What you say-"My....car....is.....out.....of....gas"
What you are thinking- "Im not going to waste my time trying to tell you why I need you...just get over here and push my sweet car"
Well put. :laugh: I was a touch less graceful. To wit:
Garage Employee: "You're stuck in the drum?!"
Me: "Yes."
GE: "Did you run out of gas?"
Me: "Yes and no. There is gas in the tank, but it has drained...away...from the pickup, so it's pretty much the same thing. Once the car is on level ground, it will fire right up."
Funny how quickly people are bored with accurate, detailed explanations.
The whole thing frosted my balls, I'll tell you that. The biggest pisser was the waiting crowd that backed up behind me while I'm trying to prime the piss out of the car to no avail.
Once on level ground, a nice garage attendant swung by to offer his help in obtaining gas, should any be necessary. I explained to him that there was about 1/4 tank, so no need, and launched into a very brief explanation of my key on, key off priming method, all the while hoping that the relay box didn't burn out (it was fine). He started talking about how it was something other than fuel. First he waxed about the fuel pump, then suggested fuel system cleaner. At that point, I felt compelled to stop him. "I work on these things, I told him. I've run Redline SI-1 fuel system cleaner -- this car is well maintained." I suppose people would have no way of knowing that you're not just another automotive owner that fell off the turnip truck, and I don't purport to know everything, but when you eat, sleep, and breathe cars, you pick up a thing or two along the way.
Perhaps more amusing to some of you SVT people out there was the offer of the woman in the 4-Runner behind me to help push, prior to my enlistment of the garage attendants. Immediately, I conjured an image in my mind of the two of us leaning on the A-pillars, attempting to get the car up this grade. Maybe we could hack it, I thought, so I told her I'd take her up on it. She then started moving her uglymobile forward, and her intent became clear. She was going to push my beautiful Ford with her Toyota turdmobile.
What I thought: "Are you out of your fu*king mind? Ford doesn't even make that bumper cover anymore. It's SVT-specific, and there aren't 11,500 of them in the whole world, never mind the ones that got destroyed."
What I said: "You know, come to think of it, maybe we better not."