I think my truck is suffering from either altitude sickness or sibling envy. I'm
not sure which. The engine light is back on for a third time. Here's the
recap:
I leased a Civic for the commute to work, because it's a long
drive and I do it every day, and I wanted something that drank its gasoline in
small sips. My truck drinks in nearly a ladylike manner for a truck, but it still
is a truck. (That translates to about 21 mpg highway, for the numerically
inclined.) Before leasing Zippy the Honda, I'd driven the truck every day. It's a
great truck and I'm quite fond of it, a '96 Toyota Tacoma that has given me hardly
any problems since I bought it new. One reason for leasing the Civic was to
prolong the truck's life. (Environmental guilt was also high on the
list.)
I don't use the Civic on weekends, because the lease came with
limited mileage, so the truck does get out every week or so. We've been using it
most lately to haul water up to the property to water the trees we planted. The
first time we went up, we drove an extra hour to a larger town, bought the trees,
and had the check engine light come on as we drove back to the property. We
planted the trees, headed home, and had the truck checked out. The mechanics
replaced the air filter, which hadn't looked too bad the last time I'd had oil
changed, and the fuel filter, which had apparently never been changed. (Jiffy Lube
apparently doesn't check it. Who knew?)
About two weeks later, we
went back to water the trees. We distributed the water, had lunch, went to get
block ice to leave dripping on the trees, and had the light come on again. This
time the mechanics replaced the fuel vapor valve, which they say is one of the
very last things you check with that light. After this latest fix, I drove the
truck to work two days (total probably over 160 miles -- this is in addition to
the 100 miles the mechanics put on it to test it. No lights.
On
Saturday, we went up to water the trees again. This time, we watered them, then
got gas to get us home. Pulled out of the station, and Rudder directs my attention
to the engine light, once more glowing cheerfully. Grrr.
The summary
version is that the light only seems to come on after the truck sits turned off at
altitude (the airpark is at 7600', home is about 1200') for a couple of hours. The
mechanics who worked on it tell me it's not likely to be related to the elevation,
but I'm not convinced. (Though I am too lazy to do the pressure calculation.) I
figure this is either an altitude thing or else it's due to sibling new-baby
jealousy, since none of this happened before I leased the Honda. I've tried
explaining that it was for the truck's own good, but it is not very savvy on the
difference between leasing and purchasing, nor inclined to listen to my
explanations.