Junkin' Outside My Comfort Zone

It is a beautiful day here on the tundra. Sunny and 52* at Noon. It was a day to work on some automobile and ATV issues before I go to work at Gypsy Lea's this evening.

In addition to my GMC pick-up, which is my vehicle of choice, I drive a 1991 Acura Legend. I determined that the reason I did not have any dash lights at night was failure of the dimmer relay. I stopped at NAPA and asked them to get me a replacement. I had this same problem about 4 months ago and they got me the relay overnight. This time they could not even locate the part, not even the part that they sold me 4 month earlier. Anyway, the nearest Acura dealer is about 50 miles away in the Cities, so I was looking for a closer alternative. I live about 4 miles from French Lake Auto Parts, which is one of the biggest junk yards in Minnesota. I decided to get the part there. They do not pull dimmer relays from any cars, but I can go out into the yard and pull one myself. Not a problem. I know where the part is on the car and I have a pliers and screw driver in my pocket to perform the extraction.

He pulls out an aerial photograph of the junk yard. Then he circles a few specks at the outer most portions of the yard and says "there should be a couple of really old Acuras somewhere in this area".

The sign from the 1950's entrance to the yard.

The new and improved entrance.

Along my scenic route to the Acuras.

The skeleton of a Farmall, sun baked and warning passersby that we are entering dangerous territory.

I started my death defying trek to the nether reaches of the yard. A couple of days later I reached the frames and wrecks of some of Japan's once finest vehicles. A Lexus here, a Nissan there. And there were some European bodies scattered around too. A BMW, a couple of Audis and a nice 1974 Mercedes 450 with bumpers that may just fit my 1974 450 SLC in my garage. I couldn't find an Acura. Infiniti yes, Mazda plenty, but no Acuras. I found a 1992 Honda and a 1990 Honda. That's as close as I got. I pulled the dimmer relays from both Hondas and headed back to the office. The guy said they may work but his book doesn't cross-reference them for my Acura. He said "Merry Christmas", you can have them and see if they worked. They didn't. But the car ran better without any relay and it did with the defective relay.

So it was off to Andy's Auto Repair in Annandale. They didn't have the part in stock, but one of the mechanics had a relay from a Toyota in his tool box and it works. But then we noticed that my right tail lights were out. It is strange to have all 3 bulbs burn out so I had them check it.

Andy's Auto Repair are good guys.

They started tracing the wires in my Acura. I decided to walk over to the neighborhood restaurant for lunch. Well the usual short drive to the store was considerably longer when on foot. (And I still do not understand how the walk can be uphill both to and from there). They found a broken wire, so I am now hoping things will work better.

I headed back to Flannery Bay, having done my walking for the day. It is time to unload my truck. I attended an auction last night so there was a lot of junk there. In addition, Steve had mounted 4 new tires for my ATV.

The truck with ATV tires and other good junk.

Some great tapestries and another box of bowling pins.

A soon to be painted double gooseneck lamp.

Now I get to put the tires back on my ATV. Babe will probably help.

Mr. Flannery