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The emiss light came on during my Thursday evening commute.  Worried, I checked my truck manuals that night and then stopped by the local Goodyear the next morning.  We go there for repairs and oil changes, so they know us.  The manager told me that I'd have to go to the Ford dealer because they didn't have the Ford-specific diagnostic computer to deal with this. 

So off I drove to the Ford dealer, tasting fear in my mouth like a lemon.  The Ford dealer was really busy, and I couldn't wait for several hours.  So, made an appointment for 8am Monday.

8am Monday, rolled on in.  Turned out that the light goes on after so many hours of operation so the owner brings in the vehicle to have the exhaust system examined.  Nothing wrong, just the need to check out the system.  $89 dollars later, I drive off with a cleaner truck and no emiss light on.  Nice of them to wash off my old truck.

Mary asked what kind of MPG Big Blue gets.  I filled up yesterday morning and did the math.   13.4 MPG on that particular set of miles.  While I wish old Blue got better, she's got some miles on her (113,000+) and the city driving doesn't help.  However, I felt much better once I did some research on the MPG of some of the new vehicles out there.  Fueleconomy.gov is a great site.  I found out that my old truck gets better MPG than:

• Dodge Ram pickup
• Cadillac Escalade SUV (several years of the model, not all)
• Lincoln Navigator

and others.

I'm often reminded of a verse in a children's song lately:  Give me gas in my Ford, keep me trucking for the Lord, give me gas in my Ford, I pray...

Comments

[Dominique]

You gotta love the service at dealerships. They may charge you an arm and two legs, but you'll always leave with a clean vehicle.

Good news that it was nothing serious.

[Carl V.]

I was very annoyed when I discovered that the old 'check engine' light in most vehicles has to do with emissions/exhaust and doesn't mean your engine is about to blow. Hence I ignore mine which comes on and off of its own accord whenever the mood strikes it.

[lauragayle]

Carl, my dad was a mechanic. Granted, he worked on farm machinery, not cars for a living, but still... when I bought my first car, he had some kind of instinct and would remind me, right on schedule, when I needed to change the oil, rotate the tires, etc. etc. And also to observe the warning lights.

It could be nothing, but it could mean impending danger. I didn't want to risk it in this case, especially considering how much I drive Big Blue every week.