Not bad; as far as an averted disaster goes!(part 1)

[bobstad]

This evening, I drove down to Seattle from Bellingham, about 90 miles(I-5) and got stuck in slow moving nearly gridlocked traffic the last five miles or so.(to attend Seattle saxophonist/flautist/accordionist Jessica Lurie's SHOP OF WILD DREAMS CD release party/performance Thursday 11/13/08 from 5:30-7:30 p. m. at the Seattle Art Museum,[SAM]"Seattle's favorite saxophonist" http://www.jessicalurie.com )

Once off the freeway downtown at Union Street, I'd hit every red light going down Union from 7th to 1st Ave;(the SAM is on First) the downtown traffic there in the very center of the city still heavy with both day workers leaving for home and the influx of people there for the evening like myself.(the cooling fan doesn't work, that isn't a problem unless standing still or almost*)

Until the light at 3rd Avenue, there'd been a big cloud of steam from under the hood as the temperature needle was climbing precipitously towards the upper end of its range. Knowing I'd likely lost all the coolant in the system, the next few minutes were spent both contemplating loosing my car to whatever means of scavenging derelict inoperable vehicles Seattle has there in the congested almost impossible to find a parking place center of the downtown business and entertainment district; and/or ruining the car's motor trying to find a place to park to try to see what had happened and less likely, if I could somehow fix the problem.(with about sixty dollars on me and a hundred or so in the bank accessible via my ATM card; which would not only have to last to the end of the month, but get my sad enough self back to Bellingham, assuming what then seemed like a great possibility for failure)

I'd managed to go around the block somewhere at least once, was heading north on 1st and noticed around the corner of University Street a place just past the cross-walk which looked about as welcoming as could be, even if perhaps not legal...a place I could shut off the motor long enough out of traffic to be able to think a little more clearly about the predicament.

This turned out to be a three-minute loading zone, and I'd soon popped open the Festiva's hood, propped that up with the support rod, and was rummaging around on my hands and knees on the pavement in front of the car, looking around underneath and very quickly noticed the bottom radiator hose had come off at the radiator end; due I was able to decide, to excessive pressure from over-heating and the screwless OEM clamp which had allowed that pressure to blow the hose off.

About half an hour of breaking fingernails and substantial cursing, and I'd been able to use my pair of MasterMechanic stencil Vice-Grips to get the hose and clamp reinstalled and the cooling system filled with water again.(I'd just barely been able to turn over and start the car the last time, before pulling off the downtown streets there; the motor had gotten hot enough the starting motor could only get the engine to turn over with greatest hesitation, as I'd been wondering at what might happen the next time I'd turned the motor off waiting at a light in traffic if no place to pull off was found)

There'd been a coffee shop about twenty yards back down First, just around the corner from where I'd stopped, that had just past their closing time though with the front door still open; and I'd had a 3 liter plastic pop bottle stashed for emergencies inside the bare sheet metal next to the right hand side of the rear seat I'd filled and refilled to get the cooling system topped up with water as I'd let the motor idle.(about 4 1/2 liters needed)

*My Festiva has never had a working cooling fan as long as I've had the car, which since I'd lived only in rural areas or smaller towns I'd never noticed for about three years; though when I'd changed the timing belt at 100,000 miles(now 162,500 I'd gotten with 85,000 on the clock) the timing belt cover was very heat distorted which subsequently I've never seen on any other Festiva or Aspire, though looking at half a dozen or so in the local Eureka wrecking yard for various reasons over the years since I first got my car June of '99.

I'd not had much trouble driving without a fan until I began to go into the bay area from Eureka which can get a little dicey when standing still often, when the freeways get backed up in gridlock; so that I've got the habit of shutting off the motor frequently even if for just a moment since the engine cools so quickly, though more than once I've simply pulled off the road to wait until the traffic returns to normal even if an hour later, since I'm pretty good at napping under most any condition.

But, now I'd sure like to replace the thermostatic switch that is no good which is all that keeps the fan from working, that is otherwise functional. If I could find an alternate to the expensive Festiva unit Ford wants a bundle for that are supposed to be junk anyway, is what I think I remember reading here at FF.com?

