Installed motor...switched on power...nothing.
WTF?
Checked motor connections with test light--nothing.
WTFF?
Checked fuse: fuse blown.
WTFFFFF? ("What the fucking fuck fuckity foo-fah?")
Compared wiring of new motor to old one: said many bad words. Put ground connection in correct spot, reinstalled, switched on power, blew fuse.
[many bad words redacted]
...after a shitton of struggling with it, I realized that the damn part is just going to have to go back to Rockauto; they can send me one that works. I don't know if the part is defective or if it's the wrong part in the right box or what, but it's obvious this one will not work, so back it goes.
Argh.
(Yes, I put the power and ground wires back the way it came before putting it back into the box.)
I know it's not the Jeep's wiring system that's at fault here; the old motor doesn't blow fuses. It doesn't turn but the relay clicks and the fuse doesn't blow the instant the power's switched on.
It also looks as if the new one's main power lead is shorted directly to ground, which is probably the source of the problem. The wiring certainly doesn't match; the new one's wires go to different terminals than the old one's wires do, and some of those connections are soldered, so I can't do squat about it without fucking up a $65 part beyond my ability to return it for a refund or exchange. (I could swap the two leads in the plug because they're designed to be switchable. Not so for soldered connections.)
By now, I've lost count of the number of times I've removed and reinstalled the goddamned rear wiper motor in this thing. I'm starting to think this shit may not be worth all this. It's the rear fucking wiper, damn it.
On the plus side, it took me five minutes to replace the TPS.
* * *
Michelle Malkin outlines several reasons I do not like unions.
* * *
Hey, they might actually be able to move string theory into the realm of science! How about that?
* * *
OBAMANOMICS AT WORK:
Obama reacts to August jobs statistics. "...[N]ew figures show the economy produced 67,000 private sector jobs in August, the eighth consecutive month of private job growth." By the way, August showed a net job loss--the total ended up being 54,000 fewer jobs than in July--so Obama is in fact talking about negative growth. Still: it must be convenient to be able to talk about all the pluses and not have to mention the minuses.
U6 is up to 16.7%, and U3 went up to 9.6%. Oh, that must be "good news because it means more people are looking for jobs". Huh?
AP relentlessly tries to spin the numbers in Obama's favor: "Unemployment is stuck at high levels even though some companies are hiring."
How can that be? Look at the fatuous followup: "The problem, government data show, is that too few jobs are being created for the growing number of people looking for work." And why is there a growing number of people looking for work? BECAUSE THEY LOST THEIR JOBS! THIS ISN'T THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND! But AP is trying to spin it as if there was somehow this magical influx of new workers who never-ever had a job before and who can't find one now, and that's why unemployment is going up.
Jesus, "fatuous" isn't nearly a negative enough term to describe it. "Fucking stupid" isn't bad enough.
* * *
Now Obama wants to be Bush.
Ever have a GM car with the T125C transmission? They're good transmissions, but after several years the torque converter lockup solenoid tends to die. The main symptom is stalling when stopping the car; the torque convertor clutch remains engaged and the torque convertor can't freely rotate while the car is stopped, so the engine loads up and quits. Put it in neutral and it'll start; the instant you pop it into gear again, though, it dies.
That's exactly how my brain behaves when I read that link text.
With the T125C, typically you have to wait for the pressure to bleed off before it'll work again; and you can limp it home/to the mechanic by unplugging the appropriate connector at the transmission. Fuel economy will suffer but it'll do to get you home. Unfortunately, I can't do that with my brain; so this little digression into auto repair will have to do for a commentary on that link.
But it's a good post.
* * *
We on the right said, in 2008, that Obama had no executive experience, and we predicted disaster. Obama is also too thin-skinned, reacting needlessly (and unPresidentially) to criticism.
These spontaneous outbursts of opinion are unnecessary, revealing, and destructive. They are unnecessary because as president, he doesn’t need to engage in every local controversy. That he does paints him as man with more hubris than judgment, who doesn’t understand the nuanced differences between campaigning and governing.* * *
His opinions expose him as more ideologically liberal than originally advertised and also out of step with the preferences of a center-right country.
I can't believe how cool it is outside. When I went out to work on the Jeep, I had to put on sweatpants; that's how cool it is. I mean, damn.
I like it.