The day I found out I am stronger than my dad.......

Yea, so not really car related this time. But something profound happened to me a few weeks ago and I can't get this topic out of my head, so here goes.

My dad came to visit me the other day. He lives in Omaha, NE and I live in Bham, AL so we only see each other a few times a year. While visiting he always likes to help with jobs around the house and cars and such (he was a contractor for years and is very good at that stuff). While working in my sisters basement installing some pocket doors we both were tripping over my brother in laws weights. He had a curl bar loaded with about 95lbs on it. I decided to pick it up and do some reps, 4 of them to be exact. I didn't really struggle, but had I kept going I would have. I said to dad "throw up a few pops". He reluctantly grabbed the bar and began his attempt. Oh, he got it up, but just barely and there weren't any follow ups. It was at that moment, 33 years into my life, that I realized I was stronger than my father. My dad, somehow seemed smaller, weaker, and my world changed.

You see, all my life my father has been the embodiment of strength, coolness under pressure, stability, athleticism, and all things "MANLY" in my life. He is 6'1" and used to be about 200lbs, so not a small guy. Always towering over me throughout my life. I remember as a boy when he would build things how I would watch his hands. His hands seemed HUGE and like vice clamps. He was impervious to pain, somehow able to push through it without so much as a yelp. Kinda like the song by Joe Nichols entitled "Impossible".

It starts with:

"My dad chased monsters from the dark, checked underneath my bed

he could lift me with one arm, way up over top his head,

he could loosen rusty bolts with a quick turn of his wrench

he pulled splinters from his hands, and never even flinched"

Those lyrics probably hit home with most of you reading this. And for me it is no different. And so to realize that my father has aged to the point that I am now stronger than him was a scolding reminder that time is not a respecter of persons. I guess it is just something all men must go through. I am a lot different than I once was, I'm fatter, balder, and have some grey hairs coming in on the sides of my head. And so this thought has haunted me for a week or two now.

And today my 91 year old grandfather is coming to visit. Again, a man from my childhood who was a larger than life figure. He had a lake house and we learned to ski, fish, and knee board there. He always took us to lobster dinners and made the best breakfast in the world. He was a fighter pilot in WW2 and served in the European Theater. He did it all, had seen it all, and could make anyone laugh. Last year when I saw him I didn't expect him to make it to 91. But he is still alive and well. But he too is smaller, shorter, somehow not the man he once was.

So what is the point of my ramblings? I dunno really. Perhaps just to "talk" out my problems in print. To try and somehow organize my thoughts on this topic and work through them. Or maybe it is just because everyone I know is getting older and I still feel so young. I don't really fear death, but I fear not leaving the proper legacy for my children. I need more time, so do my dad and grandfather.

And so to end I just simply say to you, take every moment and live to the fullest. Tomorrow is not a guarantee and one day you will look back and wish you had done more. Perhaps this post can serve as a wake up call. Spend more time with your kids outside, spend more time with the TV's off and the board games on the table. Love more, laugh more, and don't get upset if somebody spills something. In the grand scheme of things, nothing much matters on this Earth. Family does, people do, and faith does. Beyond that, it is all destined to burn up anyways.

By the way, the next line of that Joe Nichols songs says:

"In thirteen years I'd never seen him cry, but the day that grandpa died, I realized...

Unsinkable ships, sink.

Unbreakable walls, break.

Sometimes the things you think would never happen, happen just like that.

Un-bendable steel bends, if the fury of the wind is unstoppable.

I've learned enough to never underestimate, the impossible. "

My "impossible" was being stronger than dad. And while that me be so physically, he will always be a better man than I am.

So take it for what its worth. I hope you find some meaning to these ramblings that helps you. And I promise, the next entry will get back to cars.

Something for real hardcore car guys........

