If You Have an Overheating Car
f you have to love your car for it to love you back
the radiator is the square black thing at the front
An American friend of mine is on a long toad trip, and she’s worrying a bit because her car is on the verge of overheating on long mountain climbs. Well, as a guy well-used to running old cars I personally wouldn’t worry so much unless the thing actually boiled, and then I’d let it cool down completely, top up the radiator, and carry on. (BTW, always carry a can of oil and some engine coolant in the back of your vehicle. And learn some basic car mechanics.)
There are 4 main reasons that a car will overheat;
- It’s leaking coolant through a hose joint, (or the radiator itself, or the water pump).
- The thermostat is faulty.
- The electric fan isn’t working.
- The water pump is busted, (or the drive-belt to the water pump is broken, or slipping).
Three of those faults are easy to check for. #1 there will be a pool of coolant under the car when it’s been parked for a while. #2 the radiator will be cool when the engine is hot. #3 with the car parked and the engine running the fan should come on when the engine gets hot. Trust me you will be able to hear it when it’s working.
#4 needs a mechanic, and as water pumps almost last forever it’s unlikely to be busted unless it’s an older car. In which case check to see if it’s ever been replaced. This fault is the least likely. If the pulley is turning the pump is working. If your AC and electrics are working it isn’t a drive-belt problem.
Actually there is a 5th reason, you are working the car very, very hard indeed, like climbing up a mountain. There is a limit to how hard you can work anything or anyone, and if you pass that limit things will start to go wrong.
Faults 1, 2, 3, and 5 are very easily cured, (9 times out of 10).
The trouble is few people know much about car mechanics, and if you take it into a shop you are likely to be stuffed with the cost of the most expensive repair possible, so learn just a little practical car mechanics. It’s a few hours and will save you a lot of time, money, and worries. (Sometime your car isn’t overheating at all the gauge on the dashboard is giving a false reading.)
(On older cars there is always the possibility that the cooling system is furred-up, in which case it would benefit from flushing. Here’s how https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s–5ft5YiHg ).
Treat your car well, and it will repay the favour.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the radiator is the black thing at the front
Monochrome Monday ~ The Beehive State
you go to Utah to get away from people
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Wasatch Mountains
Scenes on Sunday ~ Cool Homes
wherever I hang my hat is my home
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
outdoor living is an option in sunnier climes
I Need Help
nobody can be right all the time
It takes a lot for me to admit that I just don’t know ~ honestly saying to someone that I don’t have all the answers is difficult for me. Appearing to be less than perfectly in control is an uncomfortable feeling and it takes a lot of guts for me to go there. Admitting that I’m out of my depth, that I’m at a loss, that I haven’t got a clue what to do next, seems to me to show weakness. In the hard-knock schools I was brought up in, to show weakness was to invite ridicule, persecution, bullying. Even in my most senior roles in business, to be weak meant that you went to the wall.
To ask someone else for help, and genuinely mean that I needed help, has never been something that came easily to me. In all of my life I guess the only people I have ever asked for help have been doctors and….. nope, that’s it, doctors.
Well, now I need help, and the only thing I can think of to do is to pray, and sincerely mean my prayers. It’s day 42 of lockdown, and because I was sick before March 23rd this is actually the 48th day I have been in quarantine / self-isolation. I am emotionally and spiritually bereft. I have a serious mental / emotional / relationship problem to deal with, and I’ve got nothing. The well is fucking empty. And me, the guy who can do anything, hasn’t got a clue what to do.
It’s like I’ve been driving in a great car, along a good straight road, through cool countryside by the ocean ~ and suddenly I’m standing there in the desert. Alone. And it’s hot, harsh, brutal, empty, and silent.
Where do I go from here?
I don’t have a clue.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
some deserts are pretty
right now mine is just brutal
Scenes on Sunday ~ Pacific Ocean
out to the west of me the sun is going down
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
shadows on silk as the night rolls in
Songs on Saturday ~ Sting
when a man’s in love, nothing else matters
I can sail a yacht, ride a horse, build a car, write poetry with gorgeous calligraphy, and take great photographs ~ but no matter how hard I’ve tried I haven’t always been able to keep the affections of someone I loved.
Trying to be perfect is perhaps the biggest mistake a man can ever make.
Please listen with understanding.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
just one of the places we liked to go
Scenes on Sunday ~ California
being anywhere with anyone has got to be better than lockdown
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
California, mostly empty
Scenes on Sunday ~ Waves
waves are the voices of time and the tides
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
nothing like Californian noonday light
to brighten a photograph
Songs on Saturday ~ Bonfire Heart
no one can measure how much love one heart can hold
When life has spun you through 180 degrees, and your world is limited to your own four walls, then you might simply be glad that you’re alive. Then you may think of someone who you cares for you, and how much you love them in return.
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Just be glad that you’ve found someone to love. Not everyone is that lucky. You know that she is good for you, even if sometimes you try hard not to feel that way.
Please listen in happiness, peace, and safety. Try not to think about being in a road movie.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
real friendship is eternal
