.
So we went in and had our meal. Of course, the coupon was no longer valid for some reason, so it ended up being pretty expensive by the time we were done, but it was good food and we boxed up some leftovers to take home with us. As we left the restaurant, I noticed right away that Beastie's brake lights were lit. "Aha!" I said. "That doohickey must have been the brake light switch."
I was a little concerned about the battery, but the car started right up. I was also a little nervous driving home on the freeway and in stop-and-go suburban traffic with my brake lights continually lit, but we made it home okay. Once back in the Garage Mahal, I popped the hood and plucked out Fuse #31, which extinguished the brake lights. I looked more carefully on the driver's side floormat and found a tiny little spring, about the size of a ballpoint pen spring. Another part of the puzzle.
Wanting to get to the bottom of this, I changed into my "play clothes" and got to work. First thing was to remove the driver's seat. Having been stuck under there before, I knew better than to try wedging myself under the dash with the seat in. Four 13mm bolts, unhook the seat adjuster spring, and unplug the seat heater connector, and the seat's out on the garage floor.
With a pillow over the seat rails, I folded myself into the car, face up with my legs on the back seat and my head under the steering wheel. A Torx bolt holds a plastic heater duct in place -- with the bolt out, I could bend the duct out of the way. Then with a droplight, I looked upwards at the wiring around the pedals.
The other half of the brakelight switch was dangling from two wires. I wrestled with it for several minutes, and finally got the spade connectors unplugged. With the whole switch now out of the car, I could see that it had basically broken in half from fatigue. Not so strange, I guess, for a 15 year old car, but still....
I didn't even bother pricing the switch at the local dealership. I knew what they'd say -- two weeks to order it and $30 to $50. I got online to Sobstory and Jim Moncrief called me back less than an hour later. $5 for the switch and $6 for UPS shipping. I thought it was funny that the shipping cost more than the part, but what the heck. I needed it.
Unfortunately, he was shipping it out on August 31st, just before the Labor Day weekend. No UPS delivery until Tuesday, the 4th, at the earliest. Rats.
When I didn't get the part on the 5th, I sent Sobstory an e-mail to get the tracking number. When I looked online, I found the part had arrived in my town that morning but wouldn't be delivered until the next day! Not Sobstory's fault, I know, but frustrating to have to wait a week for the part. The Beastie still sat waiting, driver's seat on the floor nearby.
So on the afternoon of the 6th, the UPS man came, bearing the switch and a packet of peanut M&Ms from Jim. It was late, so the Beastie would have to wait until morning.
Next morning I wedged myself back up under the dash. Getting the switch into its place was no simple task! With my head up underneath where I could see, my arms wouldn't fold in such a way as to let me reach it. I needed extra elbows, or octopus tentacles or something. If I scooched down toward the rear of the car, I could reach the switchmount with both hands, but couldn't see it. I'd have to do this by touch.
The other problem was that inserting the switch meant the brake pedal had to be depressed. I was one hand short there, so asked the wifey to help me out. While she pressed the pedal with one hand, I slipped the switch into its hole and blindly screwed on the fastener nut. Once that was done, she let off the brake, I plugged in the wires, and then I had her put Fuse #31 back in. The brake lights stayed off, and came on when I pressed the pedal! Voila'!
A few minutes later the heater duct was bolted back in place and the seat was back in and snugged down. Total cost of this escapade: eleven bucks. Down time: one week.
I'm going out for a long drive.
- = M = -
'87 900T 168K
posted by 208.63....
, Sun, 9 Sep 2001 05:58:29
, Sat, 8 Sep 2001 15:51:30, Sun, 9 Sep 2001 16:56:29
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