Saturday, September 11, 2010

On road trips and duct tape

In June 2003, when I was in grad school in Pasadena, California, the Future Spousal Unit and I spent a weekend in Las Vegas.  The drive there was uneventful, and was conducted at high speed along I-40.  We had a fun weekend, and I won about $200 at blackjack.

When we went to pack up the car and head back to LA, I noticed dried white spots all over the hood of my 1994 Civic del Sol.  A quick investigation revealed that the spots were from coolant that had spewed from the radiator on the way there.  We refilled the radiator, and started home.  The temperature gauge climbed quickly.  We refilled the radiator a couple of times, and I traced the leak to the plastic fitting where the upper radiator hose connects to the radiator tank.

I bought some duct tape and used it to pinch the crack closed.  That slowed down the leak and kept the coolant temperatures at an acceptable level, but only if we drove without air conditioning and blasted the heat.  This is not the most pleasant way to drive from Las Vegas to Pasadena in June.  The greatest insult was to be stuck in a traffic jam, where the World's Largest Thermometer reminded us that temperatures were well over a Benjamin outside, and worse yet in the car.

We made it home without any more trouble, and I got the radiator fixed for just about the amount I won at blackjack.

(You’d think that I would now carry duct tape in my car, but I’ve found that it turns into a gummy mess before I need it.  I guess I’ll have to keep gambling.)

1 comment:

  1. It was Megabucks, dear, where you won all the money that we ended up spending on the radiator. You did play lots of blackjack that weekend, but I think you ended up about even with that game ...

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