We finished work tonight right at 6:00..headed home and was hoping for a quiet, uneventful night. About three blocks from the campground, an alarm on the truck started sounding and there were two lights lit up on the dashboard that usually aren't there. I was hoping we could make it to the campground but just as I approached the right hand turn onto Marin Blvd. the engine quit and the steering froze. I pulled hard on the steering wheel, hoping I wouldn't clip the car that was sitting at the light in the opposite lane on the corner. I cleared him OK but about had a heart attack in the process. Came around the corner and got off on the side of the road as best I could. Luckily once you turn that corner there isn't much traffic that goes down towards the campground. I shut off the switch...we dug out the book to identify the warning light symbols...I thought I'd see if it would start or turn over. It started right up...no lights....no alarms. So put it in drive and headed for the campground. Coasted into our parking spot just as the engine died again.
I smelled an odd smell and asked Linda to open the hood...She did and found that all the bumps and jarring had unhooked the hose from the coolant overflow tank AND there were no nuts holding the tank down anymore....Everything had jiggled loose and all the extra coolant spewed all over the engine those last couple of blocks.
Linda walked up and asked a guy that had camped near us last week if we could pay him to drive me to an auto parts store. Luckily less than a mile from us there is a Pep Boys...off I went. Bought some coolant, some hose clamps and some washers and wing nuts for the tank but the threads on the bolts holding the tanks are odd. Seem to be kind of tapered from top on down and the wing nuts I bought didn't quite fit. I rigged it up by using some teflon pipe tape. Want to get to a GMC dealer tomorrow to get the right nuts to go on there and have them look at it. Filled the tank with coolant, after reattaching the hose. Ran the truck for a few minutes and no bells or lights so keep your fingers crossed that this is what the problem is. I think when all the coolant ran all over things it may have hit a sensor and caused one of the alarms. We will start the truck and let it run for a while in the morning before we head out. No way we can risk stalling out in some of the crazy intersections that we drive through. Everyone keep us in your prayers tonight that we get to work safe tomorrow...it's always somethin' !!
2 comments:
Dang, y'all! I'm going to start putting "Calamity" as your nickname. You surely have had a run of bad luck. Here's hoping it ends soon and you can have some fun time.
You guys nailed the coolant thing on the head. On the 4500/5500s they have a safety built in so the engine quits when low on coolant. I think they do this for 1 main reason. Many of the "drivers" for trucking company don't give a shit about whether it low on coolant or not and can ruin that very expensive engine. In that scenario, it makes you stop. The LGT (like mine) trucks don't have that feature.
Glad you weren't hurt and we able to get her off the road safely!
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