Automotive HELL
Okay..Here's a basic transcription of what happened to me on a Illinois-California roadtrip/pilgrimage I took with a friend (who shall remain nemaless)Around this time last year. Enjoy..And never let it happen to you.
(Keep in mind, I was 19 when this happened)
Umm..I destroyed a Chevy S-10 Blazer once.. It was overheating trying to tow a trailer up a hill in Missouri, (I had mistaken it for a truck that could actually fukking PULL)So I pulled over to the side of the road and waited patiently for it to cool back down, with semis whizzing by at 60mph about 3 feet from the side. Two hours later, the temperature had dropped all of 20 degrees (Down to 240)And I got fed up. I pulled back onto the road and cranked up, hoping to get at least to the top of the hill so I could at least coast for a while and find a safe place to pull off. (I could see a gas station in the distance.) It ran for a while...Struggling, but then the engine began to emit a strange taktaktaktaktaktaktak. Noise.. I finally made it to the station, with that noise getting louder with every second..About 4 seconds later before the poor thing finally stalled. (engine not moving=cooling system not working) the temp jumped and and cooling system piping pretty much blew up, spraying a big green mess all over the asphalt. Expecting to incinerated within the next second or so, I jumped out of the car.. But nothing happened.. A while later, a mechanic sauntered over, lifted the hood and keenly observed that I had pretty much cracked the engine in half. I was pretty relieved to not have been blown up, but would have been a lot happier if I hadn't been 3,000 miles from home with no transportation. The mechboy said the car was now worth around $200, but only because if had 4X4 drive..(Which I was fairly sure didn't really work.)The high point of that day was watching A-10's flying by, apperently stationd at a nearby army base. Anyway in the end the person who I was tripping(heh)with prevailed upon a friend of hers who got us a slighly used Suburban for 17k...Which she basically drove off the road the very next day. Due to my presence of mind and catlike refexes (No,I am not shitting you here. I had to grab the wheel from the passenger seat, the driver had lost all control) I saved the car from complete destuction and we managed to get out with only a severely busted up trailer (Which ended up on its side) and a huge dent on the rear door where the trailer hit it..(But the CD player never skipped..It was awesome)..I sat on the side of the highway and played my harmonica as I waited for the wrecker to come. So we got the trailer back upright,(Which, BTW had 2 full cans of gasoline in it, packed by aforementioned friend's father. We ditched them then and there.) and drove it to the nearest auto shop (With the rear wheel threatening to come off) The trailer was a complete loss, so we rented a new trailer and transferred all the stuff.(Remarkably, not much was broken) and got on our way once again..The rest of the trip was relitively uneventfull, with the exception of a nervous breakdown and severe paranoia in Barstow after a 700 mile day..And that's basically it..I'm never driving through missouri again...Ever. I just like the fact that we effectively destoyed $23,000 worth of autmotive equipment. (None of which was mine, ha-HA!!) At least I can be secure in the fact that my '91 Explorer can actually tow shit without overheating. (Even if it can't brake)
Sigh...Anyway..This has been a public serivce anouncement...don't ever drive through Missouri.
Later,
Ak
(If you've got a better story than this, i'd love to hear it!)
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"We're a peace loving people...And we'll KILL anyone who tries to take that peace away!"
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'course, i wasn't running nitrous...