And the solution is... as always... ductape.

An old cliche that still proves itself true every day in millions of applications.

And so it did today.

Before she left on her trip, my wife told me that our truck has developed a scary tendency to issue sparks from the engine. She asked that I look into it. So today I did. I opened the hood, started the truck, and indeed, it was sparking every second or so. It did look kinda scary too.

I grabbed my dad who is visiting, and who came in and looked at it with me. The problem? one of the rubber tubings, covering a metal head that is used to drive electricity between (we think) the alternator and the engine, has been eaten through. Since it's very high voltage, and the head was exposed, it kept "jumping" sparks across the relatively small distance, causing the sparks.

Yes, I could have gone to Kragen's or a mechanic shop to get the part and replace it. In fact, I will once I come back from MY trip out of town. But for now... dutape! wrapped the sucker up, fired up the engine again, and smooth sailing.

So there you go. Our truck, fixed by ductape. Considering the variety of other application of ductape in this particular vehicle, I daresay in many ways, it is literally held together by ductape. Which I find kinda neat in an amusing sort of way.