Still Missing?

My saga continues...

Last night I had trouble with my pickup...It would not start to save my life! I finally got it to run, and got to work 90 minutes late.

My tractor was listed on the Ready Board as "Down: Erratic Throttle" I called the Park Groomers and asked if they could spare a tractor, and they obliged. Twenty minutes later I was suiting up in their BisonX.

The piste was cooperating...not quite Hero Snow, but close enough...climbing was good enough to allow us to knock out the list despite having a winchcat offline, and a tardy leader.

About 0730 I had a new problem. I lost the pin that anchors the stinger's lift ram to the tractor's frame. I couldn't lift the tiller, and the ram was hanging straight down, digging a little trench at the centerline.

I radioed the Vehicle Shop for help, and the Graveyard Wrench snowmobiled out to me and we got the ram up out of the snow and strapped to the stinger's frame. I limped the BisonX back to the shop for what was supposed to be a quick fix. I pulled up to the fuel dock, and two mechanics descended on the stinger problem as I put 55 gallons of diesel in the tank. That's when they noticed a pretty big hydraulic leak...that's cat number three on the night's "Down List"...

The head mechanic said: "Your cat is all warmed up, you can take it if you need to." "I couldn't get it to do the erratic throttle thing in an hour of trying"...

We talked about the glitch, he showed me a couple of things I could do to help diagnose the cause....should the throttle go wacky again tonight. Our first BR350 had the same problem last season. They never figured out what the cause was, and the problem went away never to return.

I roared off to finish my list...Ol' Faithful didn't even hiccup.

After I put the tractor to bed, I talked with the Head Mechanic about my pickup's starting problem. Head Mechanic is a wizard on his stuff, he asked: "Is it a 350 with throttle body injection?" "Yes", I replied. Head Mechanic advised:"They have a history of the Ignition Module and Pickup going bad"

He related a few tips on the job and said: "Good Luck" I stopped by the Auto Parts Shop on my way home and picked up my parts...I'm gonna get greasy fingers this weekend.