Centerville, Ohio -- Does it primarily exist for people or cars?

I’m not as angry with  Centerville local government as I am with Montgomery County or Sheetz, the gas station firm. That is not to absolve the Centerville politicians or planners, who have been sucked into the development fetish for the past 20 years, and in the process transformed a locale with a much higher quality of life into rushed and overpopulated area crushed by local traffic. For me, that means Far Hills Avenue.

And now it looks like Sheets can build a new facility in the Elsa’s site next to Epiphany Lutheran Church, just down the road from a United Dairy farmers operation and with plenty of other fas stations not far from it.

I have lived for more than 40 years in Washington Township, adjacent to Centerville and not far from Far Hills. Day and night the traffic is horrendous, even on Sunday mornings. It is difficult to get to the once-pleasant Woodbourne Library on Far Hills, and has changed the place to a big city suburb even though we are in sa suburb mall city Dayton.

Sure, the city gets more taxes, more residents though all the real estate expansion, better facilities like the Rec Plex and Yankee Trace golf.  And then go to Wilmington and Whip, and the Cornerstone properties.

Mark my words, 40 years from now, and particularly if there is a recession, the place will be filled with vacant businesses and eyesores. A sad tale of life in 2025 America and the fear uture.

Mercedes_Benz R 107 Summer Blues Part II: A Radiator Leaking Tranny Fluid into the Coolant

 OK, I started this narrative and then dropped it due to distractions. 

I noticed during the summer a reddish contaminant is smaller quantities in my coolant overflow tank. Thought it might be rust, and so after watching it for a while had the coolant drained and flushed. But it wasn’t rust! It was transmission fluid, leaking in from a separate tank located on the bottom of the radiator.  Ouch! First I thought of replacing the radiator with a cheap Chinese version available via Amazon. 

But I had to get the old radiator -- the original -- out of the car.  No problem my Pelican Parts DIY online guide stated.  Well it was a hell of a problem, even after spraying soap solution first and then WD-40 along the sides of the radiator where there are rubber insulators. Finally with he help of Brock (my mechanic) we got the radiator out, but later I learned the radiator was damaged in the process.

So I ordered a radiator from Amazon. It seemed to fit, and after it was placed in, Brock took off wand went home, I was a heap looking thing, but what caused a major problem it was a bit too high and so the hood would not close!  Har har! 

Out came the Amazon radiator and sent back where it belongs.  It looked terrible in an otherwise pristine original engine bay anyway.

So not the original M-B radiator assent to a funky radiator shop -- Woody’s -- located in Fairborn, Ohio. In business since 1955, Woody was great, but not cheap. And he got the job done right.  Radiator back in, new hoses put on with some pain, and the job done.

But the story was not quite over.  I used new hoses but old clamps, and once it got a bit cold, one of the clamps leaked.  Thankful, Bob Ross M-B in Centerville Parts Department guy just gave me a  few OEM clamps, and I could close this rather harrowing chapter.

Even a supposedly one wrench job can take it out of you.