featured "MORON" of the day...

Okay, so...

I had told y'all a good while back about the FACT that the Air Conditioner Blower in my Mercury Sable had quit on me.  It was an off and on problem.  I think it's called "intermittent," but don't quote me.

Sometimes the air would not blow at all, and you could just jiggle the switch, and SHAZZAAAAAAM!, there it would come blowing like crazy.  But, as time rocked along, the jiggling took longer, and finally no amount of jiggling would make it run.

So, I was ASSuMEing that the switch must be bad.  This was a good while back, and I told y'all about it, but I am too worn out  from the day to link back at it.  But, you know what I'm talking about.

So, I screwed around for a long time with getting a new blower switch ordered.  I kept trying to find a cheaper price, and the truth is that we usually only drive the car early in the morning when it is only 90 degrees...and since I got my head shaved down, the wind from the open windows did not mess up my hair, and the gas mileage was really good with no air conditioning running, I kinda' shelved the whole "getting a new switch deal."  But, honestly it is really miserable driving around in NW Louisiana right now without AC in your car...no matter what time of day.  


So, the other day when it got to be about four degrees hotter than hell, The Mrs. finally asked me if I had ordered that switch.  I had to be truthful, and tell her that I had not.  So, being shamed, I did.  I ordered it on the computer from some place called RockAuto.

And, I'll tell y'all what...if you need to order some auto parts, these people are aces up!  I finally ordered it on last Sunday night.  It was a $40-something part that they sell for $21.79 (plus $5.50 shipping by Priority Mail).  I figured it would be some knock-off piece of junk part made in Singapore, or somewhere.  But, when it came in, it was a GENUNIE MOTORCRAFT REPLACEMENT PART!

I was proud.

So, early this morning, just as the Sun was coming up, I put the dash panel all back together with the new blower switch installed, fired up the Mercury, turned on the AC...

Nothing...

Crud.


Well, I half-way expected it not to work, but I had high hopes.

So, I had to take the young man that lives with us (not one of our sons) to catch the bus out to our local Community College.  I said to him, "Well, at least we've got a radio to listen to, now that I've got the dash panel back in."  Guess what!  The radio did not work.  So, I figured I had blown a fuse to the radio while messing with all the electrical crap.  When I got back to the house, I monkeyed around with the fuses in the fuse panel beneath the dash, and all of them were good.

So, I decided to look at the fuse block underneath the hood.  As I was pulling the cover off the panel, I noticed that the diagram on the cover showed something called a "BLOWER RELAY!!!!"

Crud...WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT???

Sure enough, when I pulled the blower relay, it had a bad terminal that had obviously overheated.  The fuse block itself looked like it had sustained some meltage around where the relay plugged into.

Crap...

I've been driving around for a month with no AC in hot, humid, Louisiana June...just because I didn't check the freakin' relay!!!

So, I am the featured "MORON" of the day!!!


A two minute drive to Advance Auto Parts, and $12.95 (plus tax) later, and a whole 45 seconds to plug the relay in...well...

...that Mercury Sable is a cool as the other side of the pillow!

So, the storal of the mory is...ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!!!!

ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!

ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!


ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!

ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!


ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!

 And, oh yeah...just in case I forgot to mention it...

ALWAYS CHECK THE FREAKIN' RELAYS FIRST!