Some going on at Casa De Garabaldi

 Here in my State, we have to do car emissions in the metro counties as part of the Clean air act and they are due on the Birthday of the owner of the car.  Well my birthday is next month so I figured I would go ahead and get my trusty workbench( 1999 F150) emission tested.

                                                                  "My Workbench" 

Here in my state, a vehicle has to be 25 years old to be exempt from emission requirements, and when my truck gets to that state, I will remove the Cats and retune the engine.  the 4.6 2V engine from Ford is rock solid design and pretty much bulletproof.  

     Well Anyway I go to get my truck emission tested and discovered that the truck failed emissions.  the testing station informed me that my "idiot" light wasn't working because I was getting the neferious P171 and 174 code which mean that engine is running Rich/lean and that means that my MAF sensor is messing up.  Well crap...he suggested that I first buy a cleaner called "Mass Air Flow Cleaner" and clean my sensor, then replace my "idiot" light.  then bring my truck back.  I agreed to do that and he didn't charge me for the failed test which I though was mighty nice of him.   next stop was to the local auto parts place to buy the cleaner...

I then proceeded to start dismantling my intake system....

I extracted the MAF from the Intake system and had part of the intake system on a  white table that I had set up in front of the Truck, a trick I learned at work, it allows me to spread the work out so I don't lose anything and to better keep track of what ever I am working on.   I proceeded to spray the tarnation's out of the MAF sensor, then I put the MAF sensor on the table to air dry while I start on the dash to replace/flip the LED light I had installed previously.

I had already removed the instrument cluster bezel and cover before I decided to take a few pictures, I was fighting the clock, I had to pick up supper at 17:00 hours and I had started working on the truck at 15:30 hours so I was under the clock.  There are newer trucks out there but I know this truck like the back of my hand, 

While I was working, I had the radio playing and of course my Sirious/XM on my favorite channel was operating and you can see the time "16:16" Time marches on....Tick,...Tick.....Tick.....Tick....

   the Cluster is out of the Truck, I will proceed to the table and swich around the LED light and see if that solves the "Idiot" light problem.

Yes the "Idiot" light works," Loud and Proud", I now have to drive it around until the light clears so I can get it "tested".   Reassembled the Intake system and had the truck ready to go exactly at 17:00 to go pick up supper.  Yay Me!

   I did some driving around for a bit, picked up supper and other driving and the code cleared and immediately tested the truck before the code decided to come back(hope it don't).   The RPM's hight because I just cranked up the truck this morning to take the pic because I forgot last night....Hey it happens...  

     A couple of months ago I Installed and blogged about a solar power light on the side of my house and it didn't work because the trees separating my yard from my neighbors, blocked too much sunlight so I was getting no light because the batteries were not charging.  I love the trees because they are an excellent windbreak and have prevented a lot of storm/wind damage to my roof in the past by breaking up the wind as it blew due to the orientation of the house and the yard, it has worked for 24 years and I ain't gonna monkey with what has worked for all these years of y'all know what I mean.  Well I happen to be at Ace and saw this battery powered light and it seemed to be the perfect solution to my problem, 

     That light cost me $19.99 from Ace and it uses 4 D batteries and it is supposed to last 1 year between changes, it is motion sensor activated and no wires, so was easy to install, it illuminates the trashcan on the side of the house at night so when I go in the evening to dump the trash, it isn't in darkness.  simple solution to a problem.

      Now a couple political comments.....I have this in my yard....

For a "Blue County" there are an awful lot of Trump signs and flags, I have seen only one "Biden/Harris" sign, and that was on the other side of the county,  there is an awful lot of excitement for Trump.  My Cul-de-sac is nothing but Trump as most of my Subdivision, 

My truck still has the "Deplorable Inside" from the 2016 election,   This was from me trying to install the solar powered light that i wound up moving to the other side where the sun hits the house and it now works :)

      

And of course the Babylon Bee released my favorite meme, President Tested positive for Covid-19 and of course the Tolerant Left hoped that he would get sick and die, the empathy shown was touching...of course The Donald being the Donald was out in 3 days and the tolerant left lost their mind and there were comparisons of "Rising from the Grave" and others, but this one really caught my eye and I shared it on Farcebook.  I normally don't do politics on Farcebook, That is what blogging is for.