I got my Binder back for this week with a rebuilt air compressor - apparently that was another thing headed south. So, some of were tooling along west of Topeka when I saw a couple red lights suddenly appear on the dash. "Check Engine" and "Warning." Oooookaaay - the temps were all ok, air pressure up, oil pressure up - so we found a place to pull over. The plastic radiator reservoir has a couple of glass bubbles - the top one for full cold, the bottom (when clear) indicates it just might need a gallon or so of antifreeze. Both bubbles were clear. It took three gallons - I had two and a compadre had one. Looking around, we found the leak - a coolant hose going from the air compressor head back to the block. When replacing the compressor, the usual process is to clamp down on the hose with some vise grips to prevent leaking.
But, the hose was aged and didn't take that treatment very well, since it had a tiny split open. Luckily, we were close enough to the CAT dealer in Topeka to drive there and get it fixed. They had me on my way in under two hours. Thank you, God!
That shiny braided line just inside the regulator is the replacement - apparently rubber hoses have been deemed too weak for this application, and CAT has upgraded. While they were at it, the mechanic replaced the incoming line as well - that's the blue gel coated line on the head of the compressor.
I know that isn't even close to being a tornado, but clouds that do that crap
will get your attention.
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4 comments:
Close enough to a tornado for me. I hate to see stuff like that even though they are rare around here....not quite rare enough.
That is one scary looking cloud. Time to head for shelter at a Stuckey's Truck Stop. Or do they have those any more? That was a feature of my childhood vacation roadtrips with parental units. On my last roadtrip I had to write an elegy for the chain as I was convinced I'd visited the last Stuckey's standing in America.
They are only a tornado when a cow goes flying past your windshield. Fact. I know. I am a weather scientist on the Internet. And a doctor.
3C - like I said, crap like that gets my attention real quick.
Lisa - I read somewhere there are still some Stuckeys out there - several years ago they teamed up with Dairy Queen, but most of those went belly up. There's a bunch of the old buildings either abandoned or converted to smut peddlers along I70 in Kansas.
Laura: And you're a very smart weather scientist - if you're gonna be poking it with a stick, it will be a long one.
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