The Car

Jensen called last Thursday unable to start her car. I had her on the phone for a few minutes trying to start it with me listening in on the other line. We couldn't get it going. She even had some local people try to help her that day and the following. They bought some spark plugs and replaced them. That didn't do it.

While Jensen and I were dealing with this I was extremely frustrated because of this problem and also her phone was running out of minutes and I was trying to refill it and I didn't have the credit card or a debit card because we canceled it because of fraud and the new one hadn't come yet. Anyway, it was very frustrating not being able to be there and help. And I saw the parallel between that and our earthly life and how Heavenly Father can't always help and sometimes he needs others to help for him.

I took my tools and some other stuff down to Provo on Saturday when mom and I went for Kathy Andreason's funeral and went to work on it right after the service. I had thought about it all night long the night before. I was only going to try so much and then I was planning on taking it to a auto shop.

About two years ago when we got it inspected it barely passed the emissions test. The tester said sometimes on older cars the spark just isn't terribly hot anymore because of deterioration of various parts. It was suggested at the time that I change the spark plug wires. I never did.

Friday night before we went down I bought some spark plug wires and I was also going to buy a coil. But, the parts store didn't have a coil on hand and they are $180 anyway.

When I pulled off the first spark plug wire the connector came off the end of the wire. I replaced them all. I was going to try putting some gas directly into one of the cylinders to prime it. But, when I pulled out the spark plug it smelled very strongly of gas. So, I was pretty sure it wasn't having any problem getting gas. So it was either not getting a strong/timely spark or the timing belt was broken.

Anyway it didn't start right up. I had to put the pedal down and hold it and crank for about 5 seconds. But, then it started just fine. Whew! What a relief. What a sweet ride.