Fog Light Bulbs

Keeping track of how often I have to change a burnt out fog light bulb.

Another Country?

Cool Vehicles - Old Chevy (I think)

Donna spotted this one on the way home from her allergy shot yesterday, so she said, “Turn around.” So I circled the block. The category is called ‘Cool Vehicles from All Around the World’ with a sub-heading of ‘Your car alongside sweet rides from 10 other countries’. This is definitely a cool car but is it from an other country? Its from an other country from the car we are driving, so I’m good with it. Note that Donna is wearing a shirt in a color that nearly matches the car.

The day before we went on vacation I noticed the right fog light was out, so yesterday we picked up a pair at the auto store and I changed them out after dinner. I did save the working bulb for the next burn out.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 173

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 0
Totals So Far: 57 points & 970 miles

Forget Something?

The Emperor’s new shocks are just what his subjects needed. The last few months his majesty had a tendency to wander in his lane. I tried to tighten things up by adjusting the Koni Sport shocks firmer, but that just ended up making the car bouncy. We picked up the car on Tuesday, didn’t drive it on Wednesday, but Thursday and then again Friday we did. On both days, me first, then Donna, noticed a kind of metallic rattle from the left rear when hitting sharp bumps. Wondering if maybe someone didn’t tighten something up during the shock change, I decided to check it out today.

First thing I did was put the front of the car on jack stands. Front? Yeah, I also needed to change out that burnt out fog light bulb. And while it can be done while laying on your back under the car, but it is much easier to jack it up and take off the tires. Even though only one was out I opted to change them both because with my luck if I did just one, the other would fail within week. Seriously Sylvania, fifty-four bucks for a pair of SilverStar Ultra H1 bulbs?!? I went with $7.75 ea Plain Jane H1.

With the front done I jacked up the back end and pulled both of those tires. A visual and shake check revealed nothing loose or out of place under there, so it was time to check in the trunk. My first thought was to just flat out empty everything out of the trunk and take the car for a spin to see if the noise remained. As I pulled out the faux carpet covering the spare I noticed something, a 3/8 drive, 14mm deep socket sitting on top of the rim of the spare tire. That just might be it. Just in case I hunted around for anything else that didn’t belong and found nothing. Buttoned everything back up and did a quick run around the block running over every imperfection and manhole cover. Didn’t hear a rattle.Big test will be the next time we go over some railroad tracks.

I guess I’ll give Steve a call on Monday and see if he wants his socket back.

Hey! Four Eyes!

Three of the pairs of glasses I’m thinking of trying from Warby Parker on the 5 pairs, 5 day deal, I could mock up using their Virtual Try On service. I had to layout the Percy and the Reynolds myself using Paint Shop Pro. I’m still waiting on our local eyeglass place to get me the ones I picked out from them. If I haven’t from them in another week I’ll go online and try these.

We missed out on the usual Friday bike ride to work this morning because when we started loading up the bike I noticed the rear tire was flat, like no air at all. We either picked up something on the way home or I didn’t get the tube in right the other week and it finally failed.

Speaking of failure, the left fog light of the Emperor has burned out. Sounds like a Sunday afternoon project.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1155

We Built A Wall, We Built The Pyramids

Even though the title is one more line from TBBT theme song, I got nothing related to it. As matter of fact the only thing I do have is that the driver’s side fog light on the Emperor is burnt out.

OK, OK, maybe one more thing. It is time for some new glasses and I have been kind of thinking to go retro thanks to TDTVS2. Trouble is there are no frames like that to choose from at any of the local eyeglass places. Then along came Lifehacker the other day who turned me on to Warby Parker, so I may just give that Home Try On (5 Pairs, 5 Days, 100% Free!) a try.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran­si­tions since 10/24/08: 1154

One Eyed Jack

On Sunday I noticed the passenger side fog light was out (only one reflection in the shiny back doors of an SUV.) Tonight I popped on down to Advanced Auto and bought a new H1 bulb. I briefly considered a fancy new LED replacement, but they are roughly 3 times the cost and the LED portion is sometimes longer than the standard bulb, making fitment problematic.

As I sat on my butt on the garage floor removing the front right tire, so I could access the fog light housing, I had a distinct sense of deja vu. And it didn’t seem like too long ago that I was doing this same thing and to this same fog light. So to see if this a regular recurring thing I’ve added a “Fog Light Bulb” tag for tracking purposes.

The Emperor got the spa treatment today after work. Not just to wash the north Georgia bugs off, but the interior needed vacuuming to find a couple “dropped in the cockpit” items. At the Tallulah Gorge Overlook earthcache I lost the stylus for the Ipaq and it was presumed to be inside the car. Also, on the drive back from Hendersonville I dropped a maple covered peanut. Didn’t find the stylus, but did find the peanut.

And finally, because it is October, I remounted the Vampire Teeth in the mouth of the Miata.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1071

Light Out

On the way home from work I noticed that the left fog light was burnt out. This is the third bulb that I’ve had to change. I can’t remember which ones in which order, but I could swear it wasn’t too long ago I changed this same bulb.

There is a 70% chance of rain in Blue Ridge, GA for Saturday, but we are prepared. Stopped at the local Movie Gallery and picked up my guaranteed great movie for everyone. Of the movies recommended the other day all I could find was one, but I’m sure it will be crowd pleaser. Because we were renting from the gallery section (AKA older movies) if we rented 3 @ $1.99 we would get two free. For our rainy day viewing pleasure we have:
Thomas Crown Affair
My Cousin Vinny
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
The Italian Job
Fargo

Started down, went up. back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 137

Following A Path To Enlightenment

The PathYesterday morning when I fired up the car in the garage I could see that one of the fog lights, AKA DRLs, was out. On the way home from work we stopped at the local auto parts store and bought a new bulb. At first I thought, to be safe, I should change out both bulbs under the theory that if one goes the other can’t be far behind. Then I referred to the wealth of knowledge that only the internet could house, the blog known as “Life of Brian.” In July of 2005 I changed just the left fog light bulb and now a year and a half later the right one bit the dust. A decision was made to go ahead and replace just the bulb that burnt out.

Changing the bulb is the not so simple matter of jacking up the front of the car, removing the front wheel, removing a 10mm bolt, taking out 5 weird plastic screw/snap fasteners and bending back the fender liner. Then you unsnap a spring clip, twist to unfasten the bulb base from the housing, unclick the wiring harness connector so you can get the base & bulb out where you can see it and pull the bulb out of the base. reverse everything you just did the put it all back together. It takes about an hour. So if you had the dealer do it, it would set you back about $75. That’s just the labor, they would add about another $20 for the six dollar bulb…

Yesterday I wrote about my leave covered yard, today I posted a picture depicting just that. Yesterday I changed a fog light bulb in the car, today I posted about that. I guess I figured if that whole non-linear story telling thing worked for Tarantino in Pulp Fiction, why not for me here?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 496