Some cars are like relatives; they never want to leave...
1995 Volvo came into the shop middle of last week. It needed major work; diagnose and repair a check engine light, rough engine idle, rear brakes and some maintenance. Because of the age and condition of the car it was a bit of an uphill fight. The repairs all took a little longer than expected and cost more than estimated to boot. When all was said and done I left it in front of bay 2 to run and burp air from the cooling system. ( I had just finished doing a coolant service and changing the coolant bottle; it was beyond ugly) I turned away to answer a question from one of my techs and narrowly missed a spray of coolant from the upper radiator hose neck. After shutting off the engine I took a close look at the hose and radiator. Sure enough the plastic neck was starting to leak at the joint. "Why would it do that I wondered?" There was no real heat load on the system; ambient temperature was only 45. Either a restriction in the system or perhaps a combustion leak into the cooling system thereby raising pressure beyond normal. But engine temp should be higher??? It was too late now to check for high cooling system pressure since coolant was leaking so I decided to tear down and inspect. When I thought restriction I was on the right path. The thermostat which is located at one end of the top hose in the cylinder head was in 3 pieces. It had fallen apart and was stuck in its opening blocking all coolant flow
Makes sense; engine temp and cooling system pressure went up and poof; instant leak. Just like those relatives that stop by with no warning and never leave...
Good thing I turned away so the coolant didn\'t hit me. It was hot and would have hurt. So after another 3 days of living with the 1995 Volvo I can happily report that it is now fixed and ready to go. All in all, even with the additional work it was still an OK car to repair. After all, its better than a sharp stick in the eye. It was really just another broken car.
In a previous blog, “A Runners Wife” I spoke about my husband training for the NYC marathon. All I have to say is that the months of training all came together of an amazing race. Race day is a grueling day for runners, and the family. But a miracle happened...
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the senate judiciary committee and basically shrugged when asked if any other enemy combatant captured overseas had ever been brought to civilian criminal court to face justice. Talk about an incompetent boob, not to mention a disgrace.
Here is a list of wines all from Spain, and menus from restaurants in Brooklyn where a crew of us did a food / wine crawl through Carrol Gardens and Williamsburg recently
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