(*COLD*)

236 responses total.

(...but other than that, not too bad. The other motorists seemed unusually
friendly, which made _me_ unusually friendly. I don't think I talked to
myself at all the entire trip. :) I *really* need to fix my exhaust, but
I think that a temporary patch won't be out of the question.)

I shall shortly have to fire up my vehicle and journey east to
Ypsilanti. Not expecting too much in the way of problems. I
notice that that temperature is almost 20 degrees now.

The lights on our Subaru wouldn't turn off today.  Will have to invesitgate
further...

My mountain bike seems to be working well now, which is nice since it gets
good traction in snow, just as it does in dirt.  That said, I haven't been
doing too much vehicular movement, as I've been too lazy to go into the office
and have taken the computers I do most of my work on home for a while.

(Had to change a tire today. I'm waiting for the flat to thaw before
seeing what's wrong with it.)

A nice man wearing a blue suit and driving a pretty car with lots of shiny
things on it was thoughtful enough to stop me on my way home from work today
and tell me that I have a headlight out. %^&*#@$%&^&^*&^%&^%$@#$%@@!!!

Were those shiny things red and blue, and maybe white as well, and rotating?
;)

(spare tire seems to be doing OK. For that matter, the wire holding my
muffler in position seems to be working, although I need to either
tighten it or replace it with a metal tie.)

Why did being informed you had a headlight out cause %^&*#@$%&(etc)? I
would welcome the information (and be relieved too!).

Maybe it depends on how one is informed.  If one were informed by a guy in
a blue suit driving a fancy car with lots of red, white and blue flashing
lights on it is how one is informed, I can see where it might
be %^&*#@$%&(etc).

OK, I'll be more direct. I presume it was a COP that stopped you. I have
been stopped by a COP because I had a burned out headlight. He said,
get it fixed. I said, thank you sir, I will (and since I had a spare in
the boot, I did shortly thereafter). So, why %^&*#@$%&(etc)?

Maybe the $^&*#@$%&(etc) came from thinking about changing a headlight in this
unbearable cold?

I think it was directed more toward the fact that it was a 14 year old cop.
Also, the cops up here, being bored to tears most of the time, like to run
around and stop every equipment violation they see. They then proceed to 
call in the OCSD K-9 unit, the Police auxilliary, The Sisters Of The Eternal
Idiocy, and Brownie Troop 712 for back-up. A Gaylord traffic stop looks like a
a Grateful Dead concert with haircuts.

HA!

(I really need to work on my flat tire, but I just woke up and didn't
feel like dealing with it yet. My drive was, thankfully, uneventful.)

Well, to sum it up, if I knew that I had a headlight out, (which most people
*do* realize if it's dark), being pulled over is an incovenience.  Especially
if I'm on my way to work, an appointment, etc.  I've been pulled over *twice*
for a headlight and once for a burned-out license plate light.

(I was pulled over once because my tailights were out. Turned out
that a wire I had running from the battery as a temporary kludge
wasn't connected properly. It was a cinch to fix. Problem was
permanently put to rest once I got the part the kludge was 
substituting for.)

(now that I think about it, I've just totally butchered the meaning
of the word "kludge.")

Losing a headlight is a major pain in the tailpipe:
1) the entire grille has to be removed for access
2) it's -18 degrees outside
3) I cannot use a manual screwdriver (see health conf) and the power one will
   not fit where it needs to go
4) this headlight thing happens about twice a year
5) the ink wasn't yet dry on the check for transmission repair (seriously -
   it had been less than an hour)
6) I'm a grouch.
<otter remembers that the Quik-Lube does headlights> <otter takes a pill>

Well, I trekked down the mountain to go to the store...I was virtually the
only person on the road..along with 8-10 " of snow.  I made it back in one
piece, but after unloading the car, my husband decided to take it to the top
of my lane because of the 1' of expected snow tonight.  He couldn't get it
up the first little hill, so intrepid soul that I am, I got behind the wheel
and drove the rocky to the top of the lane (1/2 mile).  Until the plow comes
through the state (dirt) road above, we won't be going anywhere.  But it will
be nice once the plow goes through as they will make a wall of snow along the
dropoff...much better than a guard rail!  After depositing the rocky at the
top of the lane, I visited Freddy Krueger's house which is about 1/2 way down
the lane and tucked away in the woods.  All in all, it was a typical day on
the farm!

Hm.  In my case, replacing a headlight means a trek to meijers, popping
the hood, & maybe a minute of unplugging & plugging.  The only tricky
part is not touching the bulb (it's quartz halogen, so a finger print
would cause the bulb to crack).  No tools at all required, except maybe
a knife to open the package.

