Eight hours at $115/hour and still not fixed....GRRRRR

After cooking us a huge, delicious breakfast, Celina drops me off at my truck early this morning to continue the mission of getting my vehicle back on the road. This time I have reconsidered getting her towed (it would probably make my roadside insurance go up anyway) and instead call a mobile service.

The hour of billing begins when the truck leaves the station - so if they run into traffic, tough luck. It takes hims half an hour to arrive by noon. It's always a cliff moment when particularly white men see my truck for the first time.

This guy is struggling to remain expressionless as he pulls in next to me, jumps out his sprinter van, and listens while I tell him what's wrong and everything I've done to try to fix the problem. He smiles then and calls me part admiring, part condescending, a true MacGyver. 

Then starts the crank crank crank, spray, priming, tightening hoses, replacing hoses, testing injectors - at least I now know how to open the injectors and test if they're all firing with fuel - which they are. Crank crank crank - no dice; spray and up she starts. Turn her off, and she refuses to restart.

Finally the starter, making loud clanks, dies. So Marv has to find another starter, go get it, return and put it in. All at $115 an hour.

Once he leaves, returns, and replaces the starter, we begin again. This time he's looking for an air leak and testing fuel pressure. He replaces several old veggie oil fuel lines, for which I am grateful as I now do not have to do it. 

But it doesn't fix the problem. I tell him the next time he sprays the air filter and she starts, I want to drive the truck to the shop. By this time the beginning of the promised storm has started to shower infrequent drops on us but the sky is getting blacker and blacker and the winds are picking up.

Plus it is now after 5pm so the hourly rate goes up to $130/hour.

$1600 later, the heavens have opened up, my RRB is in the muddy yard, almost every inch of which is covered by many other bigger trucks and rvs, and Celina once again is picking me up and driving me back to her home.

And RRB is stuck there, waiting for someone to figure out what is wrong.