wehicle woes

Wouldn't you know it I get a job and both vehicles go kaputt.

Moby Dodge, with its new engine, new waterpump, new fuelfilter, new fuel intake pipe (or whatever that's called), coughs chokes hiccups falters and bucks till it's warmed up --a 15 minute idle in the driveway or four-mile drive-- and then settles down and runs fine. The fuel efficiency still sucks, 15 down from 21mpg with the old motor, and there's an oil leak somewhere that would entail pulling the entire motor again to fix.

Astro Chev has a dead battery, but for some reason we both think it's the alternator. th'Neighbor says he should be able to get the alternator replaced free of charge (that's the part, I assume, not the labor) as it's only been a couple years since he bought it. th'Mr says the same about the battery, that it's been less than a year and he should be able to get it prorated anyway.

th'Neighbor worked on Moby Dodge yesterday and th'Mr & I took it in to town last night (to finally get the Kansas tornado afghan squares in the mail) and it ran fine, but it was already warmed up when we left. th'Neighbor had adjusted the timing, but said it was "jumping around;" I'm not precisely sure what that means but I don't like the sound of it.