Yesterday was one of those days where I was thankful to be in Alabama. If you follow me on twitter you saw the photo I tweeted that said "this is my office". What you see is blue sky with pillowy white clouds, an interstate, and mountains and trees everywhere (see pic). INVIGORATING! I had the sunroof open, the windows down, and Pink Floyd's "Leanring to Fly" blasting from the H/K sound system. As I soaked up the 68 degree winds, sun on my face, smiling, I looked down at my "cockpit". Black cube trim, black leather sport seats, alcantara accents, and a 6 speed manual gearbox, I was in the most purpose built drivers car BMW ever made short of an ///M car, and I was HAPPY. Does it get ANY BETTER THAN THAT? The answer is a resounding NO!

And so I spent the better part of 3 hours just driving. I found some old back roads I used to race as a kid and cruised them for a bit. Not trying to drive faster or harder, but rather going slower. In fact, had I had a Delorian I would have gone back in time. Back to the memories of my Mustang days, 5.0 liter engine screaming in the wind, tire smoke and black marks, jumping in the river to cool off, and skipping school to go rock climbing. Yes, it sounds like a country song doesn't it. I wish I could go back to those days and tell the young man I was to "slow down" and enjoy the moments as they came. Tell him to stop looking forward and live in the moment, knowing I never can and trying to remind myself of those words for the man I am now.

Perhaps only a true car guy can appreciate the scenario. The excitement, the freedom, the passion you get when behind the wheel of a car that you truly love. Looking for reasons to go somewhere, anywhere, and when finding none just go drive anyways. Back in the old days it was Fox Body Mustangs with Nitrous. Today it is the ultimate (non-M) 4 door saloon, the BMW E46 ZHP. Regardless of the car the feelings are very much the same as when I was 16. When I was 16 gas was $1.05 a gallon and it was common to spend $10 the following way : $7 gas, $2 for smokes, $1 for a coke. What that $10 bought me was memories and freedom I still remember to this day and likely the rest of my life. I dare say when I only have one or two marbles left rolling around my bald head, I won't remember my name but I'll remember those Mustangs!

Road trips were a common past time for my friends and I and, unfortunately for my studies, all too common during the school day. I'll never forget the time I went to another city to goof off and I pulled up at a red light next to my mom! You can't buy memories like that! But even that couldn't dampen the spirit of freedom and fun you get when taking your favorite car for a drive. I used to roll the windows down and turn on my favorite music (again, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Ratt or some other hair band) and just drive. I had no particular place to go, no reason to go there, and no real want to go back. It allowed me to escape. Much like alcohol or drugs are an escape, this is an escape that AWAKENS your senses instead of dulling them. It is the feeling of actually LIVING life. An old Garth Brooks song called Standing Outside the Fire has a verse that says "Life is not tried it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire". The gist of the song is to live life to the fullest, and for me, behind the wheel of a car I could do that.

And so we move back into today. The young man described above is long gone. Lost to the worlds system, to a wife, to kids, to a mortgage and a job. He made his mistakes, lived his life and has become "a man". And yet, deep down, under the suits and ties, underneath the labels of "dad" or "honey", underneath the quota having business guy, beats the heart of a hardcore gear head. He craves only gasoline and the open road. He smiles when he sees a kid burn some rubber at a stoplight, he rolls his window down when next to a muscle car so he can hear it better, and he still looks at catalogs like Jegs and Summit Racing looking at parts for a Mustang he doesn't even own but hopes to again some day.

And during those moments when he can, rolls the windows down, cranks the music up, and lets the sunshine hit his face. And as he remembers his youth and those fast cars, he smiles and is truly happy.

How many of you can say you own your "dream car"? I can!

So I know this is a little late but I finally found some time to write about my new BMW ZHP. So the title says "dream car" and some of you may say, "how in the world is a 2004 BMW 330i ZHP a dream car?" And on the surface I can understand your thought. I mean, most true dream cars are things like a Bugati Veyron, Ferrari Enzo, Porsche GTR3, or even a Ford GT. However the ZHP is still my dream car for a few reasons. 1. Unlike the above listed cars, I bought it for $10k, so I can actually own one. 2. You can drive it everyday and not need back surgery. 3. Every cop in town won't notice me 4. It pulls down 30mpg's on the highway.

