Oh hell

I took the Expedition up to the shop this morning and an hour or two later the mechanic called me. The number 4 cylinder wasn't firing on time, which certainly explains why the Big Green Truck (as Alexandra calls it) was running roughly.

He gave me two options: They could hook it up to a "Moto Vac," which is supposed to clean all the accumulated carbon out of the system and which would cost about $150, and which might fix it. Or, he could replace all the spark plugs and wires, which it's about time to do anyway, since it's a '97 and has almost 84,000 miles on it. I told him to do the plugs and wires. I just wish it wasn't going to be around $500.