Saturday 26 January 2008

The not so perambulations of Micra....

Little Micra wasn't happy. It was during travelling back from Burton, struggling through all the deep flood water that he'd started to feel unwell. At first his gears simply felt a bit 'clunky', but then his clutch started being troublesome too. Before long it was just too painful to change gear at all. Whining along stuck in first gear progress was very slow. Unable to de-clutch at all he had to switch his engine off in order to stop and at junctions when it was time to move he had to start up in gear and hope for the best...
After a long and arduous journey it was good to be home. Very worried as to whether he would ever get better it was time to be put up on the jacks. Micra didn't like the jacks, they dug into his bodywork and his master would often be grumpy and swear a lot.
Firstly the wheels had to come off.
Then the brakes, suspension and driveshafts.....Master was very angry and said some very bad words. He even started muttering about "burning the dam thing", and "wish I still had my Rover". He disappeared, and soon it became dark...
Next morning the master was a bit more cheerful. Off came the starter motor, battery, electrics, computer and air ducts. Eventually when you looked up from underneath, where there was once a lot of stuff, now there was daylight.
The troublesome gearbox lay on the lawn while master scratched his head.
Micra was happy when the master smiled and pointed to the clutch release bearing and explained. "The lubrication has been washed off the bearing guide by the flood water and caused it to jam, and the side tag has snapped off the housing". Micra didn't know what that all meant but at least he knew he was going to be better soon.
As well as a new bearing Micra was treated to a brand new drive plate....
....and a thrust plate. He felt very special to have all these shiny new things.
A day later and everything was back to normal. The box of matches was put away for another time and master was happy once more. If master was happy, then Micra was too...

7 comments:

Madwag said...

wow.... I wish I knew what I was doing when it came to things like that... you saved yourself a bunch of money. My dad always fixed our vehicles... oh well... our mechanic loves us!

Jessica said...

Way to be the master mechanic there Barkfoot. I used to hang out in the garage with my dad and tried to pick things up. He had a thing for cars. He collected them, considered junkyards his own personal heaven I wanted to do it, I'd pass him tools, wanted to be able to change my own oil, change my own air filter, install speakers. But I'm a girl, you see, so dad didn't think my brain could figure out such things.
If a little girl ever hangs out around your car, passes you tools and asks questions, please answer her. She can figure it out....

Christine said...

I think you last comment was backwards - If Mira isn't happy - then Master ain't happy...You ran her through the flood...
Just a different view from someone who thanks her van for running her around town daily.

photowannabe said...

My goodness, I'm impressed. Your resusetation efforts were heroic. Congratulations on the rebirth of the Micra...

Jangle Jangle said...

I've just had to have a new ignition barrel on my car, shockingly expensive at £450. Glad you've got your car fixed. By the way, I've been to a wedding at the church in your previous post.

"M2" said...

so glad to hear the little guy is feeling better.

Lee Ann said...

So glad all are happy now!
Have a great weekend!