It is just that simple......

 7:24 am - Thursday - January 19th - GNHS - 39° F, humidity 56%, wind 4 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 61° F. On this date in 2016 TLE and I were wondering around in Quartzite at the White Tent sale.....some very colorful vendors......↴

By mid morning Wednesday TLE and I had decided we would drive the COA van into at least Mecca to do a small shopping, and also check at the local auto parts store (Juan's Auto Parts) to see if they had any 2001 VW Beetle ignition coils in stock....if they didn't we would continue onto the O'Reilly's in Indio.  We arrived at Juan's around 11 am, and found he only had one of the two coils I needed in stock, so we continued our drive into Indio.  We arrived at the O'Reilly's around 11:30 am, and found they also had just one of the coils, also, but their Coachella store had one also, so we paid for both at the Indio store, planning to pickup the second coil at the Coachella store on our way back to GNHS after we shopped at the local Ralph's.

By the time we finished our grocery shopping it was around 12:30 pm, and we arrived at the Coachella O'Reilly's about 12 minutes later to find they had not held the ignition coil we had purchased while at the Indio store.  Instead they had sent it over to the Indio store....doh!  Now we have to drive all the way back to the Indio store. 

One interesting side note I need to inject here is while we were on our way to the Indio store the first time I received a call from Kyle that 3 Canadian couples had arrived for 3 rentals they had booked online.  I told him we had checked the manifest that very morning, and there were no rentals scheduled for Wednesday.  Had there been Casey, Torri, or Bob would have called to ask permission to make such a booking on our scheduled day off work.  TLE checked on her phone and reconfirmed there were no bookings.  About 20 minutes later I got another call from Kyle advising they had made reservations at the Glamis Sand Dunes rental agency in error.  At any rate, with Casey's permission, and ours, Kyle rented out two of the KRXs and one RZR for 4 hours, since we would be home by 2:30 pm, and in time to receive them when they returned at 4:30 pm.

We arrived back at the Indio location of O'Reilly's around 1 pm, picked up the second coil and were on our way back to GNHS.  Since we've used the COA van twice now we decided to stop in Mecca at the ARCO Travel Center to top off the tank, which was down to 1/3 by now, and while there to try out the Mexican place inside the Travel Center (Chello's Burgers).  In spite of their name, they do specialize in Mexican food, so I ordered their 2 crispy/shredded beef tacos, and TLE a Chef's Salad.  The tacos were surprisingly good, and so was the salsa.

After our lunch, and taking on 19 gallons of unleaded regular at $4.17/gallon we were on our way again arriving home around 2:30 pm as we had planned.  While TLE opened the office I changed clothes, and set about installing the new ignition coils.  Doing this job was a new one for me, and whenever I attempt something new I am always uncertain as to the outcome.  I understood intellectually that it could only be two things that could cause the type of misfires we had, and those were the spark plugs and/or the ignition coils.  Since I had confirmed the spark plugs were fine it had to be the coils, right?  Nevertheless, I just thought it couldn't be that simple.  

Installing the new ignition coils took about 15 minutes, and then the acid test.....will it start and run smoothly without any flashing check engine lights?  I got in the car, inserted the key, and started the VW.....it started, and ran as smooth as silk.....no misfires.  Then I drove it around the park for about 10 minutes, and it continued to run just fine with no check engine lights, or misfires.  I'm sure my sigh of relief was audible.  So, it was just as simple as the YouTube video implied, and all it cost me was some gas, and $70 for the two coils.  I neglected to buy the new spark plugs, but I will order them, and install them at a later date.  The main thing is our car works again...what a great feeling!

Our three unexpected rentals returned just before 4:30 pm with no issues and our lovely Canadian couples all were smiling, promising to return next year.  Since it was getting late I just checked each unit over for damage, and finding none parked each of them.  I'll wash them, fuel them, and clean the air filters Thursday....we have no rentals at the moment so I'll have plenty of time.

Thanks for stopping by Clarke's Automotive Repair where the outcome is always in doubt....lol!