Stupid car.

[elfs]

This afternoon, after my gas tank had fallen below 50%, the warning light came on: "Service Engine Soon." Omaha, being practical, advised me not to freak out but to do what I always did, and feed the thing a bottle full of line cleaner (Techron) and some high-octane gas. Sure enough, with the tank at 20%, I took it in and did as she suggested, also checking the oil and topping it off, and within an hour the light went out.

My car is way too sensitive to cheap gas. Apparently, that's not uncommon with older Ford Escorts (mine's a '97), but I really, really can't afford to have the thing have trouble. Not now.

Comments

The 2000 Escort I have out in California I picked up...

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

...because the previous owner hadn't respected the check engine light and using clean gas. They had a valve stick enough it got whacked by a piston. Apparently it's more than the valves get gunk on them easilly, the valve guides aren't very good at guiding the valve to only move in one dimension, so they get bound up at odd angles far too easilly. Picked it up for a song, $1800 for a car that's mint condition. But yeah, stick to good fuel unless you've got aftermarket valve guides in any 3rd-gen or later Escort, they'll stick bad enough to cause nasty surprises otherwise.