To the floor, Unlucky 13

When I got home last night I wanted to get a couple things done in the very limited daylight that remained.  The first was to work on the SSR.  Over the weekend we wanted to take the truck out but had to leave it in the garage because the clutch was messed up.  It was releasing a fraction of an inch above the floor.

When I tried to back the truck out of the garage last night it was even worse, I wasn’t even able to get it in gear.  I popped the hood, opened the clutch fluid reservoir and saw it was pretty much empty.  I dumped some synthetic brake fluid in there and pumped the clutch a few times which allowed me to at least get the truck out of the garage.

Once I was down in the driveway I located the quick drain port that was installed as part of the Corvette clutch upgrade I had done several years ago.  It seemed like the fitting that is loosened to drain the fluid was leaking just a bit. I hoped that was all it was.

I had Cindy come out with me so she could apply pressure to the clutch pedal while I slowly opened the drain line.  After some trial and error the line “burped” releasing the air that was in there.  I then tightened the fitting as much as I could, verified it wasn’t leaking and then had Cindy take the truck for a quick test drive.  She said it felt normal once again.  Of course I need to keep an eye on the fluid level to make sure there isn’t some other leak source.  I certainly hope not.

I then spent 10 minutes setting up my new Automatic adapter in the Tacoma.  Todd bought it for me off my Amazon list for Christmas.  It is a small device that stays permanently connected to your vehicle via the standard diagnostic port.  It them connects to your smart phone via bluetooth which then allows the data it collects to be displayed via their app and a web dashboard.

It basically is a way to make your older “dumb” vehicle, smarter allowing it to give you some of the high tech feedback that many new vehicles include as standard equipment,  sort of like a poor man’s OnStar.  Since the Prius already has some degree of this intelligence I figured the Tacoma was the best candidate for the device. I am still a bit foggy on everything it can and can not do.  I will put it through some more real world testing this week.

Todd also bought me a couple WeMo light switches.  I have to decide what spots in the house their intelligence would be best utilized.  I was originally hoping to use one for the big overhead light in the kitchen but found out the smart switch can not be used in situations where a light is controlled by more than one switch as is the case in the kitchen.

Yesterday would have been Nicki’s 13th birthday.  Facebook gave me a sad reminder of it yesterday by flashing up the picture from last year where she was enjoying her normal birthday vanilla cupcakes.  It still stings badly whenever I make myself focus on the loss of the closest thing I will ever have to a child.  We miss her so much.