Roller Coaster

And I'm not talking about the road where I live.

I took The Beast into my mechanic for an oil change and checkover before I really go anywhere in it.  The famous "check engine" light was on -- in The Beast it says "Dealer Service Soon" or something like that. The light was on when I bought it.  Previous owner said his mechanic couldn't find anything wrong. My guys ran a computer diagnosis on it and eventually determined that the a fuse was blown.  They replaced the fuse, took it for a road test, no more indicator. No stored error codes.

Cool!  There were some things that they said should be looked at after a while, but nothing to keep me from hitting the road.  "Have fun!"

I drove the rig back toward its parking lot, and halfway there the light came on again.  I called them and they said to bring it back.  Apparently it takes a while for the on-board data bus to clear and reset, and their road test wasn't long enough.  This time, they come up with some error codes.  Problems with the knock sensor.  Didn't know I had one.  Turns out I may have 2!

But the killer is that they found a "massive" pack rat nest in there.  And evidence elsewhere in the vehicle (license plate light wires)  that rats had been chowing down on the wires.  So they cleared out the nest and started the job of getting at the knock sensor wiring.  Hard to get at, of course.  And only they get in there can they tell what the damage is.  The parts are about $50 apiece; it's the labor, and the possibility of major re-wiring, that will cost.

Won't know until sometime tomorrow.

So I go from "Have fun!" to "Oh, sh*t" in an hour.

And no way to know when or where the rats did their thing:  previous owner's yard, my storage lot.

More tomorrow.  Margarita time.