The Old Girl is Back Home

After looking at all the options that we had (buy another new one with tons of bells and whistles; convert to electric; sacrifice a virgin to rid the machine of the evil that resided within) Rick took the path of least resistance and contacted a local repair shop that took a look at it.

Usually, local is going to cost you up the wazoo, being from a not-so-large town without tons of options to choose from.  But this place was only about 10 miles from the house, so Rick hauled it up there and let the guy give us his diagnosis and estimate, and we went with it.

A week later, and the old girl is back home.

I realize that this particular piece of equipment is 10 years old, and things start breaking down.  But a fire isn’t really breaking down now, is it.  That is something entirely different.

I think the diagnose of what caused the fire was fairly clear:  “Remove shroud and clean mouse nest out.”

Oops.  Um, yeah, that would probably do it.  As a matter of fact, those little buggers have caused us trouble before by building a nest on top of my car engine and chewing up the wires.  Not fun trying to drive your car when the engine keeps cutting out.

I was a tad embarrassed by that find, but the mechanic seemed amused.

Whatever.

So wires were replaced, along with a fuse, ignition coil, and spark plug all to the tune of a lot less money than it would have taken if any of the other ideas were chosen.  Well, I’m not sure about the sacrificing the virgin part, but that probably would have ended up in a little scandal, so it was discarded rather quickly.

Rick also had the guy give her a little TLC by replacing the mower deck drive belt, blades, change the engine oil & filter,  and lubricate the front steering.  Good all around maintenance.

Might as well get it all done while it’s there, right?

Heck, the guy even went so far as to check the valves (which, he notes, were very close to specifications).

M’kay, glad to know that.

The patient was given a clean bill of health and is now back home and resting comfortably in the garage.

Weather permitting, she will be given her first test drive this weekend and put to work with finishing what was started before the fire.

Yep, lots of stuff to haul and yard debris to clean up yet.

And with the rain we’ve been getting the last couple days, the lawn might even need to be mowed.