In mid 2007, a proud owner of a 41/2 year old Proton Iswara discovered a rather messy oil leak around his engine. Being on a rather tight budget at the time, the leak was fixed by applying a generous amount of gasket sealant around the leaky cover.
Fast forward to July 2008. The leak was still there and in the space of several months, 1/2 the oil in the engine had seeped via the convenient opening. Months of deciding came to an end last Wednesday when the valve cover was removed. 6 10mm bolts hold the cover down to the cylinder head. The cover was then washed down to remove all traces of oil and dust which had formed into a fine paste.
Then it dawned upon the genius that he should have purchased a new gasket. Since it was too late, the decision to apply yet another generous amount of sealant and hope for the best was adopted. (We do what we can when we can..). The engine oil was replaced at this time.
What did the genius learn through this exercise?
1. It took only 20 minutes to rectify (temporarily) the leak. Was the procrastination worth it? Nope.
2. Those who fail to plan, are in fact planning to fail. A lesson well learnt.
Now the next project. Replace the fan motor.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Procrastination
Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. The word itself comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). Source of information Wikipedia.org
This word was on my mind the entire week following my triumphal replacement of the clutch cable. The same day, I received an sms informing me of my cousins death.
Alan Gerard Danker, aged 51 (RIP) passed away on Saturday 30th Aug 2008. He never saw the 51st Anniversary of our countries Independence. Incidentally, he was born in 1957, the year independence was first obtained. I visited him in the hospital on Friay night. He was in a comatose state. His death made me realize a few things:-
1. How short life is and we might as well finish what we have to do before we go off for our next assignment.
2. How is it that we often take things such as our health, relationships, friendships for granted. An old saying comes to mind. I dont recall the exact words but it goes something like this "We never appreciate the things we have, until we lose it".
A very grim and depressing reminder.
Very often, we tend to put things off to the very last minute. Common excuses such as traffic jams, busy work schedules, fatigue, lack of funds etc comes to mind. This led me to remember what someone told me a long time ago "What if you only have one day left to live, what will you do?"
What causes this phenomenon called procrastination? Is it the fear that we cannot accomplish what we set out to do? Or is it just not important enough?
Another thing I realize is that there will never ever be enough of time, enough of money, enough of energy to get things done but we have to do what we have to do while we can still do it. The phycological fear of not accomplishing our tasks is nothing compared to the regret of not doing it while we can. I wish I knew Alan better. What I could have learnt from him. Would it have made me a better person? I guess I'll never know..not in this world anyway.
I have decided (this is the easy part) not to put things off anymore. Making lists and seeing it through is not so difficult anymore once we realize the consequences of putting things off. The list has been made and the ensuing action is in the way. Next stop - the leaky valve cover.
From personal experience - Don't wait till the last minute to tell the person you love that you love them. There are times when they need to hear it. People never get enough of it and its always a nice feeling to know that someone cares for you.
This word was on my mind the entire week following my triumphal replacement of the clutch cable. The same day, I received an sms informing me of my cousins death.
Alan Gerard Danker, aged 51 (RIP) passed away on Saturday 30th Aug 2008. He never saw the 51st Anniversary of our countries Independence. Incidentally, he was born in 1957, the year independence was first obtained. I visited him in the hospital on Friay night. He was in a comatose state. His death made me realize a few things:-
1. How short life is and we might as well finish what we have to do before we go off for our next assignment.
2. How is it that we often take things such as our health, relationships, friendships for granted. An old saying comes to mind. I dont recall the exact words but it goes something like this "We never appreciate the things we have, until we lose it".
A very grim and depressing reminder.
Very often, we tend to put things off to the very last minute. Common excuses such as traffic jams, busy work schedules, fatigue, lack of funds etc comes to mind. This led me to remember what someone told me a long time ago "What if you only have one day left to live, what will you do?"
What causes this phenomenon called procrastination? Is it the fear that we cannot accomplish what we set out to do? Or is it just not important enough?
Another thing I realize is that there will never ever be enough of time, enough of money, enough of energy to get things done but we have to do what we have to do while we can still do it. The phycological fear of not accomplishing our tasks is nothing compared to the regret of not doing it while we can. I wish I knew Alan better. What I could have learnt from him. Would it have made me a better person? I guess I'll never know..not in this world anyway.
I have decided (this is the easy part) not to put things off anymore. Making lists and seeing it through is not so difficult anymore once we realize the consequences of putting things off. The list has been made and the ensuing action is in the way. Next stop - the leaky valve cover.
From personal experience - Don't wait till the last minute to tell the person you love that you love them. There are times when they need to hear it. People never get enough of it and its always a nice feeling to know that someone cares for you.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The Clutch Cable
A simple cable with two hooks on either side became a source of frustration and constant irritation. Admittedly, it was not the cable which was at fault, rather the procrastinative nature of the owner who had been putting off the replacement of the cable for months.
Its funny how a simple 10 minute job can take months when you have the right excuses. Several months ago, I had replaced the entire clutch assembly and realized that the clutch cable had stretched. The adjustment was at its highest and I still had a lot of freeplay. So the blame for the lack of power was put on the poor clutch cable.
Retaliation came when after purchasing a new cable (Made in Japan and costing around RM40.00). Convenient excuses arosed from within (blame it on the weather, workload, no proper place to work and the list goes on and on..)
Today, I decided to put and end to the outstanding item on the to do list. Summing up all the courage I had, and listening to the Contender theme song on youtube a couple of times, the bonnet latch was pulled, the cable taken out from the boot and ready to be installed.
First up was to remove the cotter pin and detach the cable at the engine side. This took about 10 minutes as I was busy figuring out the best hand placement for this intricate procedure. Next was to remove the cable at the pedal side (There is a metal loop at the end of the cable which hooks on to the clutch pedal). This was fairly easy. Note: Its a good idea to remove the floormats first so that you dont get sand in your hair).
As they say an all good Haynes Workshop Manuals "Re-assembly is the opposite of removal". So, the months of deliberation, procrastination, frustration and inaction was finally put behind me. One would wonder whats the big deal about a clutch cable replacement? The moral of the story is: ______________________ (I'll think of something when the time comes).
Next, to tackle the leaky valve cover...
Its funny how a simple 10 minute job can take months when you have the right excuses. Several months ago, I had replaced the entire clutch assembly and realized that the clutch cable had stretched. The adjustment was at its highest and I still had a lot of freeplay. So the blame for the lack of power was put on the poor clutch cable.
Retaliation came when after purchasing a new cable (Made in Japan and costing around RM40.00). Convenient excuses arosed from within (blame it on the weather, workload, no proper place to work and the list goes on and on..)
Today, I decided to put and end to the outstanding item on the to do list. Summing up all the courage I had, and listening to the Contender theme song on youtube a couple of times, the bonnet latch was pulled, the cable taken out from the boot and ready to be installed.
First up was to remove the cotter pin and detach the cable at the engine side. This took about 10 minutes as I was busy figuring out the best hand placement for this intricate procedure. Next was to remove the cable at the pedal side (There is a metal loop at the end of the cable which hooks on to the clutch pedal). This was fairly easy. Note: Its a good idea to remove the floormats first so that you dont get sand in your hair).
As they say an all good Haynes Workshop Manuals "Re-assembly is the opposite of removal". So, the months of deliberation, procrastination, frustration and inaction was finally put behind me. One would wonder whats the big deal about a clutch cable replacement? The moral of the story is: ______________________ (I'll think of something when the time comes).
Next, to tackle the leaky valve cover...
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