aargh!
My car died. Like totally dead died as in blown head gasket and God only knows what else. :'( It started by overheating. I was in town at the time and stopped by a parts store to ask for advice. The guy working there came out and looked at it and said it thought it was the thermostat and that it was overheating because it wasn't making the fan turn on, so I should drive home as fast as possible so the cold air going across the engine would cool it down.
This turns out not to have been the best automotive advice I ever received. :-/
Seems there was a leak somewhere in the cooling system, probably in the heater core, and it had been slowly going dry for months, but I didn't know it because the radiator cap was stuck closed and the fill reservoir was apparently blocked from the rest of the system, because it remained full the whole time. By researching the symptoms online I figured out the problem, finally got the radiator cap unstuck and filled it with water before starting for church this morning. I got about two miles from home and it died dead in the middle of a gravel road. I couldn't even push it off the road, because they'd just put down fresh gravel and it was about eight inches deep. I sat with the car for about two hours before a neighbor came along, assured me that there was room for people to get by the car, and gave me a ride home.
Oddly though (or maybe it isn't odd) is seems to be at times when everything is going wrong that I find I am truly blessed. My darling niece Jenny has a 91 Lumina van she hasn't driven for a long time. She gave it away once, but the woman never came for it, so now she's letting me have it. It has a lot of problems, but none so serious as the head gasket. I got a new battery for it tonight and Jenny's husband and oldest son put it in and it started. It needs a muffler, a power steering pump, some work on the heater and a radio (but I have a CD player I can take out of my car and put in it). It runs though, so I will have transportation again. :) I'm staying over at Jenny's tonight rather than drive home in the dark. I don't know how to thank them! :-[
And I got to listen to Emma read her picture books for her homework and play with baby Phillip. :) I'll be home tomorrow and try to catch up with people. My ISP's tech support people should be back from holiday and maybe I can get my email fixed too! *G*
This turns out not to have been the best automotive advice I ever received. :-/
Seems there was a leak somewhere in the cooling system, probably in the heater core, and it had been slowly going dry for months, but I didn't know it because the radiator cap was stuck closed and the fill reservoir was apparently blocked from the rest of the system, because it remained full the whole time. By researching the symptoms online I figured out the problem, finally got the radiator cap unstuck and filled it with water before starting for church this morning. I got about two miles from home and it died dead in the middle of a gravel road. I couldn't even push it off the road, because they'd just put down fresh gravel and it was about eight inches deep. I sat with the car for about two hours before a neighbor came along, assured me that there was room for people to get by the car, and gave me a ride home.
Oddly though (or maybe it isn't odd) is seems to be at times when everything is going wrong that I find I am truly blessed. My darling niece Jenny has a 91 Lumina van she hasn't driven for a long time. She gave it away once, but the woman never came for it, so now she's letting me have it. It has a lot of problems, but none so serious as the head gasket. I got a new battery for it tonight and Jenny's husband and oldest son put it in and it started. It needs a muffler, a power steering pump, some work on the heater and a radio (but I have a CD player I can take out of my car and put in it). It runs though, so I will have transportation again. :) I'm staying over at Jenny's tonight rather than drive home in the dark. I don't know how to thank them! :-[
And I got to listen to Emma read her picture books for her homework and play with baby Phillip. :) I'll be home tomorrow and try to catch up with people. My ISP's tech support people should be back from holiday and maybe I can get my email fixed too! *G*