Things to avoid when choosing a parking spot

GARBAGE CANS.

If there are garbage cans out on the street, this is a bad thing. Do not park here at night.

It means bad smells all night long, which will keep you awake.

It means loud, obnoxious noises early in the morning, which will wake you up once you finally fall asleep.

Avoid the garbage cans on the street! They are evil and are made of fail.

Glow plug relay AGAIN?

Weird. I replaced my glow plug relay almost 2 years ago, and it has been dying for a while now (making buzzing sounds, giving me hard starting), but after I did the injector seals, the glow plug relay just stopped working entirely. I put a multimeter on it, no voltage, nothing. So I just replaced it again-- $60 and two hours later it's done. Easy this time around, because I wasn't panicking or freaking out this time around.

But still, WTF? Two years for a glow plug relay? Seems a bit short to me.

Also, I checked my maintenance log, and it seems I've put 14,000 miles on this in the nearly 2.5 years I've been living in it. That's all! Lots of local driving, short trips. I don't know if that many cold starts would kill a glow plug relay so soon, but maybe.

I still have to replace a bent wheel, and maybe do my brakes, then I'm going on a couple long (for me, 200-300 miles) trips this summer. I'm still amazed and a little frightened by how much money I've put into this vehicle over the years, to drive so few miles.

But I do love it. It's my home, and I built it. Nothing can ever take that away from me.

More simple solutions to complex problems

Found the solution to the oil leak under the engine, I think. Just tightened the oil pan bolts to 40 ft/lbs. The manual said between 30-45ft/lbs, which seemed like a pretty wide range. I went towards the high end, and, so far, it's bone dry underneath the thing.