More Adventures

[mamishka]

My life has been very adventurous lately, and not in the good kind of ways. Lots and lots of work between SIFF and painting shelves at Scarecrow. Got a parking ticket. Joy. :P Latest adventure in vex was getting off the highway in Bellevue to see smoke/steam coming out from under the hood of my car

Comments

[solarbird]

If there's stuff sprayed everywhere the odds are pretty decent you're right about the hose! One may have come unattached or also likely could've cracked or sprung a leak.

The good part is this probably means all the steam was just the coolant hitting the hot exterior of the engine, and not coming from inside the engine.

If you have some duct tape and can find the bad spot in the hose, you can wrap the hose (as long as it's not a metal hose or something that gets really hot) which will NOT stop the leak but will slow the rate of leakage, which will let you limp along further. Just carry along an extra gallon or two of water if you can and refill every so often.

Then when the hose is replaced you'll have to flush and refill the coolant system, but anybody can do that, including a lube-and-tune kind of place, and they'll probably do that anyway when they replace the hose.

[solarbird]

If you're very unlucky and it is the radiator there are items sold as pour-in radiator repair fluids. These almost never work. But once in a very great while, if it's small enough, they will work. My very first car developed a small leak in the radiator, and damned if it didn't plug it right up.

(If only anything else about that car had been half so easy to fix...)

[kathrynt]

What you're describing, based on my very limited knowledge, could be a leak in a hose. That's a pretty cheap fix. If you can pour coolant in and not have it all pour back out again, then go get 6-8 gallons of water and drive home slowly with your heat on maximum (and your windows open for comfort. If the gauge starts to rise, pull over, wait for the engine to cool, and pour in a gallon of water. Lather rinse repeat. It will suck but it will get you home.

[solarbird]

Yeah, this too. The heat on maximum will help cool the engine. Not a lot, but some.

[darthhellokitty]

I feel strangely responsible!!! This might have happened anyway, but you would NOT have been stuck in Bellevue!!! I am SO SORRY! It's good to see you're getting what looks like good advice,anyway... Anything in our fridge is yours while you wait to get your car going!

[mamishka]

I'm sure it would have happened anyway and, in many ways, it was kind of a good thing. Your pets got WAY more social time, I noticed that one of my tires was nearly flat, and it has forced me to take the night off, which is honestly kind of awesome. ;)

I don't look forward the seeing the mechanic come Monday, but this car has pretty much given me about 6 years of hassle-free driving with no major repairs, so it's fairly reasonable for it to start being a little more persnickety now. Hopefully it will be a cheap and easy fix. :)

[darthhellokitty]

Well, that's a pretty positive light to put on it! :-)

[annathepiper]

I have no car savvy to contribute, but I can say ICON LOVE! (heart) (heart) (heart)

[mamishka]

It's a good icon to have when everything is a disaster but I'm inexplicably fairly cheerful despite the fact. ;)

[annathepiper]

GIR makes for all the best icons. :)