How long will that take?

 

It’s a lot like: “Are we there, yet?”

Joan got a filter and some oil in yesterday so I can change oil in her Xmax.  This morning is the time... and Joan asked the question in the title.

When I said, “Two and a half hours,” she was incredulous.  If everything goes smooth, it is less than a half hour.  That doesn’t include time to get tools out and make a place in the driveway where I can do the work.  Our HOA doesn’t allow for doing this sort of thing in your own driveway... I guess they are concerned that someone will start an auto repair business out of their house.  Yeah, digressing.

Neighbors will come along and want to visit while you are in mid-project, so add another 45 minutes to an hour for that.  Then, a half hour to take the used oil to the city recycle shop.  Then, time to clean up and put stuff away.

The oil change went fast and easy, until I determined I slightly over-filled it (yes, I was careful about the measurement going in).  I couldn’t fit a tube in the oil fill opening to suck out just a bit, so I had to remove the drain plug for just a couple seconds.  I call that: a blood-letting.  I do try to come in 100ml less than full, then top it off.  That didn’t work out this time.  The rest of it went according to schedule.

The thing that took the longest was resetting the oil trip-meter.  I understand the premise: hold the button for 3 seconds until the oil odometer flashes, then hold the button again for 15 seconds.  I remembered it was fussy from the last time, but I couldn’t remember why.  I held it for 15 seconds... nothing.  I held it for 20 seconds... nothing.  I looked in the owners manual to see what I was doing wrong... the oil odometer reset procedure isn’t in there.  Last resort: look on the internet.  Ah, yes, there IS a technique: the meter doesn’t reset to zero until you release the button; hold it for 12 to 15 seconds... 11 is too short, 16 is too long.  Release the button during that magic time period and it will reset to zero.  I went back out to the bike and... yep, that works.

Hey, on the bright side, there was no mess in the driveway.  The only “blood-letting” was on the bike when I eased out the drain plug.  I lost no skin, nor any of my blood - I’m calling that a successful maintenance experience.

On another bit of “how long will that take”: my MacBook Pro is out for delivery today.  We’ll see if UPS comes through.  In the meantime, the iPad Pro has been working fine for me... certainly easier to type on the fold-out keyboard on this than having keys fall out of the other.

------------

And, the laptop is home.  Pretty impressive: just a bit over 3 days from my call to Apple, then getting the box, shipping it to them, getting the keyboard repair done, and shipping it back to me.  THAT is how customer service should be done.  The keyboard is like new - all the letters stay attached, and the letters that had worn off but still worked were replaced as well.

Nice!