Among the many other things accomplished this weekend, I was able to do three things I’ve been meaning to do for some time. I changed the oil in my car, fixed the water pressure problem in my bathroom shower, and replaced the bed in the spare bedroom.
Taking advantage of a friend’s (W’s) charity, we borrow his truck (him in it and driving), and head to Lawrence to get a mattress and box spring that the girlfriend no longer has need of. I’ve been really missing having that spare bed in the guest room, and it just worked out perfectly that she had what I needed, and didn’t need it herself anymore. Those ratcheting tie-downs used to tie stuff down are, by the way, da bomb.
We stop by W’s place and pick up a drip pan for the oil I’ll be dropping out of my car later and head to my place, where we drop off the bed and make dinner plans. Then it’s to the store for oil, a new shower head, and a bed frame. Aside from nearly being thrown against the wall and frisked when the shower head set off the door alarm, it was a completely uneventful trip. For future reference, Walmart doesn’t have the ceiling fan I want.
We put the bed frame together without a problem, and revel in the fact that once again, I have something more than a couch for guests to rest on. Aside from the fact that the mattress makes a lot of weird noise when you sit on the end, it’s perfect. Not sure what to do about the rather large indoor kennel that Tank, the Rott/Pit Bull sleeps in, but we’ll figure that out.
On to the next task!
One would think that changing the oil in one’s car is a trivial, easily completed task, and after all is said and done, this is true. However, being “easily completed”, and “easily completing it” are not necessarily the same. In fact, they’re entirely different. Allow me to explain.
Our first step was to put the car up on ramps. If there is a single step that could result in the most difficulty, this would be it. Driving off the end of the ramps would, if I may say so, be rather upsetting. Fortunately, this critical step was finished simply and without incident. The next step, facilitated by the elevated posture of the vehicle, was to find the drain plug and oil filter. The drain plug was easy enough, but the oil filter on a 2004 Saturn ION is not the same as on… well… any other car I’ve ever had. It’s not self enclosed, rather, the enclosure is built into the engine block. Google to the rescue, we confirm what we had suspected was the actual thing. Unfortunately, it requires a hex socket of 32mm, that I don’t have. A quick trip up to the auto store remedies that. $17 for a long 32mm axle nut socket. Ouch. But, I’ll still be saving money in the long run.
We get back home, pop the hood, get the tools out and realize that my socket wrench has a 3/8″ driver. The 32mm axle nut socket requires a 1/2″ driver. Fantastic! Not only that, but the socket is too long… in my ION, everything is packed pretty tight. Trip number two to the auto store and I find, after some concern that I wouldn’t, a 3/8″ to 1/2″ driver converter. The clerks recognize us, and begin having fun at our expense. Like no one has ever had to make multiple trips to the store before. Like *I* haven’t had to. Heh. They should know better.
Arriving back at home, the converter works, and the long socket, though too long, does the job (if barely). The lid to the oil filter enclosure turns. Time to get the oil pan drain plug off. I crawl under the car on cardboard and have the girlfriend hand me sockets until we find the right one. 3/8″? Nope. Too little. 11/16″? Nope. Too big. 1/2″? Nope. Too small again. Time to go metric. 14mm? Nope. Too little. 17mm? Nope… too big. What about 15mm and 16mm, you ask? Well… so did I. Though I’d never noticed, for lack of ever needing to, my socket set has neither, and wouldn’t you know it… one of those is the exact size I need!
Oh yeah, we’re having fun now. In case you didn’t know, my favorite thing in the world to do is make multiple trips to the same store for the same job in the same day. I just feel smarter and smarter, more and more capable with each trip. My girlfriend is a LOT more experienced in working on cars than I am… at this point I’m convinced that she’s having a fantastic time watching me flail about like a redneck at an NCAA meeting – bless her heart for keeping it to herself. I think she’s calling ahead to the auto store to prepare them for our arrivals. You know, give them time to come up with witty things to say. They’re all working in collusion to make my experience that much more memorable.
We arrive (again) at the auto store and go straight to the socket display and ask for both a 15mm and a 16mm. You know (you *must* know) that if I got only the one, it would be the other that I needed. In an attempt to head off an extra trip to the store, I get both. The clerk encouraged me to take my best guess. He wanted an extra opportunity to make fun of me, I think. Life at the auto store is pretty boring, I guess. While heading off his ridicule, I notice a 32mm socket which is very short, and only a couple dollars. Recall the long 32mm socket that not only cost $17, but didn’t fit? Yeah… here’s one that will obviously fit, for a fraction of the cost. I get that too.
Back home again, three trips to the auto store for a simple oil change under our belts, and the 16mm socket works like a champ. The oil flows freely into the oil pan I borrowed from friends earlier that day. Moving on, I fit the short 32mm socket easily over the oil filter enclosure cap, and that comes off without a problem. With the oil draining, we head to dinner with the W’s, spend way too much, and unwind. We stop on the way to give the perfectly good, but completely useless $17 32mm socket back. That officially makes trip number four.
Some drinks and good food in our bellies, we get home again and with flashlights, replace the drain plug and oil filter, and fill up the car with oil. Task accomplished with only four trips to the auto parts store. After all is said and done, changing the oil in the Saturn is a lot easier than any other car I’ve worked on. This is for no other reason than the placement of the filter, and the manner in which it’s removed. No “special” tools are required, just standard sockets. If I’d had all the required socket sizes, the job would have taken 10 minutes tops. As it was, it was four trips and an hour and a half… but now, I’ve got everything and it’ll be cake from here on out.
This morning I get up and realize that I never changed out the shower head. That’s really easy, and since it’s already got a hose, I just attach the new head to the old hose and sigh deeply with great satisfaction as the dribble provided by the previous shower head is replaced by a deluge from the new. Then I look down. The drain had gotten used to the low water pressure, and doesn’t know how to handle all the extra water. I sigh as the water creeps up my ankles, and wonder if the auto store has drain cleaner.