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What I got to do today.

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EagleRock

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:57 am

What I got to do today.

I had a particularly fun day today:

</sarcasm>


However, before I can get to that, I need to take you through my epic adventure that started last Wednesday, coming home from work:

Wednesday, 8:00AM - I arrive home at work after a fun hour of traffic in Jersey City. Head to bed immediately.

Wednesday, 5:50PM - Leave house to go to work.
5:52PM - Turn key to discover battery is near-dead.
5:58PM - Successfully jump-start vehicle off of my wife's car.
6:10PM - Leave house after letting battery charge and disconnecting jumper cables.
6:13PM - Encounter accident on route to work.
6:32PM - Encounter another accident on route to work.
6:43PM - Encounter a third accident on route to work.
6:45PM - Call work to let them know I'll be late.
7:00PM - Shift officially starts.
7:04PM - Approach building and enter parking garage.
7:05PM - Park car, turn off car, and exit vehicle.
7:05PM - Notice my lights are on.
7:05PM - Notice my light switch is off.
7:05PM - Wondering what the fuck is going on.
7:06PM - Notice one of my fog lights are out.
7:06PM - Start to disassemble light assembly, assuming this is what is causing the lights to not go off.
7:14PM - Successfully remove light from assembly.
7:14PM - Notice the lights are still not going off.
7:14PM - Curse.
7:15PM - Decide to replace fog light bulb anyway and start to take the stuff out of my trunk to get to my spare bulbs.
7:23PM - Discover I have every possible spare bulb for my car except for the one I need.
7:23PM - Curse.
7:25PM - After regaining composure, decide to check fuse box for any blown fuses.
7:29PM - Find no relevant blown fuses in main fuse box.
7:29PM - Decide to check the auxiliary fuse box, which is a pain in the ass to get to.
7:35PM - Discover no relevant fuses.
7:35PM - Curse.
7:36PM - Give up and decide to call my dad (the mechanic) for ideas.
7:38PM - He reveals nothing can be done now and to disconnect the battery to save it for the ride home.
7:42PM - Successfully disconnect battery.
7:42PM - Start to put away everything and rush into work.
7:49PM - Enter office room.

9:45PM - Finally get time to go to the bathroom and wash the grease off my hands.
9:48PM - Return to office and sanitize keyboard.
9:50PM - Research issue online.

After my research, I divine that the issue was related to the PSE Pump (Pneumatic Security Equipment Pump), which is a vacuum pump that controls the locking mechanisms of the car. Additionally, the PSE controls the lights in the vehicle, this would explain why the lights would not turn off. It turns out the most common reason for this to fail is water getting into the trunk and damaging the PSE.

Here's the fun part...bringing it to Mercedes would have been a $1100 repair, between parts and labor. Also, the part itself costs almost $500. However, it looks like something I could replace myself. So, I have a plan of action at this point.

Thursday, 7:00AM - Shift officially ends.
7:10AM - Morning shift arrives.
7:22AM - Leave office to go home.
7:25AM - Arrive at car.
7:25AM - Start to reconnect battery.
7:28AM - Battery reconnected.
7:28AM - Lights come on.
7:28AM - Curse.
7:29AM - Leave parking garage and start home.
7:38AM - Notice a slight smell while driving home. Figure it is from the vehicle in front of me.
7:45AM - Notice a slightly stronger smell while driving home. Decide not to worry.
7:58AM - Notice a very strong smell while driving home. Still decide not to worry.
8:00AM - Notice huge plumes of smoke coming from vehicle while driving home.
8:00AM - Start to worry.
8:03AM - Pull into driveway.
8:04AM - Battery disconnected in great haste.
8:05AM - Check vehicle for fire.
8:10AM - Notice no flame but extremely bad smell coming from car.
8:11AM - Decide to say "fuck it" and go to bed.

Anyway, at this point, I decide to ignore the car all day. Instead, I play Oblivion all day and destroy Daedra with extreme prejudice. I sleep very well.

After waking up around 2:00PM the next day, I call up my father, who was going to come over to help on the basement. Instead, we get to play with the car. As my father gets some errands done before getting over to the house, I start researching the location of the PSE and go out to disassemble the trunk enough to get to the PSE. First off, the trunk did have water in it, and there was rust underneath the PSE Here's some fun pics:

This is the PSE Pump:
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And, this is what the bottom looked like:
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Doesn't look horrible, right? Well, I disassembled the plastic cover to see what happened inside. First off, a bunch of water poured out of it. It looked like this:
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Yeah, it was fried. Here's the bottom of the plastic case:
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Here's a closeup of the circuitboard:
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Take a look at the bottom:
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Here's a better pic:
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So, yeah, not fun. It smelled horrible, too. I'm going to be Febreezing my car all week. Anyway, at least I knew where the smoke was coming from. I was just praying the damage to the vehicle was kept to the vacuum pump. After disassembling the side of the trunk to check the drainage on the sides of the car, everything looks okay, thankfully. However, there is a drain hole in the bottom of the trunk itself which appears to be the source of the water. Also, the presence of rust indicated the water was there for a little while, so we felt we had safely determined the source of the water. So, time to head to Mercedes to buy the part.