The bottom line is I am having a blast in the vehicle. It isn't the most powerful car out there with only 235hp, and it's suspension is modest by comparison of some race tuned cars, but it is a complete package for those that want to DRIVE and enjoy every second.

I can't tell the you the sheer joy I get while burning up the curvy back roads by my home. Or the rush I get when I take an off ramp at double the posted speed. And all the while the car is very tame and very confident. You simply put it where you want it and go. BMW built a purposeful car with the ZHP, and I LOVE it!

And while future write-ups of things I will be doing are coming, for now just let me say if you don't have one, get one. It is a great car!

The loss of my best friend, Goodbye Bear Bear

Last night at midnight I sat on the tile area in our foyer and held the head of my beloved German Shepherd Baron as he died. He was regal and strong to the end, no whining, no whimpering, he simply met death with the no fear attitude he had in life. The hole in my heart as I write this I dare say will never be completely healed.

What is it about pets that make us love them so much? I realize they aren't people, but they sure do get to be like one of your own. I got Baron at 8 weeks old, just a few months before my first marriage completely fell apart. And through those rough times he was always there and never complained about the crappy little apartment he had to move to, or when my car was repossessed. He just wagged his tail and was always "ready to go" wherever that may have been.

He also is the reason my current wife and I are now married. She fell in love with Baron before she fell in love with me! I actually, in a way, owe my family to that dog. And he was great with the kids when they were born. Never once did he ever growl, bark or do anything to the babies as they were learning to walk and using him as a device to pull themselves up when they fell. Even if he was eating he would just sort of be like "no problem kid, keep trying". I never worried about a thing when he was around the kids. So many thought I was nuts, this big towering German Shepherd and two little babies, but I never even batted an eye. Bear Bear wrote the book on family dog behavior.

I honestly could write for hours on all the stuff he and I did together. All the memories, all the fun times. But I fear I don't have the emotional strength to do so. And I really am just writing this as "therapy" for myself. But I will so miss that big love of a dog. Wherever I was, he was in the same room. I will miss tripping over him, him waking me up at 3am to go take a dump (he was a nighttime pooper), and the way he thumped his tail when you said his name. But most of all, I'll miss my friend.

In the movie Forest Gump, Forest says to Jenny's grave "momma always said death is a part of life.........I sure wish it wasn't". Those words echo on my heart this morning. But I know it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. And the love of a Shepherd is something you have to experience to truly understand.

I simply leave this entry with this, my pastor once preached about how on every tombstone there is a dash between the born date and died date. That dash is such a small amount of time in the scope of eternity. And his point was, what will the meaning of our dash be when we are gone? What did we do while we were here? Baron got me through a divorce, brought me to my wife, protected the kids, and was the best friend you could ever ask for. I can only pray my "dash" is as good as his.

Good night my ol boy, sleep well.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot.......FIX YOUR A/C

Well it is official, I walked outside at 8am this morning and I began to sweat before I reached the mailbox. Alabama is known for great football, paying players, and weather that can make the devil himself search for someplace cooler. And just like clockwork I get all sorts of inquiries and requests for service work on A/C platforms this time of year. I want to cover the fine points of A/C troubleshooting and things you can do to save HUGE dollars.

It is common for people to say "you have to have special tools to do A/C work so you just have to pay what a shop wants to charge". This is pretty far from the truth. I have fixed quite a few A/C units with little more than a $40 gauge and $7 R-134a filler hose. Nope, it ain't fancy, but it works. You simply have to understand the basics of air conditioning and how it works to diagnose and fix your car.

1. Compressor: this is the part everyone automatically thinks is the problem when A/C issues come up. And while they are the "heart" of the system and commonly fail, they aren't always the problem. The compressor moves the refrigerant through the system. It has a high side and a low side. It is turned by the engine and is engaged by a clutch at the front of the compressor housing which engages the compressor. Common symptoms of a bad compressor are:

• No cold air. If the compressor dies, you are going to be hot.


• No cold air at idle or sitting still, but gets colder when the engine RPM's go up. Typical sign the suction or low side of the compressor is bad.


