That's right... day 29. A nice Saturday at home, doing nothing of importance. Susie had her car repaired earlier in the week, and when she went to use it this morning, it didn't start. Rather, it started, but wouldn't hold at idle, stalling out. We knew that the idle air control valve was going, but the mechanic had cleaned it and pronounced it serviceable for a while... at least, until we wanted to pay the 97 pounds plus 17% tax for the part.
So I called him. Left a message with his wife (his shop phone forwarded to his home). Half an hour later, I was surprised to see him pull in to the driveway. He disconnected the electrical contacts to the valve, locked in into an open-enough position to let us use the car. Meanwhile, I had found the part on eBay for 23 pounds, plus 6 shipping, delivery in 3 days or so. I confirmed with
Martin that I had found the correct part, and ordered it. I'll be replacing that myself when it shows up (it's a matter of unscrewing two screws, replacing the part, replacing the screws, and plugging the connector in).
Especially nice is that Martin wasn't in the least bit put out that I was going to do it myself. In fact, he offered to pop round and put it in for nothing.
We like Martin, and Red Pumps. I'd link his website, but he hasn't got one.
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