That in itself was an adventure, but any commute in New Jersey can pretty much don this title. Anyway, after getting to the place and shelling out $350 (used my dad's corporate discount), we headed back with new pump in hand. We reconnected the pump and wrapped it in plastic to make sure any water inside the trunk would not get to the pump. I then proceeded to reassemble the trunk.

At least I had some good news out of this. As I was reassembling the trunk, I took a look at my trunk-mounted CD changer, which was not working properly (didn't recognize any CDs). Inspection showed the optical connector was inherently loose in how it connected to the changer. So, we took a wood shim and shoved it in the connector, duct-taped it. So, now, I have a car that works, along with a working CD player!

Of course, now I'm $350 in the hole, and my car still smells like burnt hair and wires.
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ByteSlinger

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:11 am

Re: What I got to do today.

Man, it sounds like you had one of those weeks. :?

I will tell you this: had it been any lesser vehicle, such as a KIA or HYUNDAI, I would have just pulled over to the side of the road and set it on fire myself.

BTW, I thought the engineers at Mercedes designed their stuff NOT to fail over silly things like a little bit of water. The last time I saw a circuit board like that involved a jolt of lightning running through a ham-radio antenna and into the radio itself. Thank you, Franklin and Marconi.

Glad no one was hurt - but, hey, now that you got that cushy, high-paying job, this wasn't an expensive fix at all...just some loose change! :P

At least you'll have a couple of days to relax a little....
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EagleRock

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:31 am

Re: What I got to do today.

Yeah, well, good job, Mercedes.

Actually, a lot of people have this issue, from what I've read. Basically, Mercedes did a good job at handling water in the trunk. The drain plug does well at removing overflow water, but doesn't do a good job at removing moisture. Of course, they design the bottom of the trunk to not have anything except stuff that can be waterlogged, such as the spare tire, the jack, and the tools.

Oh, right. They also add the PSE pump in this part of the trunk, which is, as I found out the hard way, just a bit susceptible to water.

So, yeah.
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ByteSlinger

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 2:46 am

Re: What I got to do today.

They must have taken a lesson from Ford. My sister's Windstar minivan had a problem with the fuel pump - and she almost had a heart attack when they told her it would be $220 for the part - and $500 for the labor. Turns out the damn fuel pump is INSIDE the gas tank - and to replace the pump, you have to drop the tank (emptying it first, of course), take the tank apart, then remove the pump and seals - then reverse the process, making sure that every seam and seal is tight, or else gas leaks out, making more problems than you had before.

Brilliant. Just freakin' brilliant. These are the same folks that decided if they rotate the engine 90 degrees, they could make shorter front ends and simpler front-wheel drive transmissions - but if you need to change the spark plugs that are now part of the firewall, you have to remove some of the engine brackets from the frame and jack the engine up six inches to get a wrench on the plug.

I hope these aren't the same people who design the space shuttle or long bridges...
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EagleRock

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:12 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

ByteSlinger wrote:Brilliant. Just freakin' brilliant. These are the same folks that decided if they rotate the engine 90 degrees, they could make shorter front ends and simpler front-wheel drive transmissions - but if you need to change the spark plugs that are now part of the firewall, you have to remove some of the engine brackets from the frame and jack the engine up six inches to get a wrench on the plug.


Ford has done some intelligent things, but moving the spark plugs to a location that requires engine mount removal...that's just...well...

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SlntCobra1

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Post Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:55 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

Damn Eagle, sounds like Murphy's Law decided to make you its bitch for the better part of 2 days in a row. :shock: :shock:

Of course the only car issues I've had have been accidents. But every time it rains, water gets in through the roof of my car, I would take pictures, but alas I don't have a good camera. My phone has a camera, but I cannot use bluetooth to sync it with my laptop. The rain doesn't get into the crucial parts of my car but it comes through on the driver's side. It's annoying as hell.
95% of teens would cry if the Jonas brothers were about to jump off of a 10 story building. I'm one of the 5% who would bring popcorn and invite friends.
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ByteSlinger

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Post Sun Jul 18, 2010 11:30 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

SlntCobra1 wrote:Damn Eagle, sounds like Murphy's Law decided to make you its bitch for the better part of 2 days in a row. :shock: :shock:

Of course the only car issues I've had have been accidents. But every time it rains, water gets in through the roof of my car, I would take pictures, but alas I don't have a good camera. My phone has a camera, but I cannot use bluetooth to sync it with my laptop. The rain doesn't get into the crucial parts of my car but it comes through on the driver's side. It's annoying as hell.


