Darlene’s Last Days
What a day.
Woke up, went to hit Pancake Pantry with Andy O. Can’t raise Andy on the phone. [No big.] See the Sunday-morning-level line outside, decide to bolt. Hit Cracker Barrel at, amusingly, the exit right by Osenga’s house. Fuel up on Southern breakfast, hit the road.
Now, the truck had been a little hard to start the last couple of days, and I was also hearing some belt squeal—but only very, very intermittently and for very short periods. No worries, really.
Around mile marker 30 on I-65 southbound, any additional current draw—such as running my wipers—drops off the XM Radio. My brain starts to think, “Alternator issues,” as I’d just had those back in August. I say to Bryan, “Okay, we’re going to take a detour on our way down. We have plenty of time, and I want to get this checked out.” He agrees, as we do have lots of time.
11:58. We past Exit 22 at Pulaski, TN. My battery light comes on. “Alternator issues, I say.” I crest the ridge past the exit. I glance at my temperature gauge. Holy shit! I hit the heater and crack my window, slowing the vehicle. It continues to spike, I pull onto the shoulder. I shut down the engine, come to a stop, and … GOOSH! Steam. Not knowing that it’s only steam, I tell Bryan to grab everything valuable and throw it in the bed of the truck, and we do. After a minute or two, it’s clearly coolant containment loss. :sigh:
I call my insurance company to have them get me a wrecker. The wrecker comes after a half-hour wait, and we get to his shop. Hearing my symptoms, the mechanic checks … no alternator belt. It clearly broke off without us noticing, which caused all the issues. How is this related to the coolant? The same belt also turns the water pump. No circ, no activce cooling, and … BLAMMO. Mechanic fixes belt, thinking that this is the only issue, and it’s just and overflow or something. [Given how it spouted steam, I thought that perhaps a hose let go.] After more work, he finds the culprit … a crack in the radiator, one that has clearly grown significantly as it has cooled. Bryan has photos.
So, when it was the belt, I thought I was home free … I’d get it fixed, take the bill to the people who just did that work 60 days ago, and demand an explanation and compensation. I’ll still be doing that, but …
New tires.
New battery.
New alternator.
New radiator.
This truck is wearing out.
I’m fixing the truck to improve its resale value [a running truck beats a non-running truck], and … I expect to not drive it more than 7-10 days longer.
The radiator wasn’t in stock in Pulaski, so the truck is there, and we rented a car and came on to Birmingham. We’re now in Cullman, having driven most of the way home so that we can have it easy in the morning. I’ll drive Bry to the airport, head in to the office, do a few things, then head back to Pulaski and settle up on the truck and get it back to Huntsville [and the rental back in under 24 hours].
:sigh: Good show, though.
With all those trips to Nashville, that thing probably has a TON of miles on it. My 92 Explorer is still running (though sometimes barely) with 241,000 miles. I’ll give you a good deal on it…
October 18th, 2006 at 9:31 am190,460 when it broke down.
And … no thanks.
October 18th, 2006 at 9:55 am[...] I humbly submit the following evidence as proof that vehicles are almost too much trouble:Last Thursday, I took my 96 Hyundai Accent in for inspection, and was told it needed an entirely new exhuast system to the tune of $1000. Given the age and mileage on my vehicle, the garage told me it wasn’t worth itAs I was getting in the car to leave the garage, one of the mechanics motioned toward me, pointing out a car they had just bought at an insurance auction - a 97 Hyundai Sonata. They’d already replaced the exhaust and a ball joint and given it an inspection sticker for the year. I test drove it, and it was a decent car - asking price $1500. For $500 more than it would cost to get my old car inspection-worthy, I could get an already-stickered upgrade. They were even going to take my Accent off my hands and give me $100 for it. After some thought, prayer, and helping Carla wrangle with finances, we decided to go for it.The day before I was planning on finalizing the deal for the Sonata, the starter went on my Accent. I had no way to get to work (aside from making my wife drive me 45 miles out of her way each way) so Monday I called out from work to get this whole mess taken care of. Paid for the Sonata, called our insurance company to put it on the policy, and hoped to get it registered. Alas, the title hadn’t arrived yet.It still hasn’t. Right now I’m alternating between a carpool with 3 other guys from my workplace who also live in the area, and taking Carla’s car when she’s able to get a ride to her job. Living in limbo sucks.Speaking of Carla’s car - she also needed an inspection. It didn’t pass - it needed 4 new tires and a brake cable replaced. Given our current financial situation (more on that in a near-future “where I’ve been for the past month or so two months” post), it could have been worse, but still…Apparently, we’re not the only ones having vehicle troubles, either. I just read Geof Morris’s tale of truck woe, and my brother and sister-in-law are down to one vehicle due to exhaust issues as well. There must be something in the air. [...]
October 19th, 2006 at 3:11 pmUh…I don’t know why my pingback left such a humungous comment. Suffice it to say, I can empathize with your vehicle woes.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:16 pmComputers suck. Not as much as broken down cars, but still.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:17 pm