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jray3

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
1,871
Location
Tacoma area, WA
Spousal support for one's bad habits is rare, but sometimes we get lucky...
I have a salvaged 2014 blue i-MiEV hibernating in a storage trailer out back that has already supported a couple of forum member's repair needs, and disassembling it taught me a lot about the car. Anyway, last week my wife called from the highway with one of those "I heard a big bang and now there's a terrible scraping sound- can you hear that?" calls..... I had her pull off, take a peek and perform some tests. Sure enough, road debris had shattered the front splash tray, which was now held by only one fastener and dragging on the highway. I got home and jacked up the car for closer inspection and she comes out with "is it bad?". I truthfully reply that it'd probably take a couple of hundred dollars and several weeks to get a part through the dealer, but ...... let me go check on something! Fifteen minutes later, the tray was replaced with a pristine 2014 splash tray, she could resume driving through puddles, and I was praised for collecting junk cars.... :D
 
Jay, great account! As someone who kept my 1967 Saab and a stable of those unique vehicles running for over 50 years, I can fully relate and am somewhat wistful for not having upped my bid on the eBay i-MiEV in SoCal the other day. You and I have wonderfully tolerant wives. The ability to reach into one's parts bin and quickly get a broken item back into working order is something totally unappreciated by a large segment of our 'disposable' society.
 
I thought your wife was going to make you get rid of the salvaged car and then you'd need a part from it. Glad it worked out the other way around. My local guy never has any EVs in his yard but it sure would be nice if he did in the event that I needed something. Pays to have the bug sometimes.
 
Chapter 2- I noticed that one of MR BEAN's taillights had burned out. No problem, eh? After 11 years, that's understandable!
Turns out that our taillights have two incandescent bulbs and a single board-mounted LED. Yup, the running lights that would get the most runtime are LED, and that board seems to be irreplaceable. It was placed inside before the plastic housing was welded together. Brake and turn signals are incandescent.
So, a quick-n-easy swap from the junkyard was once again in order.
I have more taillights for each side if anyone needs 'em....
-Jay
 
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