[bobstad]

Not bad; as far as an averted disaster goes!(part 2)

The fun part, was once I'd gotten oriented I'd found I'd gotten the best possible parking spot in the whole town for my purpose;(I'd never been to the SAM before) even if I'd of had a policeman holding the spot for me all day there.(the man working at the coffee shop where I'd gotten water for the Festiva told me that the three minute zone became an unlimited time parking space after six p. m. which was just when I'd finished filling the radiator with water!)

I was right across the street from the SAM front door; and entering had thought I was hallucinating almost, as seven nearly brand new looking '80s or '90s white four-door Ford Tauruses were hanging from the ceilings inside the SAM, with a couple more identical to the ones suspended above, sitting on the floor.(nine in all I'd counted and the museum guard said he'd thought that was the correct number, as I'd looked around to see if there were any I'd missed?)

I'd heard the music as soon as I'd gotten in the front door, and soon was riding the escalator up to where they'd had a stage and the band was about half way through the first of their two sets.(four or five or maybe even six Tauruses overhead there I think, and one on the floor; with the overhead ones all sprouting long round hollow clear acrylic plastic wands with little electric lights inside blinking on and off sequentially, each wand ten or twelve feet long and dozens of these on each car as if the Fords were radiating sparkles of some sort of automotive bliss perhaps; coming through well contrived and finished holes in the sheet metal of each of the car bodys)

In between Jessica's band's sets I went and bought one of the SHOP OF WILD DREAMS CDs and then stood behind a woman she'd been talking to, to see if she'd autograph the CD for me.(I'd played an instrument at a workshop one of her other bands, THE TIPTONS women's saxophone quartet w/drummer [ http://www.tiptonssaxquartet.com ] had done here in Bellingham 10/7/07; something I'd made from pieces of an old Bundy resonite Eb clarinet she'd complimented me on then; a single-reed, conical bore horn a hand's breadth long with nine tone holes that sounds like a tiny saxophone, referenced elsewhere at FF.com in a link which describes the long curious history of the little instrument)

Once we'd had a chance to talk, I'd told her of the crazy way I'd ended up getting an almost impossible place to park, and the best one of all too.(with a tacet not even smug smiling understanding between us I'd just won the daily double on a very long shot)

Her group then went on to play their second and final set, which ended with a sing along of a song recorded in a bar in New Jersey; done by the composer/songwriter who'd thrown up on the tape recorder at the end, which she'd guessed may've been a melody from a more traditional Irish tune...though this version was all about a wish to be buried deep enough in the soil of New Jersey that as a corpse the gushing petroleum pipe lines would always give a stimulus to his final repose.(I'm not making this up!!) Jessica Lurie( http://www.jessicalurie.com ) is based both in Seattle and New York.

Even before the music was over I'd started to wonder if I'd be wise to put more anti-freeze in the motor, since I wasn't sure if driving without lubrication of the water pump the ninety miles back to Bellingham would harm anything?(I'd supposed this would not of hurt any motor of an older vintage, but thought perhaps my '91 had closer tolerances than say the '64 Chevy 1/2 ton step-side with a 327 and four-speed I'd paid $400 for with wildly over-sized white spoked wheels and big fat dune buggy sized tires that had been my most recent set of motor driven wheels prior to the Festiva; I'd picked up in Eureka, CA in '97 after being stranded there the year before when the motor of the $600 '75 Chevy van I'd gotten August of '94 in Spokane, and did a Mickey rebuild on there 13,447 miles before it threw a rod unexpectedly)(new rod & main bearings, all the seals on the 3-speed and the rear motor seal, to try to stop leakage on the clutch which had been chattering badly; which allowed me to plasti-gauge the bearings that had all been around .004 sloppy)

So, I'd asked the museum guard if he'd known of any open auto parts stores who'd suggested a SHUCKS on Northgate Way at Aurora Avenue(old 99) so I'd gotten back on I-5 northbound and took the Northgate exit, and soon had a gallon of anti-freeze and four screw type ring clamps to replace the OEM ones; and then thought I might as well replace the two radiator hoses too, so I'd had to drive about a hundred blocks up Aurora to another SHUCKS at about 180th, where not long after they'd closed at 9 p. m. I'd gotten the two new hoses and the new ring clamps installed and tightened, the anti-freeze in and was on my way back home.

PHEW!