The perfect 2002 breakdown !

[deschodt]

It's not been a great year for my 2002's reliability. First my wife blew a clutch (technically a piece of plastic somewhere in the mechanism) in the worst possible intersection downtown... That was expensive due to a shoehorned 5 speed and "while you're in there" new parts... Then this week the car stranded her (and I since I went there to help) in traffic, would no longer climb a hill, though luckily I found out it was just a plug lead that vibrated itself off - I expected worse - FYI a 2002 engine doesn't run well at all on 3 cylinders (wonder if it's because it's inline?)... 

 

Tonight, armed with a new clip to hold the plugs and my new clutch, I decided to take the kids to dinner as the wife was working late... I get to the parking lot of our restaurant and notice a suspicious trail leading....to my parked car... Oops. Puddle of liquid forming under the car by the firewall... Yup, coolant. Oddly, the radiator was still pretty full despite the swimming pool under there... I cannot find where it came from, the hoses look dry, top of the engine looks dry, I suspect the bypass from the block to the block, to avoid the heater core. But that also looked dry and it is a metal pipe ! Heck if I can figure out where the leak is... But it's there... I considered the radiator level, lack of traffic and 10 minute distance to my house but since we were at the restaurant anyway, I decided not to risk a head gasket and called AAA while we ordered food. Ate our food rapidly, paid the bill, AAA truck showed up early as I was signing the check !

 

 Nice guy loads the car, gives us a ride to my mechanic, I buy his dinner (not my fault he just wanted a sandwich!), lucky my mechanic is still there working late and shelters the car...  Since he's a 20 min walk from my house, we decide to hoof it... And my wife shows up late from work just at the right time to intercept us 30 seconds before we have to climb the super steep hill we live atop of.

 

Clean living and decent Karma, I tell you.... 

 

Kids were freaked out one time we had a breakdown in the Alfa romeo at night - never knew a car could break - but they handled this with glee... And rode in a tow truck ! 

Really lucky because the wife and I drove this car all week because one of our commuters is at the shop. Didn't happen in the city, on the golden gate bridge, or the freeway, nope - it  happened at my destination while we were munching a burrito. 

 

Good cars break down at home or at a restaurant ? 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by deschodt

[borgpj]

So where was the leak?  Hope not a soft plug...

[irdave]

Plot twist; it was the car before- his car is fine.

[deschodt]

Nah, it was a split hose that I simply could not see in the parking lot... it's fixed and it's back on the road. Wasn't even expensive - in hindsight I could have done it myself but I had the car flat bedded to a shop so I wasn't gonna go work on that in their parking lot ? But my point was " Good cars break down at convenient locations"

[D Seattle]

Cute kids.