縫縫補補又三年

最近家裏兩個重要設備出了毛病。
1）一個計算機(Dell computer)停電後，就打不開了，
2）家用麵包車(Honda Odyssey) 起動後，卡在停車擋，轉不到駕駛擋。

1) Dell computer 是在停電後,壞的, 故懷疑是power supply 出了事. 上網查了該型號,果然其powersupply 有問題.  就上Amazon.com 上買了個powersupply ($22.00).  裝上一試,果然所有的燈都亮了. 一切正常了。

2) Honda Odyssey  在第一次發現shift locked in the parking gear時， 腳踩了幾次, 起動了幾次, 就好了. 可是一旦車停下後，shift to the parking gear 又不行了.  查了下manual, 發現有 shift lock manual release. 用了manual release後，終於將車開回家. 上網一查, Honda 的車都有這毛病. Toyota 的車很少有.

兩個可能的原因.
1) stop light or its fuse is broken.  The horn is on the same electric circuit as the stop light.  Since the horn on my van is working, it eliminated this possibility.
2) brake switch is broken.  brake swith is a small device which is to prevent gear shift when the brake pedal is not depressed.  It is located just above the brake pedal.   Remove the attached wire and twist the switch and pull it out.
After cleaning it up, I found a small plastic was broken.  However, it does not seem to affect the function.  Put the switch back in the van and after adjusting the height, the shift is now working perfectly.  此次修理，沒花一分錢. 如果送到car dealer 去修, 沒有$100錢是拿不回我的車的.

互聯網幫了大忙, 我也覺得挺有成就感的...

後記： Blake switch started ok but then quickly old problem appeared again.  So I went to Autozone and bought a new blake switch for about $8. After installing the new blake switch, it works great without any problem.