• Horrible noise when the A/C is engaged. Your compressor clutch is bad or going bad, your system might be low on refrigerant and/or oil (yes, there is lubricating oil in the system).

2. Condenser: It looks like a small radiator and is usually mounted in the front of the vehcile. It has small coils and serves to cool compressed air that goes through it and converts to a liquid under pressure. That may make no sense but keep in mind, A/C systems do not "make cold air" they remove heat from hot air and it is a chemical process. The bottom line, the condenser is under great pressures and can and does fail. I have seen holes get knocked in them from road debris, rust through over time, or the seals at the connection points go bad. Usually a leaky condenser is easily seen by injecting UV dye into the system and checking it for leaks with a UV light. You can also buy or rent a "sniffer" which is a tool that detects the R-134a gasses present at the leak site. Most often they are easy to replace and less than $300.

3. Evaporator: This is where the super cool gasses go through and air is passed across it by your blower motor to give you the ice cold air blowing on your face. It looks like a small radiator too and as the refrigerant leaves the evaporator it becomes liquid again. Evaporator problems are sometimes hard to diagnose due to the location. It is almost always behind the dash or firewall and difficult to get to. Labor charges to replace this part are often quite hefty as a result. Here are a couple symptoms to look for:

• A/C blows cold if you add refrigerant, but it leaks out within a day or two and you can't find a leak anywhere.
  


• You hear excessive hissing noises coming from your vents when you turn the car off.
  


• You see UV dye around the under panels under your dash where the HVAC system is located.

4. Thermal Expansion Valve (aka Expansion Valve): This is what regulates the A/C temperature if you decide you don't want freezing cold air anymore. It helps regulate the air coming into the car. This little booger has caused more headaches and troubleshooting problems than most of the above parts combined. It just seems to get overlooked. Typically you will get whacky low pressure port readings if this part is bad and you will likely be getting some cold air, but not much. They are usually cheap and easy to replace so that is a positive.

5. Drier: Your compressor only compresses gas, so the drier is there to make sure no liquid makes it to the compressor. It also has a filter in it (some cars have what's called an "orifice tube" which is a small screen filter that is replaceable) that catches crap from the system as well. Not too much can go wrong with this part save for leaks at the connection points. It is a good idea to replace it whenever you open the system for optimum performance. They typically run less than $50.

Those are the main components of any automotive A/C system. Yours may have a few extra parts here or there, but all systems will have the above parts. Keep in mind A/C systems are under immense pressures. If you go loosening bolts on your A/C system and it has refrigerant in it, it will spew out and can be harmful if inhaled. It is also illegal to vent it into the atmosphere. I find that most shops will charge you a nominal fee to evacuate your system for you. Then you can go home and repair or replace parts on your own. All you really need to refill it is a vacuum pump and a manifold gauge kit or you can pay a shop to vacuum it for you before you add R-134a back to the system.

I should note pulling a vacuum is very important and serves a couple functions. Condensation and moisture get into the system when it is "open" so the refrigerant will hit that and freeze causing clogs. Under vacuum water boils at room temperature so the moisture will boil off leaving you with a clean system. A vacuum will also pinpont leaks because if you have one, it won't pull a good vacuum. And finally, after you pull a vacuum, turn the pump off after about 30 minutes and wait to make sure the vacuum holds, this also tells you if you have any leaks. This paves the way for final refilling.

There is no way I can address every concern, but I wanted to give you a few ideas and a synopsis of what is going on so you can make better decisions and even fix this stuff on your own. All auto shops take advantage of people who need A/C because it is a "specialized" area and they charge a premium for it. But if you spend $150 in tools, you can still save hundreds of dollars.

And of course, if you have an A/C problem, you can always contact me and I will do the best I can to help you.

Until next time........."What one man can do another can do!"

For the love of Pete, DIY people!

So this is more of a rant than an informational blog. I drive through the parking lot of the local Advance Auto Parts yesterday and what do I see? A man in his early to mid 30's standing in front of his SUV while the woman (yes, woman) from the Advance store puts his windshield wipers on his car for him! It took everything I had not to stop my car, get in my trunk, pull two golf balls from my golf bag and hand them to him and say "here's a pair for ya Nancy!" I mean, are you kidding me? Can you imagine your grandfather or father letting a woman do car work for him?

