DesmoBob
04-09-2003, 12:05 AM
For your entertainment. This is what happened to me today. :confused:
R.L.O.D.
Red Light Of Death
Today as I was driving home over Red Hill, I decided to stop by Aiea Shopping Center for Jamba Juice (this becomes important later). As I left Jamba and backtracked to get on the freeway at the Halawa Heights/Camp Smith onramp, all was well when suddenly something flashed and caught the corner of my eye... the dreaded Red Light Of Death. The temp needle had maxed out.
Sh!t.
I turned up the heater and rolled down the windows. I pulled off the road immediately (luckily it was the residential area) and looked under the hood. Sh!t. Cracked filler neck. Coolant was spewing out. Like a leaky pressure cooker. Apparently it had been doing this for the entire trip to this point. Looking back, I did remember seeing a puddle of liquid as I pulled out of the Jamba parking lot. Duhhh good going Bob, it was me. My mind raced through my options.
I started the car after a few minutes, and luckily the temp went back down to 3/4 with the heater on, so I limped back to the Unocal near Jamba. At the traffic light near the Catholic school, the R.L.O.D. came on again. SH!T! I turned off the car immediately since it was a red light. I was figuring soon I'd be on all the traffic reports, "stalled car in the right Ewa-bound lane on Moanalua Road near Aiea Shopping Center." When it turned green, I started it to get it rolling, then coasted downhill to the Unocal station. (Side note: you don't realize how much steering and braking assist work for you until you have to steer in traffic with the car off).
I waited for it to cool down so I could more thoroughly inspect the damage and consider more options. In the meantime one of the service station employees (a young'un, maybe just out of high school) saw me fiddling under the hood and came up to me and we talked cars for a bit. All the while I was testing the filler cap to see if it was still hissing (the spewing had stopped, it had graduated to hissing). Eventually he had to go. I actually missed his company because when you are stranded, it is a very lonely, sinking feeling. I kept tapping and jiggling the cap, each time the hissing was less, then it eventually stopped. So I got a rag and decided to carefully open the cap.
Then I noticed something.
The cap was almost free-spinning. :angryfire I remembered I had just topped up the water to the Kalt line yesterday. In my haste trying to do many things at once yesterday, I apparently forgot to tighten the cap. :embarrasm :mad:
To be safe, I checked the hoses as best as I could. I used my Jamba Juice cup (washed out, of course) to refill the cooling system. Milked the hoses, bled the system. The neck wasn't cracked after all. No leaks found anywhere. Temp stayed steady in the middle. I just sat there with the car running for about 10 minutes, constantly checking for leaks. For good measure, I walked to Shell down the street (yes, I turned off the car first, yes, I locked it too) to get a gas container (they didn't sell them at Unocal) to fill with water and leave in the trunk for the trip home... just in case. I made it home without incident.
This weekend I now have a good incentive to change the waterpump and thermostat as I had planned 2 months ago (new metal waterpump & thermostat sitting in box collecting dust in kitchen nook). :embarrasm If for nothing else, just to replace that service station tap water with delicious 100 proof BMW coolant brew. The hoses and clamps actually look pretty new, I think the previous owner had changed them recently.
It is a good thing I decided to go to Jamba today. At the travel distance that put me at Jamba, if I had just gone straight home, it would have R.L.O.D.ed me on the freeway somewhere near Pearl Ridge. I just lucked out that I was surrounded by lots of places to stop (except for the traffic light panic situation).
R.L.O.D.
Red Light Of Death
Today as I was driving home over Red Hill, I decided to stop by Aiea Shopping Center for Jamba Juice (this becomes important later). As I left Jamba and backtracked to get on the freeway at the Halawa Heights/Camp Smith onramp, all was well when suddenly something flashed and caught the corner of my eye... the dreaded Red Light Of Death. The temp needle had maxed out.
Sh!t.
I turned up the heater and rolled down the windows. I pulled off the road immediately (luckily it was the residential area) and looked under the hood. Sh!t. Cracked filler neck. Coolant was spewing out. Like a leaky pressure cooker. Apparently it had been doing this for the entire trip to this point. Looking back, I did remember seeing a puddle of liquid as I pulled out of the Jamba parking lot. Duhhh good going Bob, it was me. My mind raced through my options.
I started the car after a few minutes, and luckily the temp went back down to 3/4 with the heater on, so I limped back to the Unocal near Jamba. At the traffic light near the Catholic school, the R.L.O.D. came on again. SH!T! I turned off the car immediately since it was a red light. I was figuring soon I'd be on all the traffic reports, "stalled car in the right Ewa-bound lane on Moanalua Road near Aiea Shopping Center." When it turned green, I started it to get it rolling, then coasted downhill to the Unocal station. (Side note: you don't realize how much steering and braking assist work for you until you have to steer in traffic with the car off).
I waited for it to cool down so I could more thoroughly inspect the damage and consider more options. In the meantime one of the service station employees (a young'un, maybe just out of high school) saw me fiddling under the hood and came up to me and we talked cars for a bit. All the while I was testing the filler cap to see if it was still hissing (the spewing had stopped, it had graduated to hissing). Eventually he had to go. I actually missed his company because when you are stranded, it is a very lonely, sinking feeling. I kept tapping and jiggling the cap, each time the hissing was less, then it eventually stopped. So I got a rag and decided to carefully open the cap.
Then I noticed something.
The cap was almost free-spinning. :angryfire I remembered I had just topped up the water to the Kalt line yesterday. In my haste trying to do many things at once yesterday, I apparently forgot to tighten the cap. :embarrasm :mad:
To be safe, I checked the hoses as best as I could. I used my Jamba Juice cup (washed out, of course) to refill the cooling system. Milked the hoses, bled the system. The neck wasn't cracked after all. No leaks found anywhere. Temp stayed steady in the middle. I just sat there with the car running for about 10 minutes, constantly checking for leaks. For good measure, I walked to Shell down the street (yes, I turned off the car first, yes, I locked it too) to get a gas container (they didn't sell them at Unocal) to fill with water and leave in the trunk for the trip home... just in case. I made it home without incident.
This weekend I now have a good incentive to change the waterpump and thermostat as I had planned 2 months ago (new metal waterpump & thermostat sitting in box collecting dust in kitchen nook). :embarrasm If for nothing else, just to replace that service station tap water with delicious 100 proof BMW coolant brew. The hoses and clamps actually look pretty new, I think the previous owner had changed them recently.
It is a good thing I decided to go to Jamba today. At the travel distance that put me at Jamba, if I had just gone straight home, it would have R.L.O.D.ed me on the freeway somewhere near Pearl Ridge. I just lucked out that I was surrounded by lots of places to stop (except for the traffic light panic situation).