waterinthefuel
Commander
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2003
- Messages
- 2,729
On our way to our camp, with me of course in the back seat reading airplane magazine and bass pro shops catalogs, I feel the car lurching. I ask my father why he is doing that (thinking he's playing with the cruise control) when he says he's not doing anything. He said it feels like it's downshifting. I told him the small trailer we were pulling might have bearings going out and we need to pull over and check it.
So on the side of the interstate about a mile south of a town he pulls over. We both jump out with 18 wheelers racing past at 70 mph and we grab the hubs. Hot, but not unusual given the suns rays on a black hub and its hot as hell out there anyway. I notice the car is shaking and I can hear it missing bad. I yell to him that it's the engine and he runs back into the car to keep it running to get us to the small town thats over the overpass that we're parked at the bottom of. 2 miles is all we needed. The car died as he hopped in the seat. It would not crank back over. Just wearing the starter and battery, dead.
We eventually had someone pull to the side and help give us a ride. My parents weren't too sure about him (with all the crazies we have these days) but when I climbed into the back seat of his truck, I had to move a bible out of the way so I could sit, I knew this cat was alright. He brought us to the Ford place knowing they had a tow truck available (we were in a 2001 Chevy Impala) to get us off the interstate. We finally got a tow truck, super nice guy, gently put the car on his truck, towed our little trailer in the back out to the Chevy dealership in town. About 20 minutes before Enterprise closed for the day we got a rental to continue our journey minus our trailer. This was Friday afternoon. We came back this morning and they went to start it and said the car runs fine. The mechanic updated the software in the computer and changed the fuel filter. We drove it all the way home without a single hiccup.
We still don't know what happened to the car and if it will do it again. A heck of Friday though. My father is a meticulous maintainer of vehicles and was awestruck how his perfect little car could break down. I told him that if its going to break, nothing you do will stop it. We were suspecting fuel pump, and the mechanic checked everything, said it's pressure is great. He said maybe it's water in the fuel (no pun intended) but my father is also religious about putting that STP fuel treatment and injector cleaner into every tank of gas run through that car.
Strange indeed.
So on the side of the interstate about a mile south of a town he pulls over. We both jump out with 18 wheelers racing past at 70 mph and we grab the hubs. Hot, but not unusual given the suns rays on a black hub and its hot as hell out there anyway. I notice the car is shaking and I can hear it missing bad. I yell to him that it's the engine and he runs back into the car to keep it running to get us to the small town thats over the overpass that we're parked at the bottom of. 2 miles is all we needed. The car died as he hopped in the seat. It would not crank back over. Just wearing the starter and battery, dead.
We eventually had someone pull to the side and help give us a ride. My parents weren't too sure about him (with all the crazies we have these days) but when I climbed into the back seat of his truck, I had to move a bible out of the way so I could sit, I knew this cat was alright. He brought us to the Ford place knowing they had a tow truck available (we were in a 2001 Chevy Impala) to get us off the interstate. We finally got a tow truck, super nice guy, gently put the car on his truck, towed our little trailer in the back out to the Chevy dealership in town. About 20 minutes before Enterprise closed for the day we got a rental to continue our journey minus our trailer. This was Friday afternoon. We came back this morning and they went to start it and said the car runs fine. The mechanic updated the software in the computer and changed the fuel filter. We drove it all the way home without a single hiccup.
We still don't know what happened to the car and if it will do it again. A heck of Friday though. My father is a meticulous maintainer of vehicles and was awestruck how his perfect little car could break down. I told him that if its going to break, nothing you do will stop it. We were suspecting fuel pump, and the mechanic checked everything, said it's pressure is great. He said maybe it's water in the fuel (no pun intended) but my father is also religious about putting that STP fuel treatment and injector cleaner into every tank of gas run through that car.
Strange indeed.
