As I drove away from Pagosa this morning, I started to think about something Feht said yesterday during a phone call. He complained that life had lost its passion -- which for him is composing music -- and that the same had happened to many of his friends. I recalled this thought as I toyed with the idea of getting far enough down the road to fulfill my quota for the day, and then perhaps go see a movie or something.
Except there's nothing at all out there that I feel compelled to go see. Does Feht have a point, or is he just catching me at a bad time?
In any event, after stopping by the store and checking the pressure in the tires, I set off down the road.
I stopped to refuel just short of Denver, after having covered 260 miles (I hadn't bothered to fill up prior to leaving town). I checked the oil level during the fillup, but the fact that it was about a half a quart below the top mark on the dipstick didn't really mean anything, since I hadn't measured the oil level after having changed the oil yesterday. I made a note to keep track of the oil level as I went.
I had noticed, as I drove along, that if I allowed the engine to act as a brake as I went downhill, then the Civic would emit a cloud of smoke when I next pressed on the gas. If I disengaged the clutch while going downhill, there would be little or no smoke when I reapplied power. I tried to hypothesize why this might be the case, but could not.
My phone went to "Extended coverage" as I crossed the border into Nebraska, and stayed there. I had planned on stopping after 700 miles, but since Lincoln -- where I am now -- was just a little bit further down the road, and as I (mistakenly) figured that Lincoln would have to be within Verizon's service area, I pressed on, to the point where I almost ran out of gas.
In fact, the car was making little hesitant motions and the oil light was coming on -- typical signs of an empty tank -- as I coasted to a gas pump. However, as I loaded gasoline into the car, I checked the oil and found no trace of oil at all on the dipstick. It took three quarts to get the level up to the full level. I added a good slug of "Stop Smoke" for good measure.
This bothered me, since in effect this means I lost 2-1/2 quarts or so over 500 miles, which is pretty bad, but especially in light of the fact that I covered 250 miles before that and lost... how much? Drew and I poured in just short of 4 quarts, which is what is called for in a Civic (the short quart was 15 oz. of Slick 50), so I'm figuring if 4 quarts goes up exactly to the top mark, then I lost jus shy of 1/2 a quart, which means I ought to have lost a little less than one quart for double the distance; instead, I lost 2-1/2 times that amount. The "only thing" I did differently during the 500 mile leg was go faster (75 mph).
Anyway, it's probably a good thing I went the extra distance tonight; it gives me a little extra insurance in case the weather turns nasty tomorrow or Wednesday. I hope the car makes it.
Cheers...
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