In one of my past cars, the right headlight was just in front of the battery
and you had to remove the battery to perform the operation Marcus describes.

On both of our cars the change can be done as Marcus does, but also on
both it is very tight, and difficult to hold, twist and align parts.

I don't think I've ever gotten a burned out headlight myself, but I remember
several years ago we noticed that one of our headlights was burned out as my
family was driving out of New York, on our way to Chicago.  It was really late
at night, so we couldn't just stop and have somebody fix it, so we stopped
and bought a new headlight.  Then, after much messing around with it in the
dark, we came to the conclusion that we couldn't figure out how to get the
headlight out in that car.  We ended up just deciding to keep going with the
burned out headlight, and then stopped the next morning, once the repair
places were open, and got somebody to change it for us.  It ended up requiring
taking off a substantial part of the front grill, as well as maybe the light
next to it.  That car died a few years later.  I don't know what it takes to
change the headlights in my parents' current cars.

This response has been erased.

(I forgot: my car hit the 196,000 mile mark this morning. Only 4000 miles
to go!)

I didn't like it when the headlight on my motorcycle burned out on my way home
one hight.

My rocky is currently completely covered with snow!  Gee, I don't think I am
looking forward to digging it out!

(slippery drive. be careful out there.)

Yeah.  Even the nice heavy van with ABS that I had last time it stormed, and
cooincidentally have this time as well, was having trouble with traction. 
I did manage to keep it under control, though.

I've been hearing loud scraping sounding snow plow noises coming from the
parking lot behind my apartment building for the last half hour, and it's not
even a big lot.  That must be a lot of snow.

dipshit pulled out in front of me last night. I cracked a turn signal he lost
a door. He also got the ticket. It was not fun, but the cops were damn nice.

   Can anyone offer advice on how to properly focus headlights? My car is a
bit cross-eyed (the right headlight illuminates the road about 6 feet in front
of the car, and the left one gives me a lovely view of whatever's off to the
right), and I've never been terribly good at adjusting the darn things myself.

(hmm... the cars conference might be a good place to ask that 
question. I wish I knew myself, not because my car's headlights are
out of focus, but because of the (*&^%&)* who always seem to approach
my car with their headlights aimed too high.)

(my last few drives have been... interesting. I discovered that the
right front tire arm is broken. This makes turning *extremely*
interesting. I also encountered a small furry friend in the middle
of the road during yesterday's morning fog. The stupid possum waited
for me to screech to a halt and flash my brights before giving me
one of those "oh, you're not my mommy" looks and waddling off. <ishg> )

This response has been erased.

Check your local library. There are books that spell out the procedure.
Back issues of Popular Mechanics or Popular Science will have articles
about this.  There are adjusting screws/bolts that may or may not be
hidden behind a part of the outer assembly. You might need a special
tool for the particular fastener/adjusters -- but a decent hardware/
auto supply store will have them. You will need a wall to see where
the beams hit as you adjust them. If you can read and adjust a screw
with a screw-driver you can aim your headlights.

Carson, love, just what do you mean by "tire arm"? If you are talking about
what I think you are -either a tie rod or a half-shaft- please *stop* driving
the car *IMMEDIATELY* and get it fixed!! We want you alive.

(yeah, I know I should get it fixed. One place told me it would take them
several weeks before they could squeeze me in.)

(BTW, it's not the tire rod, thankfully. It seems like every time something
goes wrong with my car, it's the "best thing that could have gone wrong."
Really. I think my dad says that everytime after he crawls out from under
the chassis.)

("I should have grinned" works. Let's make it official!)  ;)

   In getting into the mechanical horse this morning, I found that I
couldn't.  The *&%@&^ locks were frozen shut, both of them.  The drivers
side door was really stuck, but the passenger side eventually became
tired of playing with me and relented.  Once we got the drivers door
open we found that we couldn't shut it.  It would latch, a little but
not quite close.  After about 15 minutes of driving around town the
latch system was warm enough, (or abused enough from 75 slammings) that
it finally closed.

   Fun.

That's one of the joys of a January thaw.

Is there a "Dr. Kevorkian" for Detroit iron? My friends at YPD say they
would frown on multiple weapons discharges in the City, though sympathetic
with my anger. 

re #36: (WD-40. Works wonders.)

(Borrowed my roommate's car this morning. My car has a doctor's 
appointment this morning. Hopefully the operation will be successful
and I'll have him back later this afternoon.)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss