1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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I bet that winnebago driver was having a good chuckle when he saw me pull over on the gravel road. I had just passed him doing about 100mph in a 55. Yes sure, I was breaking the law but I was having fun doing it. Unfortunately my cooling system exploded. I was encased in a cloud of white coolant steam. Man did it smell great, like the death of an engine.
I had had a small coolant loss, and decided to toss a bottle of strong Bar's leaks into the expansion tank of the SPG. I swear, the coolant loss stopped immediately. The next day I passed the winnebago.
Anyway, I pulled over in a cloud of clinging ethylene glycol. I swear the stuff smells red. My temp gauge never flinched, and when I popped the hood I still had a half quart in the expansion tank. A squeeze of the top radiator hose told me that I hadn't blown my head gasket or anything, just the Custom hose that goes between the head and the metal pipe that I think heads back to the water pump area. This Hose has about a 1.25" ID on one end, then a 90 degree turn, then maybe a 3/4" ID on the other end. It had a big hole in it. I guess the Bar's Leaks barred some leaks and caused a blowout.
I thought hard. Man, I was in the middle of bumblef*ck Iowa. On a Sunday night. Like at 8:00. Nearest saab dealer of any sort was probably (and this is sheer luck) 50 miles away. Not a good walking distance, and I wanted this fixed.
But what should I see in the back of the SPG, Oh yes -- that complete Top Coolant hose, including the I think like AC cutout relay switch. The important thing here is that I had a length of hose with the right bend, if not the right ID.
Of course I didn't have a Scissor or knife.
Then two distinct groups of natives stopped and helped me. One took my parts to his machine shop and cut my two hoses for me, just like I asked him.
I inserted the .75" ID section that was cut from the damaged hose into my 1.5" or so ID top radiator hose. It was a snug reassuring fit. I put a couple clamps on the hose that I had made, and smashed it into place, this took a little longer than I would have hoped, like literally 5 or 10 minutes, I think I marked the hose a little long for the cut.
I clamped it all down, started it up. Revved the engine and a leak appeared. I had all these locals standing around looking for leaks and it was really surreal. I rotated my clamp and made the connection leak proof. The troublesome one was the one on the engine side, where I had no make-up shim. It was no trouble once I got it really nice and tight.
In the end I think I spent about 2 hours on the side of the road. The group that didn't help me cobble a part in their machine shop brought me 2 jugs of water (I happened to have one -- I also had the 7mm wrench I needed along with the hose, I also had a flashlight) and a large torch for illumination. Oh, and 3.5 hours into the drive, after I was only an hour from home, I discovered that they also left me a bag of 4 chocolate chip cookies on my passenger seat.
Moral of the story is just be sure to break down between sheldon and hospers on state highway 20, in western Iowa. They are really nice there. Also the Winnebagos are fun to pass in an SPG with say 200 hp. Oh, and um, how do I say this... It was Totally Random that I had all those parts I needed to fix my car. Seriously.
Or was it? I'm going to go get a cookie.
Rolf
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