Opinion: July 2010 Archives

She has a lot to offer, and I am excited to see how it evolves. Read the blog and post some comments. 

Go Lockmom!

I installed iOS4 just now, and was struck by two things:

This is in direct conflict with Apple's unbelievable letter to the public that the phone's problems are with the software that displays how many bars you have, and not with the antenna design. Come on, Apple, fess up and fix the problem. It's a sign of a good company that makes exciting products and keeps the public energized about its brand. It a sign of a great company that owns up to its mistakes and fixes them before they become a public relations nightmare.

Look at Toyota. Their recall problems over the last year are legendary. However, have you heard that Honda has had similar recalls? Sure thing, my Honda Odyssey and a whole slew of other Honda cars were recalled for braking and transmission problems. Hmm, sound familiar? The thing is, though, that Honda reached out to us owners through the mail and through communication from the dealer to get us in to the dealer and get the problems solved. I didn't have to learn about it on the evening news, and I feel a lot better about my Honda.

I believe that Apple's customers would feel a lot better about their iPhone 4 purchase (and, of course, future technology purchases from Apple) if it would take steps now to fix the phones and get new ones into the hands of its customers.

With my son, I did some tests to determine if we had the three elements of internal combustion: fuel, spark and compression. We had all three of these, so we turned to see which of the cylinders wasn't working properly. Pulling the ignition wires one at a time told us which cylinder wasn't firing, so we swapped the spark plugs to see if it was the plugs. The same cylinder wouldn't fire, and when the engine ran, it was backfiring. 

I pulled the cowling and found that our friendly mice had packed fiberglass insulation around the cylinder head on that side, which probably caused the cylinder to overheat and seize.  I took off the valve cover, and voila! There were the bent valve push rods. I removed them, straightened them, and put them back in the motor. I buttoned it all up again and it turned over like it was new.

The important question is: why did the push rods get bent? I believe that the mice and their insulation caused the cylinder head to overheat, and the cylinder must have seized there when we shut it off last. When the cylinder seizes at the top of the stroke, the valves will crash into it and the push rods will bend. My expectation is that the cast iron parts are much stronger than the push rods, so they failed as designed, protecting the innards of the cylinder.

I feel it is a good idea to put new push rods in there, so I got the part numbers from the manual and headed on over to Sears. Turns out that they closed their parts depot, and no longer carry parts. Customers must use the online parts service to get replacement parts. I tried to get them at a couple of local small engine shops, but they don't have the cross references to the Sears parts, even though it's a Briggs & Stratton engine.

So, I'm now at the mercy of Sears. It is sad that the once mighty and convenient Sears has been reduced to an online parts counter. I know where I won't spend my money when the time comes for my next tractor.