advent-ure is out there

Advent is upon us.  I know what some of you may be thinking:  I was raised in a tradition that didn't bring the Christian year to the forefront, so why am I thinking about Advent.

When I got to high school, I gained friends.  Yes, I didn't have many in the years before that - maybe one or two that changed every few years as people moved, and the loss of the "friends" of childhood as they became more mature and realized that I wasn't as cool as they were.  But in high school, at the coming together of hundreds of innocent 13/14 year olds from around St. Clair Township, Sarnia, and Point Edward, there were people who had similar interests and could appreciate each other for who they were.  It was a glorious time. 

But back to the original dialogue.  Some of these friends had grown up in different Christian traditions than I had.  They were Anglicans, and Pentecostals, and Missionary Church, and even *gasp* Baptists.  Many of these churches that they had come from did things differently than I was used to, thus making me consider that they were all weird.  But one day, one of these friends asked me what I was giving up for Lent.  Lent?  What's that?  I asked.  They proceeded to tell me some definition regarding it's the season where you give something up.  Useful, and not completely correct.  But every year around this time they decided to give something up for 6 weeks for some reason.  I didn't quite understand, so I just stuck with the staples: sex, drugs, and alcohol (I'm pretty sure I gave up on those before I was born and haven't seen a reason to go down that road since - except for a few sips of wine in various locations around the world before remembering why I don't like it). 

But they also talked about Advent.  The only thing I really knew, or at least somewhat knew about Advent were the calendars that gave people chocolate every day leading up to Christmas.  Not being someone who loves chocolate, I didn't feel the need to get into buying the calendar and therefore ignored Advent until I went to Bible College.

There I learned more about what Advent was.  And I actually like the symbolism behind the candles, the meanings of what each candle is and what the season is about.

At church yesterday morning, we were given a box and were told that we should use it to help represent something about Advent / Christmas to us.  I originally had huge dreams, like carving a different image of the nativity into each side of it, or creating a jumbled Rubicks Cube of what Christmas is actually about, but then the practicality of actually creating it evades me, the non artistic type.  I think the largest thing is that there's more than just presents and large men in red felt pyjamas to think about during this season.  And I think I need to find a way to reconcile these thoughts with everything else, which could be somewhat hard to do...

I guess I'm in for an Advent-ure.  (sorry, didn't originally intend the pun, but I'll keep it because I like being punny.)

taking donations

The car went in today, and surprise!  They couldn't replicate the issue.  So they suggested the next most likely fix: replace the coils and wires.  This has been on the list of potential causes, in the next most likely position.  The repair cost a lot more than I'd hoped for, but with the stupid problem, it figures that it would cost a stupid amount of money.

For those interested, here's a list of possible causes of Random Misfire:

Camshaft Position (CMP) sensor malfunction.
Crankshaft Postion (CKP) sensor malfunction.
EGR system malfunction.
Excessive air leak in intake-air system between Mass Airflow (MAF) sensor and dynamic chamber.
Fuel line leak.
Fuel pressure regulator malfunction.
Fuel pump malfunction.
Ignition coil malfunction.
MAF sensor malfunction.
PCV valve malfunction.
Plugged or restricted fuel filter.
Plugged or restricted fuel line.
Poor connection or wiring problems.
Poor fuel quality.
Purge solenoid valve malfunction.
Secondary ignition system malfunction.
Vacuum hoses damaged or improperly connected.

I hope it doesn't happen again, but no guarantees seeing as they have yet to find the cause.

and again...

After having my car's EGR valve replaced for free last week, I was hopeful that the shaking and engine light flashing would disappear on me for good.  All seemed well this week, until I got in the car after getting groceries this evening when lo and behold, start up, RPM's drop to low and the car starts shaking.  I turn off the ignition and start again and it's still doing it.  This time the engine light starts flashing, so I turn it off and leave it for a few minutes and try again.  The engine starts fine, but the check engine light is solid.  Same as the previous three times it's happened in the past 6 weeks.

I really wish it would do it for the mechanics so they can figure out what's going on rather than giving a vague code and only happening once every 50-100 km (60 km since the last one).

So it's back to the shop on Wednesday.  Here's hoping it's an easy fix (ha!).

random

About a month ago, I turned on my car and felt a few shudders that were different than I was used to.  So I turned it off and turned it back on again and all seemed well.  A bit later that evening, I was driving along a street and it seemed to be shaking a lot more than normal, but there were no lights or warnings going off, so I kept going when all seemed to be well.  5 minutes later, I was on the expressway heading home for the night when the RPM's dropped and the car started shaking violently and the check engine light started flashing.  Not long before, I had learned that a flashing check engine light means stop immediately because the engine could be getting damaged.

After having it towed to the Mazda dealership, they checked it out and said it was giving the code for Random Misfire, and then proceeded to tell me that there wasn't any specific information and it could be any number of things.  They suggested a fuel line flush as a potential, so I said sure and then a few hundred dollars later, I got my car back.

5 days later, I was pulling out of my driveway and the same thing happened again.  This time I didn't have time to get it to the dealer, but I looked under the hood and found a loose vacuum hose, so I tightened it and hoped for the best.  The next time I turned it on, the check engine light was solid, so I drove it around town gently and then earlier this week, the light turned off, so I figured it would be OK for a while.  Yesterday morning I was about to head out for a shopping run from work when it started doing it again.  So I took it to the dealership last night.

Tonight I got a call that says that it's showing the same problem as last time and they did some digging to find out that there's a special bulletin regarding the EGR valve and sticking in my car and Mazda's extended the warranty for another 2 years to replace it.  My car just happens to barely fall under the warranty, so they're replacing it for me.

Hopefully this helps.  If not, who knows what it could be.

Out.