Time to get your Torkaram replaced?
There are two advantages women have over men: their ability to distill down the most complex problem into one simple solution and their ability to keep reminding us of their solution.
Many years ago, our ’71 VW Westfaila (camper) would stall and die. It didn’t matter where, when or why, it would just die. A few minutes of resting and she’d be good for another 1,000 miles. Then one day my wife announced “dirt in the carburetor.” I gave up – where did that bit of automotive wisdom come from? “A line in Bonny and Clyde” she announced. So the next time it happened, we pulled off the road, where I found an old newspaper in the grass, screw driver and 10mm wrench and took the carb apart. Sure as sun rises, there was a chunk of rubber hose blocking the needle valve. Score one for simplicity.
Our XC70 has 230,000 miles on it. For the last 100,000, the wiper blades have been chattering. I’ve tried Rain X, new blades from Volvo, Costco, local NAPA and AutoZone…I think there is another one in there too, but I can’t remember. I bent and twisted the wiper arms and they would be okay for a while, but then would start to chatter again. Two weeks ago my wife proclaimed “wiper arms.” Oh here we go again. I ordered a set and new blades, along with a very overdue cabin filter (again my wife said she could smell mold - the filter was black with mold) and was done in 30 minutes. Score two for simplicity. My wipers wipe beautifully.
So what’s the lesson here boys and girls? Well, really two: listen to simplicity and go buy some new Volvo wiper blades and arms. You can thank my wife for this lesson reminder. Granted they are not the cheapest wiper arms but they are the best.
Your Swedish lesson for today:
The verb ‘to wipe’ is ‘att torka’ in Swedish.
Wiper system = torkarsystem
Wiper blade = torkarblad
Wiper blade arm = torkararm
From Terry H, Manager of Technical Service, and 100% Swede.
dan
2 Comments
As we have said on our P and B Motorsports blog, the “KISS” principle comes into play more often than not! This past weekend at Road America we had an electrical issue. A wel- meaning and very knowledgeable former Volvo now Ferrari guy gave a very complex senario of what was going on, along with a complex fix ide. Recalling the KISS principle, I thought “try the obvious first” and sure as shootin’, our ’62 P1800 Mobil 1 Volvo was purring like a kitten in no time, tearing up the track.
A strong hint was had when I had my hand on part of the ignition system that made it all run better – not for long as the “magic hands” were only temporary.
I’d better get back to the video editing…