always use proper lubrication

so i have been playing the piano at my parents' church a lot lately; it's the baptist church in which i grew up, and although it is pretty moderate for a baptist church and there are a lot of great people there, i don't think gay chris would go over so well. that, and i simply prefer the episcopal church. so i don't go there very often. i really love the music minister, though, and they pay me well to play so i really don't mind it too much. i actually feel a little guilty -- like i'm taking money from god -- when they pay me to play the piano. but whatever. i still take that check to the bank right when it comes in.

anyway, i had to drive up to macon wednesday night for choir practice. stopped by the house first and decided to drive the old 164 to the church and back. but on the way home, my oil pressure light came on -- and you just can't drive a car without proper lubrication. in no time at all (as in a couple of minutes), the rod bearings and main bearings will be toast, and then you have to rebuild the engine (which is a very expensive and time consuming proposition). i couldn't hear the lifters rattling (lifters are the first thing to make wierd noises when you lose oil pressure) which made me wonder if i had really lost pressure or if the sending unit was just bad. but then i couldn't remember whether the 164 has hydraulic or solid lifters.

a hydraulic lifter will collapse without oil pressure and rattle like crazy, but a solid lifter won't. and by the time a rod starts knocking, it's too late to save the engine.

dad was out of town, so i pulled off the road and called mom to come get me. we went home and ate dinner, and then came back out with the pickup truck and a ten-foot chain to tow the 164 back to the house. it was less than two miles, but it was pretty nervewracking to be behind the wheel of the 164 -- and having to steer and brake and keep the chain taught -- with less than ten feet of space to work with between me and the truck. we should have taken a camera. but anyway, we made it home safely. still haven't diagnosed the oil pressure problem... will save that for next weekend.