 |
 |
| [Our second mishap 98] |
Our first major vehicle problem!
|
In the later part of 1997, we were on our way home from visiting family some 80+ miles from our home. We were on a country road at least 20 mile in each direction from a town. It was around 10pm on a moon lit Sunday night and of course I had to work the next morning.
We were going along talking, the kids were asleep. The plan was for us to be home around 10:45 or so. All of a sudden, we heard this grinding noise from the front of the Van. I turned down the radio and pulled over to see if I might have hit something. I got out to investigate. When I opened the hood I heard this screeching sound that seemed to be coming from the belt pulley or water pump. The belt on this vehicle is one large belt that runs everything. I decided since the engine was not overheating, the alternator was charging and the steering worked, I might as well go on as far as I could until it came off or something broke. I had no tools or telephone and not another car in sight. Off we went for about 10-15 miles when all of a sudden and very fast we heard SQUEEK, GRIND, CLUNK AND SNAP! So fast, that before I could shut off the engine it was over. As I pulled over I figured the water pump had froze by the way it sounded. 10 miles from the nearest telephone I decided to go ahead and milk it to this Truck-Stop. How I did it is not recommended if you don’t know what you are doing and/or there just is no other way. I would drive as far as I could, keeping the Temp gauge well with in range of the heat gauge, but above normal. Then I would take it out of gear shut off the engine and coast as far as I could, pull over and sit there till the gauge read well below normal operating temperature and go again. This took about an hour and a half. When we finally reached the Truck-Stop I called road service and got a tow. This is when we decided to get a cell phone for emergencies, which is of no use in the mountain areas, which is where we were in the next time a mishap happened. |
Our second major vehicle troublesOn our way to Yosemite; we have to climb a few hills. One of which has two roads you can choose from. The best road to take is a long winding road that takes about two times as long as the other. The other is very steep and winding and of course the way we usually go unless we have our camping gear. We started up this hill doing fine. About three-quarters the way up my heat gauge started climbing. There are a few places to pull off but we were not very close to any of them. When we were able to pull over the gauge was almost touching the red mark. I stopped the Van and let it idle. The temperature was still just below the red mark and seemed to be slightly dropping when one of the hoses blew. It was not either of the main radiator hoses it was the small bi-pass hose that is very hard to get to. I coasted back down the hill in hopes to find a place to get water or a shop. But the little town at the bottom of this hill had no facilities at all and this was one of the few times, I did not bring my small toolbox. Now, I have been known to Mickey Mouse my way out of things before, but this time beats all. We managed to find, buried beneath the kid’s mess, a screwdriver and in the first aid kit with a pair of flimsy scissors. My first thought was to cut out the blown area of the hose and plug up the ends. It sounded like a good idea. The problem with this idea was when the hose blew it had split all the way up to the metal nipple on one end. So now on to plan two; I ended up cutting a length of hose off the water hose that supplies water from the engine to the heater control valve. I used one of the two make shift plugs I had found, a spring that attaches to the bottom of a C.B. antenna, to plug the end closest to the engine where the water is supplied from. Then I slipped the piece of hose that I had cut off onto the nipple where the blown end had been. That was easy, but the other end of the blown hose ran under the A/C pump and I was not able to get it off because of the clamp holding it on. With only one plug left, a round piece I took off the baby mirror. I realized now I needed 3 plugs and only had on left. I needed a splice to put between the three hoses. The only thing I saw I could use was the three-spouted heater valve. So I used the valve to splice the three hose together and used the two plugs to the heater hoses I took off the valve. The only worry I had was that these hoses would come off under pressure since I had no clamps to hold them. Now I needed water and I only had a gallon of water with us. The kids discovered a stream down this hill. They made three trips and we had filled it or so I thought. Off we went for about 6 miles and up climbed the gauge again. I pulled right over. I refilled the radiator with water but had no tools to bleed out the air. Therefore, the engine still needed to burp. This meant we needed more water. I walked a crossed the road to looked down the embankment to see if there was a stream or river down there. My wife on the other hand was yelling to me that right next to the van was this very small stream. She filled the containers I filled the radiator. Mickey Mouse did it again; I had only intended to get to a phone and call a tow, but to my surprise we made it all the way home, about 60 miles. |
©2000 Backtrack Web Design, All rights reserved.