So I got to thinking and I made a top ten list of things this guy (we'll call him Nancy) says during his day:

10. "Hey, do those panties come in a size 36?"

9. "Can you carry my groceries out for me?"

8. "I'd like a water crest salad with mineral water"

7. "That is a handsome man right there"

6. "I wonder if this shirt comes in pink?"

5. "I can't wait for tonights episode of Real Housewives"

4. "Really, I didn't realize my car had two transmissions, go ahead and replace them both then"

3. "I wish this station would play more Michael Bolton"

2. "Swing dance lessons are great exercise"

1. "I voted for Obama, why?"

Seriously people, do your own maintenance. Remember my mantra (and I stole this from the movie "The Bear" with Anthony Hopkins) "what one man can do, another can do!". If a mechanic can replace brake pads, so can you. If a woman from Advance Auto can replace your wiper blades, so can you! Get your hands dirty for crying out loud, it won't kill you and might save you a buck or two!

Have a great weekend!

Selling your car.....It is easier if you keep records

Today a customer called me (Owns a 2001 540 6 speed) and asked "I have a guy ready to buy my car, but he wants to talk to my mechanic, can you talk to him?" "Of course I will" I replied, "give him my number". Sure enough, about 2 hours later the phone rings and it is Mr. Buyer on the line. He starts with "tell me about the car".

Sure, it has 4 black things on it called tires, it was made in Germany, it is silver, it has a motor, blah blah blah. What he wanted to know was "is this car going to break down on me or cost me an arm and a leg to keep running". I couldn't really answer that with 100% certainty because this customer doesn't keep records on his car so he had to rely on me to remember what he has (or hasn't) done.

The point is this, almost every time someone looks at a used car they almost always ask "do you have the service records?". How many of you can go look in a drawer or in a file on your computer and pull up your maintenance history? The three of you who can are excused from the rest of my article and get an "A", the rest of you fail and should read on.....

Think about it, if you asked for maintenance records and the owner pulled out a 3 year history on a spreadsheet or in a notebook, would you feel better about buying the car? I sure would. What if they had receipts for the corresponding repairs? Now do you feel confident about the buy? I would.

But just like in ANY sales arena, most people don't do the hard work that it takes to make selling easy. You'll dance around and say "well, the cooling system has been replaced....well except for the water pump.......wait, did I do the water pump...??" Wrong answer! I'm walking away and you just blew a sale. This isn't earth shattering stuff, just common sense that we forget about until it is too late. So here are 4 things you need to remember to have a good record book:

1. KISS (Keep it simple stupid). No reason to write a paragraph for each repair, just date, mileage, what was done, and cost. You may also want to jot down warranty info if there is any.

2. Keep track of EVERYTHING you do. Right down to the last day and time you checked your tire pressures (you should probably go ahead and do that today cause I bet you haven't checked lately have you?). Yea, it's overkill, but when time comes to sell your car you will thank me for it. This means oil changes, fluid changes, inspections, everything excpet gas purchases should go on this record. If you add a splash of coolant or wiper blades, the log should be updated. Get it? More is.....well........MORE!

3. Keep the log in a safe place and better yet, back it up on a thumb drive or USB! Ever had a PC crash? I have. What if you take my advice and go through all this work only to lose it all because your kid clicked on an offer for a free playstation. So treat it like any other important file.

4. Keep receipts. Whether you DIY or pay a shop, get the receipts and scan or staple them to the record. KEEP THEM ALL! It adds credibility if the receipt dates match the entry dates too.

If you do the above, when it comes time to sell you will not only be able to honestly tell potential buyers EXACTLY what has been done, you can also give them a heads up on what might need to be done. Can you imagine how great a buyer would feel if you said "well Mr. Customer, it is $800 more than a comparable car, but you won't need this, this, and that for about 30k miles. Does the other car have records like this?" You just got paid an extra $800 to be a little OCD when it comes to your car.

The only question is, will you do it?