Oil filters are important

I enjoy performing my own vehicle maintenance. At a child I was fascinated with watching my father change the sparkplugs, change the oil and other fluids. My fathers even replaced the brake pads and bleed the brake system. When my brother and I became old enough my dad had us assist him with working on the family vehicle. Helping was dad’s way of ensuring that we could maintain our own vehicles. My family did not have much money to put into new Automobiles so all the vehicles we had were older and required some tender loving care or TLC to keep them running. When I was able to afford a nice vehicle I purchased a six year old pick-up truck. It was easy to maintain and fun to work on. There was plenty of space in the engine compartment, so most components were readily accessible.

Cheryl, my spouse at that time, hated the truck. It seemed to her every time she drove the truck it would quit operating and left her stranded. I would go to where she abandoned the truck to repair it, but it would start and run fine for me. Cheryl convinced me that we needed a new vehicle. I relented and we traded it in for a Honda Civic. This was the first new car I ever owned which was a double edged sword. I could not perform my own maintenance due to the warranty being voided if I worked on it. That was the positive side. The other side was paying someone else to maintain the Civic when I could do most of the servicing for less then half the cost the dealer charged.

I enjoyed the Civic but it was too small for me. I traded the Civic for a Nissan Xterra SUV and was a better fit for me. When the warranty had expired I started performing routine maintenance because I enjoyed working on the vehicle and was on my time.

When I started dating Jennifer she knew nothing about maintaining her vehicle and always took it to the dealer for all the maintenance. Her father never took the time to show her the basic maintenance of changing the oil, air filter and checking the fluid levels. I offered to work on her car and to show her how to do the maintenance also. She was a quick study and was always eager to change the oil and had even replaced the passenger side mirror. The only part she had trouble with was removing the oil filter due to its location. Jennifer has requested I teach her roommate to change the oil in her vehicle. I said yes.

After all this time of performing maintenance for myself I have become complacent. I have changed the oil but have chosen to replace the oil filter every three oil changes. Well that has come around to bit me. I had gone three oil changes without changing the filter so I should have changed it this last oil change two weeks ago. Before I change the oil I started hearing a tapping sound and just thought the oil maybe low. I changed the oil and the tapping stopped but it came back the next day and kept getting worse. I had resigned to the idea that I would have to take the Xterra into a repair shop for an engine overhaul. My last thought the night I was taking it to the shop was the oil filter had not been changed in a while and maybe it was clogged. I changed the filter and the tapping stopped. The oil that was in the filter was black not light. So I almost caused the demise of my vehicle. I have owned the Xterra over ten year and it is still running barely. I made Jennifer make me a pinkie promise not to tell anyone. I am not looking forward to the price I will have to pay for that promises.

A close friend who I have not talked with in about two years sent me an email message this week. I have been friends with Sara for six years. We had been stationed at Robins Air Force Base together but had not met from work related activities. I had signed up to become a spin class instructor because the base gym had lost three instructors. The class I signed up for was in Atlanta at the Crunch gym located in Alpharetta. My instructor at the base gym mentioned there was another person from the class going to the instructor class and I should look for her.

We meet at the class but did not have much time to talk due to the fast pace of the class. We meet up the following week in the spin class in the base gym. We both began our mentorship under Lorenzo. He was the person who inspired both Sara and I to become instructors. Sara and I started teaching and helping each other with encouragement, music selection and practicing the different systems.

Sara was so enthusiastic with the spinning that she ordered a spinner bike to practice at home. She even went a step further and found a great deal for a spinner bike for me. She wanted to purchase the bike for me but I was content she found one for me at half the cost. I still have it and use it occasionally. Sara was also great as selecting music for the rides because the tempo of the music is and intercept part of the spin class. She helped me find music and to design the beats for the ride. We had fun playing.

We lost touch soon after she was reassigned to San Antonio Texas three years ago. The new position did not work very well and she was having some health issues. She retired from the Air Force a year ago and like me went back to school. The type of school she is going to was a path I looked into. She is going to culinary school with a concentration in pastry and baking. She moved to Tennessee to be with her family and have their support.
She wrote about the opportunity to meet a few of the chefs that have programs on the Food Network and how privileged she felt to have their encouragement. I am envious of her but I made a chose to pursue engineering not culinary. The obstacle that pushed me from culinary is the long hours needed to be put in and working the weekends. I enjoy having the time to participate in the biking events.

It was good to reconnect with Sara, now I need to go visit and sample some of her culinary master pieces.