Quick post before bed...I am probably going to work tomorrow...at least, I hope so.

The starter on the car went.

No panic on this one. The failure was gradual, the symptoms were clear, and I bought a replacement starter two days ago. This morning I booked off work to deal with the flood and since I hadn't had a chance to re/re the starter yesterday, I took a couple hours while the guys from Yaletown Restorations were here setting up the pumps to pump the basement dry. Laurie also had an early start at her job today. She asked if I could get her to work; I said "maybe".

The starter had to have one more crank, didn't it? Just the same, it was a near thing; took about six tries. Once I got the car home again and carefully positioned it in the garage, I tried the starter again...no dice. The fault was in something called the "overrun clutch". The result being that the starter could only turn the engine 1-2 turns before the bendix gear disengaged and the starter would just sit there spinning. The symptoms were described exactly in my Haynes manual.

How unexpected.

I have whinged long and loud about the dubious utility of Haynes manuals before. This was completely different. The symptoms were clear, the procedure was straightforward, and although I spent half the time pacing back and forth between the garage and the shop (searching for the right-sized tool), I still managed to get the job done without a hitch.

This went so well I'm a little freaked out...

Our neighbor Shelly noticed Yaletown's van in our driveway and asked what sort of problems we'd been having. She herself has a flooded yard, as does our next-door neighbor, Manny. Two doors further down from Shelly, they had to move out because their entire basement was filled with Sewage! It would seem that the Corporation of Delta (and their Contractor) has much to answer for in what would appear to have been a botched sewer upgrade on our street.

Shelly might not be thinking "class action lawsuit"...but I am.