Day 1: Bringing it back to life

It's hard to believe that my car has been off the road for nearly three years. Around June of 2006, it was time to make a decision - register my car for a year, even though I would be leaving for a two-year mission in November, or let my registration expire.

Due to the costs of registering the car, as well as the needed repairs, I chose to let my car rest under the shade of some coniferous trees while I served a mission. Before departing for Argentina, I prepared the car for long term storage: rust-proofing and undercoating the frame, changing the fluids, and finding a suitable spot.

Surprisingly, upon returning in November of 2008, the MR2 was still in good condition. After checking the fluids, it sprung to life with the aid of jumper cables. I found time to change the oil and start working on fixing a few minor issues, but then it was time to return to college.

Fast forward to today - I just returned from BYU, and the weather is perfect for a two-door sports car. So, I got straight to work on getting the MR2 ready to get on the roads again.

The car cover had been ripped by the wind, but still did a good job protecting the car from sap, bird excrement, and other dangers.

Pulling off the cover revealed a very well preserved car (considering its three-year slumber).

Unfortunately, a mouse had entered my cabin, but was caught by the mouse trap. In an odd twist, something else had entered my car and eaten the dead mouse carcass, but left no other signs of mischief.

The first step was to, once again, check all the vital fluids. Apparently, it had been leaking oil drop-by-drop from the drain plug. I'm guessing that I didn't tighten it completely when I finished the oil change this past winter. Otherwise, everything checked out fine.

I had to replace the "decroded" battery terminal connectors to ensure a better fit with the battery. In the winter, they had popped off while I was doing a short test-drive, stranding me at the bottom of our driveway with no electrical power (and therefore a dead engine).

And of course, the moment of truth was starting the car - and it worked! Now the list of things to-do in order to get the MR2 back on the road has been made (mentally), and hopefully within a month I'll have my car in working order. The rest of the summer will be a continuation of the on-going restoration project to make it a better car.