IHDiesel73L
Seaman
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2010
- Messages
- 70
The coffee pot wouldn't turn on this morning and I was too grumpy to fix it...oh well, I could always stop at Wawa (the Jersey and PA guys will know what I mean), so I stopped for coffee and noticed a strong scent of diesel (as in raw diesel fuel, not exhaust) but chalked it up to the fact that there were lots of heavy trucks in the parking lot around me getting their morning fix before heading out. Got back in the truck and went down the road about 5 miles when I stopped at a light and saw smoke rising up from underneath the truck 
I got to an area with a shoulder and shut her down immediately-I heard a hissing coming from the passenger side and saw that the veggie/diesel (I've been running my truck on SVO for three years) return line had sprung a leak-the system was purging at the time so there was a strong pressurized stream of diesel shooting directly at the exhaust manifold!!! Luckily it was just smoking and that was it-I breathed a sigh of relief once the truck shut off-then I cursed myself for not carrying a fire extinguisher. Things could have been a hell of a lot worse had I not noticed the leak when I did. The line had been tucked up out of the way with zip ties but it looks like one or two had broken which allowed the line to rub on the frame rail until it became thin enough to burst. My fault for not giving a periodic look-see down there often enough to catch it. So I call AAA as I pay the $100 a year or whatever it is for 100 mile towing. The rear brakes needed to be done anyway as well as a tire rotation and coolant change and with the baby on the way I haven't had a spare minute to do maintenance so I figure I'd have it towed to my friend's shop.
I called my dad and told him what happened (he's retired) and asked him to pick me up and bring me to work. He calls me about 30 minutes later and says "you're never going to believe this..." HE broke down on the way to get me!!! He was taking a ramp off of the interstate onto the state highway that I was stuck on and lost his throttle cable. He managed to idle it to a safe spot and found that the cable had snapped. He thought maybe he could rig something up, but I called AAA back and asked if I could get him towed too. Then the driver showed up and luckily the flatbed had a towbar on the rear also and we had to go right past where my dad was. So we get there (this is the best part) and I see my dad leaning out the window pulling on a piece of string that's coming out from under his hood... As I get out of the truck he says "I think I can drive it home like this!" Turns out he had tied string to the throttle body and was working it like a hand control :facepalm: They say that eventually you become your parent's parent-I think that's starting to happen to me... Anyway, we hitched up his truck and off we went. Luckily my buddy also runs a used car lot so he gave us a beater '02 Hyundai to get back home in. Now I'm at work and he's back home so all's well that ends well I guess. What a frickin day!
I got to an area with a shoulder and shut her down immediately-I heard a hissing coming from the passenger side and saw that the veggie/diesel (I've been running my truck on SVO for three years) return line had sprung a leak-the system was purging at the time so there was a strong pressurized stream of diesel shooting directly at the exhaust manifold!!! Luckily it was just smoking and that was it-I breathed a sigh of relief once the truck shut off-then I cursed myself for not carrying a fire extinguisher. Things could have been a hell of a lot worse had I not noticed the leak when I did. The line had been tucked up out of the way with zip ties but it looks like one or two had broken which allowed the line to rub on the frame rail until it became thin enough to burst. My fault for not giving a periodic look-see down there often enough to catch it. So I call AAA as I pay the $100 a year or whatever it is for 100 mile towing. The rear brakes needed to be done anyway as well as a tire rotation and coolant change and with the baby on the way I haven't had a spare minute to do maintenance so I figure I'd have it towed to my friend's shop.
I called my dad and told him what happened (he's retired) and asked him to pick me up and bring me to work. He calls me about 30 minutes later and says "you're never going to believe this..." HE broke down on the way to get me!!! He was taking a ramp off of the interstate onto the state highway that I was stuck on and lost his throttle cable. He managed to idle it to a safe spot and found that the cable had snapped. He thought maybe he could rig something up, but I called AAA back and asked if I could get him towed too. Then the driver showed up and luckily the flatbed had a towbar on the rear also and we had to go right past where my dad was. So we get there (this is the best part) and I see my dad leaning out the window pulling on a piece of string that's coming out from under his hood... As I get out of the truck he says "I think I can drive it home like this!" Turns out he had tied string to the throttle body and was working it like a hand control :facepalm: They say that eventually you become your parent's parent-I think that's starting to happen to me...
Anyway, we hitched up his truck and off we went. Luckily my buddy also runs a used car lot so he gave us a beater '02 Hyundai to get back home in. Now I'm at work and he's back home so all's well that ends well I guess. What a frickin day!
