that’s the ol’ pepper kid

today has been a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day…

…but hopefully the worst is behind me. hopefully.

yesterday my car started to overheat, and given the location of the sizzling noise it sounded (and looked) like the water pump. sixty-two bucks later i was leaving the auto parts store with a new water pump, gasket, coolant, and stripper boob in a tube (i.e. silicone sealant). four hours later (two and half of which were spent watching a pimp my ride marathon…for…um…inspiration) and all was installed. fired it up, no leaks around any of my installation. thought all was good, took ‘er for a spin…

…all was not good. things had, somehow, gotten WORSE.

i was floored. without my car, i have no job – and my repairs had made the problem WORSE?

needless to say, i made sure i slept really well last night…

…so, this morning i get up. i run for tacos. i run to the grocery store. i run to the auto parts store for advice, get simplistic advice, and follow it and all seems good. i drive around town, and all is well. so, i fuck off for the rest of the morning, play with the puppies, get showered up, and head into work…

…i made it eight miles before the temp gauge started to climb. i had to pull over at a store ten miles out to email something and wait for the car to cool. on the way back i only made it five miles and had to pull over…and while it was cooling a woman popped in for a beverage and told me her husband ran a garage out of their house which was within view of the store.

serendipity?

so, next thing i know it seems like he was putting my car through a torture test. and i had to crawl up under it more than once. but he DID do what appeared to be a full radiator flush (with a garden hose) and then “fixed” my leak (which appears to be the timing gasket) with black pepper.

yes, you read that write. google that shit.

i didn’t trust it (although, in his defense, i went the seven miles back to town, all over town, and out of town to the garage that SAID they could check my shit but it turned out couldn’t until monday with no issues) so i ended up putting some stop leak shit that, at last check appeared to have stopped the leak as advertised on the bottle (but the bottle also says “permanently” so we’ll see about that shit) so think hopeful thoughts…

…and if you ever get in an “oh shit” with your radiator, have some black pepper handy!

(and NO, this is not an april fool’s joke)