Mexican Adventure Failure Story
Last Monday,
About 25 miles from the condo out of town there is a sweet surfing area off a little town named Marmols. I'd woken up early, jumped in the Jeep, and ran off by myself that day. I was paddling out by 6am; one other guy paddling out too that I ended up sitting next to and exchanging numbers to go surfing together and out with wives...
but that's beside the point.
The waves were awesome overhead/head high light offshore smooth surface racey lefts. I was out on my friend's 5'8" (!! that's small for me) that he left.
I'd been riding it for two weeks straight and that day I was nailing it...
but that's beside the point.
(white board on the left)
The point is,
I think I fairly well destroyed the engine of the jeep.. supposedly the one good thing running on the car. No Plasmatic, I hadn't yet taken care of wheel bearing/cv axle, shocks, transmission check.... a number of things I was going to do soon having found talked to a mechanic and found a good time to let the car go. We did not take the car on long trips...None of that would have helped this situation. And boy, I'm glad I didn't put anymore money in it after this day was over.
So, coming back from this great surf session, about 4 miles outta Marmols and heading back south to town, I see a sign that says 'terrenos en venta'/'land for sale' and a little dirt road turn off the highway. The same friend that left his board is looking for land/house over here. He wants off the beaten path a bit and a large lot, and more importantly close to Marmols. We've found one house and lots in an area we're both eyeing, but I wanted to check this out.
The dirt road is heading west to the beach. Not too bumpy and someone is maintaining it. There are several smaller dirt roads that veer off but I stick to the main one heading toward the beach. It's bouncy, but that's what jeeps are for...
I figure just over 2 miles in the road ends at the beach. I leave the car running and race out eager to see the coastline from here and see if there are any wave spots,,, as I'm walking over to the beach the dirt is burning my feet so i start to hop back to the car for my sandals,,,
And that's when it happened...
A big loud hiss, steam and coolant spurts out from the front. Took my senile brain all but a second to realize I gotta get this car turned around now and back to the highway or I'm stuck in this heat and a long walk back to the highway carrying **** and my friend's board i couldn't leave in the heat of the car. I wasn't even sure the phone would work in this area, but I didn't take time to check. I had half a cup of coffee and a small bottle of water...
I'm driving back, checking the heat gauge and it's looking just a touch over normal but fine the whole way back to the road. I got to the highway and started to drive knowing there's a gas station up ahead 4 miles.. the car is starting to heat up, but never gets too hot 3/4 on the gauge, normal is half. Pull over at the gas station and wait in the heat for 30 minutes before popping reservoir lid... it's dry in there. I fill it up with a lot of water, fired up the car and watched... I thought I saw it squirting from the radiator area not too much, (turns out to be a hole in the hose that must have just kept getting worse.) I jump in the car and head to town thinking all I have to do is fix the radiator. Things are going fine, but as I pull into town, it starts to heat up rapidly and the car begins to die. Fortunately there's a tire repair shop right there and I coast to a stop... now I'm worried.
Tire guy is super nice and gives me access to water. Pop the hood, reservoirs dry. I never saw the heat indicator go up too high past normal, so I don't get why the car would die. I wait 30 minutes and start to add water, **** it's boiling up. I wait another 30, finishing up my drinking water. Poor the water in and it takes it fine. I've got 15 minutes to drive to the condo. I start the car, but I can tell somethings wrong, maybe I got something wet pouring water in? hah I limp back but as I drive the engine starts to feel a little better and I make it home.
The next morning I find a radiator shop and plan to go. I find a hole in the hose and tape it up. I fill up the reservoir again but the shop is no more than a couple minutes away so I'm not worried.
I try to start the car but it's sounding really weird and when it starts it's barely hanging in there.... i think arrgggg I ****ed.
get out and look in the engine... a small leak in the hose, but the reservoirs already.... then I see it
out of the exhaust flows the water
out of the muffler flows the water
i shut the engine off, probably never to start it again
tldr:
I need a 'new' car and i really can't afford one.