Maybe if you closed the convertible top when it rained, you wouldn't get wet. But then again, maybe you missed a spot with the duct tape:
Image


Also, you may want to upgrade your camera-phone - the one you have will never work with bluetooth. However, the guy who sold it to you was missing quite a few teeth...
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SlntCobra1

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Post Sun Jul 18, 2010 11:42 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

ByteSlinger wrote:Also, you may want to upgrade your camera-phone - the one you have will never work with bluetooth. However, the guy who sold it to you was missing quite a few teeth...
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I have one response to that:

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Also, here is the kind of phone I have.
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FYI, my car is a 93 Saturn Twin Cam it's a 4 door sedan with manual powered windows. My first car was the following: a 95 Black Chrysler Le Baron w/ power mirrors and convertible top.

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Only it was black. Not red. My second car was a 95 Pontiac Grand Prix SE.

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Last edited by SlntCobra1 on Sun Jul 18, 2010 11:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: typo in the tag.
95% of teens would cry if the Jonas brothers were about to jump off of a 10 story building. I'm one of the 5% who would bring popcorn and invite friends.
CLICK MAH SIG!!!!
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ByteSlinger

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:11 am

Re: What I got to do today.

All kidding aside - if you have a phone or other device that you want to connect to your laptop, and your laptop doesn't have bluetooth, you can get a neat little gadget from Provantage online:

http://www.provantage.com/iogear-gbu421~7IOGB00P.htm

It plugs into any USB port and adds bluetooth functionality to any laptop or PC. It's got a small footprint and it's priced right. I use Provantage for about 80% of my hardware purchases. Execellent on-line company with a sterling reputation and a true "no-questions-asked" return or replace policy.

Would this help you out in connecting your phone to your laptop?
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SlntCobra1

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:07 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

It would, except it is not compatible with Windows Vista. :) Thanks anyway.
95% of teens would cry if the Jonas brothers were about to jump off of a 10 story building. I'm one of the 5% who would bring popcorn and invite friends.
CLICK MAH SIG!!!!
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ByteSlinger

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:46 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

Duh, I forgot you had Vista. My bad. :?

This one WILL work: http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8t016~7BELM0QK.htm :)
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Sheizenhammer

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 4:18 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

Am I the only one who hasn't had to take a car apart? The last one was just beyond fucked anyway (ergo, no point in trying to fix that heap o' shit), and my new one isn't really old enough to be breaking down on me.

Things like this, I suppose, are part and parcel of used cars; they need stuff replacing every now and then. But even so, it seems you've had a pretty shitty day by anyone's measure.

And since we're all whoring out our cars: Here's a picture of mine. OK, not the actual one (I can't be bothered to upload it on imageshack :P), but you get the idea. Only difference is that mine has 3 doors instead of 5.

Image

I love my tiny car! And having a really basic car = less stuff that can go wrong too. :D
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SlntCobra1

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:27 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

ByteSlinger wrote:Duh, I forgot you had Vista. My bad. :?

This one WILL work: http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8t016~7BELM0QK.htm :)


Though my version of Vista is Vista Ultimate. I'm guessing it's compatible with all versions of Vista?
95% of teens would cry if the Jonas brothers were about to jump off of a 10 story building. I'm one of the 5% who would bring popcorn and invite friends.
CLICK MAH SIG!!!!
ImageImageImageImage
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ByteSlinger

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Post Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:48 pm

Re: What I got to do today.

SlntCobra1 wrote:
ByteSlinger wrote:Duh, I forgot you had Vista. My bad. :?

This one WILL work: http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8t016~7BELM0QK.htm :)


Though my version of Vista is Vista Ultimate. I'm guessing it's compatible with all versions of Vista?


Yes, it works with all versions of Vista - and the Belkin website says it'll also work under Windows 7 as well.
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EagleRock

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Post Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:28 am

Re: What I got to do today.

Sheizenhammer wrote:I love my tiny car! And having a really basic car = less stuff that can go wrong too. :D


You'd be surprised. Even a tiny, basic car has a lot of moving parts that can go horribly wrong. The engines on cars these days are so friggin complicated it's astounding. Take a look at an engine from 1968 and you'll see very little in the hood except pure power. Nowadays, there's just way too much to bother to try to figure out. :)

And since the picwhoring of cars has continued, I might as well show you my car, since it did start off the topic anyway:

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And before any of you get any bright ideas, that's not my license plate number anymore:

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