Why Does Murphy's Law Always Strike My Old Truck?

[Ivan Seeking]

I have an old pick-up truck used for runs to the dump yard and for farm duties. Quite some time ago, apparently someone at Home Depot put something like plaster in my fuel tanks. There are three tanks, and it seems that two were contaminated, so after finally finding the problem, I plugged off two tanks, flushed the lines and the third tank, replaced the fuel pump and filter...and with only a tiny bit of torque, the damned carburetor housing stripped during reassembly. CRUD! This is not good. Things are literally starting to fall apart, and at this point I'm almost afraid to touch anything. The truck is very old and I have been meaning to get rid of it for some time, so I bought some hardening goop and managed to brute force my way through the little carburetor disaster. So, it has been a major pain for quite some time and I desperately needed to take a few loads to the dump and recycling yard. With everything fixed, I had prepared for a couple of trips today. I just needed to air up a tire that has a slow leak. For this I use a little portable compressor that runs off the battery. Also, this morning was very cold and there was a lot of ice covering things when I started my day.

The truck fired right up and I started topping off the tire. Of course the hood was open so that I could run the compressor.

Can anyone guess what happened next?

Just as the tire was finishing, and while I was tucking in the last garbage bag, the truck stopped dead. No sputter or pop, no choking or gasping, it just quit. WHAT NOW?! One look revealed the problem: Due to the heat from the engine., the ice on the raised hood of the truck gave way, went right into the engineer compartment, and a virtual waterfall landed right on the distributor and coil! Now I can't get it to start even after drying out the ignition system.

 

[Evo]

Pffft, that's a typical Evo day.

My oven blew up the other night. Literally. The bottom heating element broke in half and burst into flames. It's only 10 years old. Why the house didn't burn down, I don't know. I mean, anyone else's house would have burned down, why not the PIT OF DOOM?

Seriuosly though, you had a very sucky day. Hope it gets better.

<hands Ivan a Near Beer>

 

[Yonoz]

I had a colorimeter self-destruct a-la the Mission Impossible briefing players the other day. Of course it's the uni's but I thought I'd share anyway.

 

[chroot]

Things usually seem to work better when I'm around than when I'm not. I guess they fear the engineer in me. I do, after all, have merciless debugging skills.

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

Things usually seem to work better when I'm around than when I'm not.

Same here, which means the moment I think something is running just fine on its own, and I can walk away for 10 min to get a cup of coffee, the whole thing will go kablooey and I need to start over.

 

[Gelsamel Epsilon]

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http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/60/3hi2.png

 

[Moonbear]

I guess it's just that time of year, huh?

 

[Gelsamel Epsilon]

When I'm tired It's hard to win at computer games. :D

 

[thechuckisback]

yeah the winter blues ahoy

 

[Ivan Seeking]

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7885/stuckou1.jpg