speaking of gnomes..I have gone gnome crazy...even though my yard and my mom's yard has plenty. I bought more last night at Big Lots. I bought one that just stands with a shovel...and then another one that came in a set with a fugly mushroom...yes FUGLY. I had seen this set before at a different Big Lots and just passed it up. But last night I thought heck for the same price of a single gnome I have a gnome and a mushroom. So when I got it home last night cracked open my acrylics and repainted that fugly mushroom with a white stem and the red top and the white spots (I make a mixture of gesso, acrylic paint and sealer..kinda my magic mix for when I paint stuff for the yard)..ya know like the fairy tale books. It looks so much better, got to do some more shading and antiquing and then varnish.

Hi Timgren Yes there are still real mechanics, although we think of ourselves as Automotive Technicians these days. As has been said by others, you need to find a good shop, with a strong diagnostic technician, and then stick with them even if they don't nail this the first time. However, after what I write here, if I don't skip anything I should be able to give them all the ammo they need to get this one. One of the things that I have preached for the last 5 odd years that I have posted here is for people to test, and not just throw parts at someones car problem "because that is what was wrong with their neighbors, or relative, or whoevers car" when it was doing the same thing. Todays cars simply have so many ways to produce the same symptoms that nothing but solid diagnostic routines will provide accurate answers. Sadly, the industry still tries to compete between shops by price, and consumers reward this by trying to go to the cheapest place, and hopefully for them the cheapest fix first. Thats why you have had plugs thrown in, filters, a fuel pump ect. Most of the time the symptoms you describe can be caused by these components, but not always. One of the most telling parts though was the convertor replacement. That is something that has two possible causes for the failure, either a missfire was occuring and or the convertor overworking, or quite commonly insulation between the double walled pipe in front of the convertor is coming out of place and blocking the convertor. Without knowing first hand, I'd have to rely on seeing your truck to know, but I suspect you have more than one convertor. One of the things that need to be done is a road test with a good scan tool, (GM's Tech II) not some $300.00 code reader and a snapshot of scan data saved to be looked at to analyze the failure. Basically if the engine is losing power something is affecting either, fuel delivery, spark timing, spark strength, engine displacement, or some combination of those. Scan data has the ability to show a trained technician almost all of that except for strength of the spark. What I would do if your truck came here is first road test the truck under the conditions that display the loss of power and capture a snapshot of the scan data. When I got back to the shop I would concentrate on; mass airflow sensor readings in grams per second, MAP sensor voltage if used, engine RPM, throttle position, spark timing, knock sensor, timing retard, fuel trims, and O2 sensor voltages. One of the things that I can do back at the shop is calculate the volumetric efficiency of the engine using the MAF sensor reading at a given rpm. This would tell me right away if the engine is breathing correctly. I would compare MAF readings while the problem is occuring to TPS and MAP readings. BTW during the symptom event, I would purposely move the throttle around a bit, while keeping the truck acting up and then examine the results on the scan data. Fuel trims and O2 sensor voltages would tell me if we are dealing with a fuel pressure, fuel volume problem. Knock sensor, spark timing, and spark retard could help me identify everything from simply a bad knock sensor, to mechanical engine trouble, to even something loose on the truck rattling and making the knock sensor send a signal that the computer see's as the engine pinging. Lastly while back in the shop, I would go back over secondary ignition and ensure strength of spark, and other normal issues. Off hand I expect you have an individual coil for each plug. That pretty much in itself rules out a number of potential problems that could occur with other designs that could cause your symptoms. This testing that I have outlined would take very little time and would either have me already knowing what is wrong, or it would have me narrowing the investigation to only a few points having ruled out a large portion of the operating system. One thing that is mandatory is to forget anything else has been done to the truck, and test exactly as it is presented, and allow the results to lead me to the problem as it exists today. Feel free to contact me by e-mail once you have this back to a shop if they have trouble figuring it out. I will give you contact information for them and can help them analyze this via live chat on the net if they want. John G. ASE CMAT L1 BTW, thanks Akthy. Take care, we got to get together one of these days. Maybe Arts up for another party....

I've been keeping track, but had not done any analysis until you posed the question. As you can see from my comments, I chose NOT to go with the variable speed AC/Heat unit. Even so, I've seen a notable reduction in my utility bills. And keep in mind that this is only replacing the upstairs AC / Heat. The downstairs in on the verge of failure after 16 years, so I will be doing something similar with it in the near future. Here's my analysis of pre/post installation: Pre-New System Post New System Comp Periods 9/1/2014-5/31/2015 9/1/2015-5/31/2016 Difference % Change Avg Temp (Fahr) 55.1 57.7 (2.6) Average Bill $'s$252.18 $208.06 $44.12-17% Avg Cost/Day $'s $8.33$6.83$1.50 -18% I'm down about 18% on a per day basis. By my reckoning, about 4-5% of that is due to lower natural gas rates, and another 4-5% is due to the difference in temperature over the winter. So net-net, down about 8-10% on tried and true technology. I would expect to get something similar when I replace the downstairs unit.

Thanks everyone for there comments! Right now what I currently have is: - Heat Pump: HEIL Model NXH536GKA100 - Furnace: ICP (International Comfort Products) Model END4X36L17A1 Right now the system is set up to use the heat pump as our primary heat and when it gets too cold, the furnace would kick-in as the secondary source of heat. The furnace does not heat up since the gas is disconnected right now. My question was whether it would be possible to add the electric coil as THIRD source of heat. Or more specifically, Heat Pump would be first, followed by the electric coil and then the furnace. This would allow us to keep the gas but use it a much lower rate (only when it gets REALLY cold) as we would be mostly using the electric coil. Contractor A's proposal involved putting in a new thermostat and an outdoor sensor. When it gets too cold that the heat pump can't handle it, the electric coil would kick in and the outdoor sensor would trigger the furnace if it gets even colder. Still, it would be something about 80% coil and the remaining 20% furnace. The way he said it, it seemed that there already is an electric coil on the inside of the house, it just is not wired-in to be used. I have no idea what to look for so I have no idea he is right or not.