In the driveway, less puffy

So I went to the doctor yesterday just to be safe about my bee stung, puffy hand.  The care plan was as I would expect, Benadryl and ice the hand.  They actually had some samples of Zyrtec that they gave me.  The swelling in my hand is much better this morning, it’s close to normal size at this point.

After work yesterday I drove to the garage to pay for the van repair.  They were able to fix the vent problem by replacing a section of vacuum tubing that was dry rotted, causing it to leak.  For the rear AC problem they referred me to a place that does more AC work on conversions vans and RV’s.  I got out of there with an $80 bill which I was happy about.

I decided to leave my truck there and drive the van home so I could verify the AC was working.  I was happy to find it did indeed blow cold and out of the front vents as it should.  When I got it home I pulled out the manual and was checking things out more in depth.  The coolest thing I found was the radio had SCV which stands for speed control volume.  Basically you set the volume on the radio and then as your speed increases or decreases the radio volume adjusts appropriately so you can still hear it clearly over road noise.

I crawled under the van and located the pipes running to the rear AC, I had the van running with the AC cranking.  I touched the pipes leading into the rear unit and they were hot, too hot to touch for more than a split second, hence the reason warm air blows out the rear vents I assume.   One of the contacts I got on rear AC problems said there is some sort of valve/diverter that is controlled by vacuum, it’s possible the rubber tube that supplies the vacuum could be bad. 

I have some other action items for the van, I’d like to get it washed and waxed to preserve the still decent exterior paint.  I also want to get underneath the van and work on the frame.  There is a lot of surface rust on it, presumably from it’s time in Michigan winters.  I want to strip the rust off, hit it with rust preventer and then follow up with a rust inhibiting rubberized undercoating. After that is done all that is left are little detail items.  I’d like to do a complete survey of the various electronics in the van and find out what exactly doesn’t work.  Some of it may be an easy fix.  I also should do some maintenance items that may or may not have been addressed by Erwin like changing the fuel filter, air filter and flushing the coolant system.  It may be smart to get the trans fluid changed as well.

When Ali got home from work we headed back out to the garage to get my truck.  We brought the dogs with.  It was the first time Ali got to ride in the van as well as the first time the pooches got to check out their new travelling accommodations. Ali was impressed with how smoothly the van rode and the comfort of the sofa like seats.  Sadie and Nicki seemed to approve as well with Nicki immediately checking out the bed accommodations in the rear.

Ali drove the truck back while I stayed behind the wheel of the van.  Party van 2.0 is now parked in the wheel prints of it’s fabled predecessor.  The stress I was feeling about the way the transaction went down has subsided mostly, that’s a good thing.