Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Truck breakdown

We left a COE campground in Plymouth, WA, on the shores of the Columbia river, this morning heading for Yakima. A short trip of about 90 miles or so. Got about 50 miles and were going thru a construction area when the truck started to lose power.
We pulled over and did a walk around and everything looked fine, and as were were parked at an on ramp, we started to pull back onto the highway, when in my mirrors I saw a truck jack knifing just behind us, so we pull back over onto the off ramp and shut down and we all headed back towards the accident. By the time we half way back, a state trooper was there and a number of the road work crew were there so we headed back to the trucks to keep going.
I started the engine and we hear strange noises coming out of the front so I pulled back over to the side of the off ramp and shut down and opended the hood.....
Oh my dear God!!!!!!
This nasty grey goop was coming out of the radiator overflow tank...it was bubbling out like mount St. Helens after an erution!!!!
Called road service and waited about an hour and a half. We sent Jim and Bobbie on ahead into Yakima to the rv park where we are staying and asked Jim to come back and get the trailer.
The road service sent two trucks out, one for the truck and one for the trailer. As it happens there was a Ford dealer at this exit, so the tow was about a half mile or so.
The diesel mechanic, after we explained everything to him, thought that it might be a blown oil cooler, and if so, the problem is not as serious as it looked to Jim C. and I.
We are both, Chapmans and us, at the rv park in Yakima and we had our happy(?) hour as usual, plus our dear friend Abel came by and joined us, before taking to one of the local pubs to meet up with old frinds from when we worked here.
Hopefully the dealer will call us in the morning with good news that the repair is not going to kill us....we have an extended warranty and hope that it will cover most of the expense.
Abel loaned us his truck for the night, and I have a hearing doctor appointment in the morning.
Jim and Bobbie are also having truck problems, and had made an appointment for early this afternoon that they had to cancel, so that Jim could come down and tow our trailer into Yakima.
He has a new appointment for tomorrow morning.
We will keep you updated with all of the truck problems as we find out anything new.
Depending on how expensive these two truck repairs are.....we may have to shorted our Pacific coast trip and head straight south to Yuma, AZ.
Hope you have had a better day than we have
Love to all of ya.
Jim and Linda

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