I may have to put my truck out to pasture.

After 5 years and thousands of miles, my truck is starting to show her age. When I was driving my truck today on belt parkway I started to lose power which is not a good thing espeically when you are in the left lane, drivers in nyc are not as patient as people in texas, I noticed that espeically when waiting at red lights in ny you better go as soon as the light turns green or esle you'll get blasted by horns, in texas it seems like people are more calm about the issue.

So when I got home I decided to check the truck out. It wasn't the spark plugs because I did a tune up just before I left fort bliss, and none of the spark plug cables came lose, so I knew it wasn't that. So I tried to read the trouble codes from the computer manually but then I found out that the light bulb for the "check engine light" was out. and the only way to replace it was to remove the dashboard, and I wasn't about to do that.  The next thing it could be was one of two things the transmission or the engine it's self. Transmission issues was not my forte, but I did have a compression tester so I got to work.

I went to the store and got the thickest weight motor oil I could find and pressure tested all eight clyinders. Now by this time people that were walking by was looking at me, but I used to it. It's not everyday you see a female who could fix her own truck. 

After I was finished I found out that I was loosing pressure in 3 cylinders; cylinders 8, 3 and 4 (from my point of view anyway, I have to look up the actual cylinder order). I  shook my head after doing the test. I knew what this meant, an engine rebuild, and a possible new head gasket. Which I can't afford right now. But I going to hang on to my truck as long as possible, but I know that there will be no more long distance driving. So if I want to go down south I'll have to take the bus or the train....which is not as fun.

Here are the list of places I went in this truck over a span of 5 years.

Cola, S.C. 2x

Stone mountain, GA 5x

Upstate new york, Fishkill 3x, Saratoga springs 1x,Coldspring 2x, Hudson 3x, Albany 3x,

Long Island plenty of times, but I did drive out to Montauk 3x

New Haven  Connecticut 2x

Springfield Massachusetts 3x (the six flags new england park)

Orlando, Florida 1x

Chattanooga, Tennessee 1x

Dallas Texas 1x

El paso, Texas 1x

Carlsbad Caverns ,New Mexico 2x

Los Angelos, California 1x

New Orleans, Louisiana 3x

Carriere, Mississippi 3x

As you can tell I like traveling!  So now I feel handicapped now that I'm restricted to how far I can drive, Since the days of my truck are numbered. I shouldn't be surpised, this is a 87 suburban after all, no matter how well you take care of the an older vehicle they are bound to break down sooner or later.  I don't like these newer cars they are more fagile and are harder to fix. If I can afford to get another truck I'd get one from 89 to 93' but it'll be hard to find a vehicle that old that was well taken care for. Oh well.

"Information is power...that's why you have to look deeper than the text books you read in school."

Tigoness