Playing Mechanic Round 2

Changing the head gasket on the Honda turned out to be a lesson in communication for Andrew and I. We messed up our first replacement gasket because we were out of sink setting down the head. That lesson cost us $23.99. It also forced us to halt our work until the morning. Really pretty cheap when you think about it. Just imagine how much couples pay for counseling just trying to learn to communicate. I was still kinda bummed though. If I had more upper body strength we wouldn't have made art out of a perfectly good gasket.

Other things that I learned from this adventure.
1. It is hard to find machanic gloves small enough for me
2. Working without gloves results in boo boos.
3. Fingerless gloves from the dollar tree work pretty well
4. That one thing is an intake manifold
5. That other thingy is an exhaust manifold
6. Dirty oil stinks. Pew
7. Clean oil smell ok
8. Andrew is fun to work on cars with

After purchasing the second gasket, the head went back on pretty well. We thought the car wasn't really fixed, though. When we started it up, it continued to spew white smoke (really steam) for some time. Andrew was expecting this. The volume however threw him off. We thought we needed a new head until this morning when I went strawberry picking with Nicole.

Well, like a genius, I locked my keys in the pickup forcing Andrew to drive the Honda to come get me. By the time he got home again, the Honda had stopped spewing steam. The catalytic converter (I'm still not quite sure what that is) holds on to the water for a while after you change the head gasket. So until that water has all been heated up and sent out the tail pipe the car continues to "smoke" even though the problem has been fixed. The end result is... IT'S FIXED! IT'S FIXED! heee heee ha ha!
THE END... I hope.