What the heck? (Post #264) 8/18/2011

Saturday started out pretty good. I had talked my son in to doing some lifting for me. Okay I offered to pay him. He thought he had the last laugh when I said I’d pay him 20$(US). He said, “I would have done it for 10$(US). Ha.” I responded with, “You would have done it for free…”

Diet Mt. Drew

Anyway, we were driving and I noticed the radiator coolant light blinking at me. I didn’t think much of it as it turns out I have a slight leak in the radiator fill plug. It mostly weeps out when I get the engine hot. I haven’t filled the bottle in a while and thought it was just telling me I was low.

So we continued on to the auto parts store to get some oil for the Honda Civic. When I got out, I smelled it. That sugary sweet smell of coolant. “What the heck!” I exclaimed. Okay I didn’t really say “what the heck” I’m cleaning it up for a wider audience appeal.

So I popped the bonnet and low and behold….

So as you all know, the top radiator hose is not supposed to do that. Well its a pretty stupid idea to put a sensor right there in the first place. I mean seriously, who came up with that?

What is disappointing is I barely drive the BWB. Only about every other weekend at best. I don’t have air conditioning in her at the moment and if you have followed my tweets its been above 100F for nearly 50 days here in Oklahoma. Setting records for hottest month of July, consecutive days above 100F (37C) and most days without measurable rain (a lot, like 3 months).

We hit 115F that day in the shade.

Why would a hose fail that isn’t even being used? I’m guessing age at this point. I have probably had that hose on for at least 5 years. Is replacing the radiator hoses part of the PM (preventative maintenance)? You bet your Aunt Petunia it is. But why fix what ain’t broke? I’ve got spares on the shelf from PM that I have no idea how long they have been sitting up there. Will I use them, in this case probably as I need the Range Rover on Friday.

So tomorrow I will try to find my spare, install it, and test it for leaks in the vain hope it will get me to work and home one time. I’ll order a new one this weekend.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.