side of the road or fate?

[streetdreams]

man what a day! today is the queens b-day up here in canada, so its a national holiday anyways I took the gf out for a spin in the country and grab a ice cream etc, were cruisin into pickering (30km from home) when I notice my temp gauge is pegged!! I pull over, pop the hood and theres coolant everywhere. I thought I just blew a waterpump. theres no pressure in the hoses, the radcap is pretty cool and the oil filler neck is smokin, the engine is HOT!

so now I'm pissed, on the side of this rural road look at my rad askin myself WTF!! the hoses are on the rad tight, and just when I'm wonderin if the rad split at the seams, I notice a sensor hangin by the rad, turns out the coolant pressure switch popped out, I'm trying to figure how to pop it in with that wire retainer that was holding it. when I see an older guy in his backyard. I politely asked him for a bucket of water and he started talkin to me bout the coolant pressure sensor, he told me to drive round to the front. turns out he owns a garage in pickering and he helped me pop that sensor back in and filled me up with water and left the rad cap on 1 click so it wasnt sealed (dont wanna pop that sensor out again) he gave me a business card and asked me a bit about my first year apprenticship at the garage I'm at, what kinda money I'm makin and what I usually do there, he told me to make sure I stop by his garage soon and say hi. I think he might be interested in me comin to work for him but I dont know. I'm just glad he was nice enough to help me get back home. the car got home just fine, soon as the water's 4L went in, she cooled out all the way. anyways what do you guys think bout this coolant sensor poppin outta the top of my rad like that? he told me to try and pop it in properly at work and all and if that dont work try gettin a rad shop to look at it. he said that usually that sensor has threads not a clip but oh well now where to go from here??

gonna drain/refill the system, change the t stat&gasket,

get a new clip for the sensor and do an oil change while I'm at it

dont know what caused all this in the first place, any comments or advice? I know I gotta check the intake and head gaskets now

[cutlsp]

that clip is not spring loaded its an actual clip if is doesn't stay in the clip is bad or the points that hold it on the radiator are bad :?

[Brian P]

that clip is supposed to "snap" when the sensor is installed all the way in. Maybe it wasn't in correctly.

[19Cutlass94]

probably wasnt put back in all the way or maybe you could have hit it and popped it out just enough when you were under the hood and just not have realized it

[DOHCRagtopguy]

That was very nice of the man to do that for ya. Sounds like he may be interested in you. If I was you, I'd cruise by his shop and check him out, you never know. One thing I've learned in my journey thru life all these years is sometimes good shit just drops in your lap and you gotta go with the flow!

 

I agree that maybe the clip just popped out or wasn't in all the way. They can't be that expensive, I'd get a new one.

[1990lumina]

That sounds like what happened to my family when we went out to Lake of the Woods in Ontario I guess 3 years ago know.

 

We had the '96 Suburban and before we left my dad had the brakes done and they turned and machined the reat drums. Well something got screwed up when they did the left rear drum and it wasn't a perfect circle or something..

LONG story short, when we would back up and hit the brakes the rear brakes would adjust themselves, but the left side brake shoe would grab the drum and it caused the adjustment screw to unscrew totally.

So when driving down the highway the brake was stuck on the left rear, this causes extreme vibration and heat lol...

So after my dad and I took off the trailer and removed the brake drum and everything and turned this screw back in at a rest stop there was a mechanic from GM and a guy from Canadian Tire at the rest stop and they helped us get back on the road (holy shit that was crazy how there was just two mechanics there in the middle of no where)

So, we back up a few more times and the same shit happens.

 

So we got to our destination after adjusting the brake again and took it to a mechanic in the local town there and he said he had adjusted and fixed everything - (again more luck....his house was damn near right beside the camp ground we were staying at so the guy gave us a ride to town and had his son drive us back to the camp site so we could still go fishinhg and whatnot..and he drove the Suburban home after work all fixed up and my dad and I just walked about a quarter mile to pick it up from his house.

Well, he didn't fix it, it was still getting stuck and pulled the adjustment screw out. So the mechanic took it back and pulled the self adjustment bracket off of the drum assembly...he said the drum was screwed up and the only way to fix it was buying a new one...my dad said he would deal with it when we got back home. So, he charged us nothing for the repair because it was his mistake - real nice guy actually.

We got home and my dad just adjusts the brake every few thousand miles and the rear brake it still on the old drum and no adjuster for 3 years now lol...when the right drum needs replacing then we will buy two new ones and get the adjuster back on lol....

 

Anyway, moral of this short - turned long story is that some weird things happened to us that trip as well with the two mechanics from GM and Candian Tire, and the mechanic's house being right next to the camp site and whatnot - must have been fate!!!!

 

Anyway, thought I'd share since we were talking about fate lol

 

And, good to hear you had some good luck getting your car fixed up enough to get home

 

- Jeff L.