Good Morning from Yellowknife, NWT
I'm here. I would like to report I am ecstatic or disappointed or nonchalant or something. The truth is I was exhausted when we rolled in last night. We got a room at the Red Coach Inn, recommended by some ladies running a truck stop down in Enterprise, NWT. I was mostly numb upon arrival.
I just woke up and so have not explored the town or surroundings yet. I will let everyone know how I feel about attaining the object of my desires on another post.
It occurs to me that some of the Volvo folks reading along might want to know how the Mule is doing. She is fine. We lost a belt coming down a steep grade in Banff. We have been running the alternator and water pump on one belt since then. I do have two new belts but they are 10mm shorter than the ones currently installed and so will have to be mounted as a pair when the time comes. It is not as simple as slipping the belts on. The power steering has to be loosened to get the belt off the A/C because the alternator belts live behind that one. The alternator has to come down to slip the belts around the pulley; it cannot be done with the alternator mounted. It took me the better part of an hour to come to that conclusion when I mounted the alternator before the trip.
The tire on the right rear once resided on the right front. That tire has cupping and capping wear along the outside edge of the tire. Besides making for a really rough ride, I was afraid it was going to wear through to the cord if left alone. We moved that tire to the rear down in the Grand Tetons National Park before we hit the road for leg to Yellowstone and thence into Montana. I am keeping a close eye on that but I think we will be at least back into the states before it becomes an issue.
I am going to post this little bit now. I will add more later today. Right now I have to tend to the coffee.
OK, I'm back in front of the keyboard. I have made breakfast and cleaned up the dishes, showered, packed and repacked the car and Tyler just now rolling out of bed at 09:45. I'm ready to find out what the town has to offer. I've waited for all these years, I reckon another hour won't matter a hill of beans.
Back to the Volvo for a few minutes...
A couple of weeks prior to leaving on this trip the Volvo exhibited a high idle condition for a short while. It cleared itself on the next restart. Last night on the way in, it did the same thing. I can only assume the Idle Air valve is sticking open. I say assume because I really have not investigated it all. This is another of those items to be addressed when it becomes an issue, if ever.
The MPG has been pretty good. Even though it calculates out to 24MPG, in actuality it is closer to 22MPG; the odometer and speedometer both read about 10% high. There is still the smell of fuel under boost as it has had since I got the car. After much debate with Tyler about the cause of the fuel smell, he has convinced me to replace the seals on the injectors. It could be the seals. The problem I have with trying to locate the source of this fuel smell is that I can find on evidence of fuel washing the area around the leak. In every instance I can recall when I've had a fuel leak it was apparent once I found it because the area adjacent was clean as a whistle. I dunno. I'll get to it when I get to it. I've got to have seals first.
Today we will go out on the Ingram Trail. It runs 70km out to the NE from Yellowknife. The terminus of Ingram Trail is indeed the end of the road.
Stay tuned. More to come...
I just woke up and so have not explored the town or surroundings yet. I will let everyone know how I feel about attaining the object of my desires on another post.
It occurs to me that some of the Volvo folks reading along might want to know how the Mule is doing. She is fine. We lost a belt coming down a steep grade in Banff. We have been running the alternator and water pump on one belt since then. I do have two new belts but they are 10mm shorter than the ones currently installed and so will have to be mounted as a pair when the time comes. It is not as simple as slipping the belts on. The power steering has to be loosened to get the belt off the A/C because the alternator belts live behind that one. The alternator has to come down to slip the belts around the pulley; it cannot be done with the alternator mounted. It took me the better part of an hour to come to that conclusion when I mounted the alternator before the trip.
The tire on the right rear once resided on the right front. That tire has cupping and capping wear along the outside edge of the tire. Besides making for a really rough ride, I was afraid it was going to wear through to the cord if left alone. We moved that tire to the rear down in the Grand Tetons National Park before we hit the road for leg to Yellowstone and thence into Montana. I am keeping a close eye on that but I think we will be at least back into the states before it becomes an issue.
I am going to post this little bit now. I will add more later today. Right now I have to tend to the coffee.
OK, I'm back in front of the keyboard. I have made breakfast and cleaned up the dishes, showered, packed and repacked the car and Tyler just now rolling out of bed at 09:45. I'm ready to find out what the town has to offer. I've waited for all these years, I reckon another hour won't matter a hill of beans.
Back to the Volvo for a few minutes...
A couple of weeks prior to leaving on this trip the Volvo exhibited a high idle condition for a short while. It cleared itself on the next restart. Last night on the way in, it did the same thing. I can only assume the Idle Air valve is sticking open. I say assume because I really have not investigated it all. This is another of those items to be addressed when it becomes an issue, if ever.
The MPG has been pretty good. Even though it calculates out to 24MPG, in actuality it is closer to 22MPG; the odometer and speedometer both read about 10% high. There is still the smell of fuel under boost as it has had since I got the car. After much debate with Tyler about the cause of the fuel smell, he has convinced me to replace the seals on the injectors. It could be the seals. The problem I have with trying to locate the source of this fuel smell is that I can find on evidence of fuel washing the area around the leak. In every instance I can recall when I've had a fuel leak it was apparent once I found it because the area adjacent was clean as a whistle. I dunno. I'll get to it when I get to it. I've got to have seals first.
Today we will go out on the Ingram Trail. It runs 70km out to the NE from Yellowknife. The terminus of Ingram Trail is indeed the end of the road.
Stay tuned. More to come...
posted by sdewolfe at
7:56 AM
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