Sitting Duck on Mex Highway 1

I was on my way heading south in Baja once again having a good drive with great weather conditions and Big Red was purring down the road. It was around 325 miles south of the Tijuana border when I smelled something suspicious. I looked at my gauges and noticed my temp gauge was showing my engine was overheating at 245 degrees when the normal temp should be 190 degrees.  I immediately pulled off the road.  Fortunately right then there happen to be a turn off spot.  I shut the engine off immediately.

I got out of Big Red and went to the front and I could see steam and could hear some bubbling noise from the engine and I could feel the heat.  I sat there on the side of the road for about 45 minutes until the engine was what I thought was cooled down. I took a rag to put over the radiator cap just to make sure that I didn't get sprayed with either stem or boiling water.  I turned the cap on the radiator and nothing came out so I was lucky there.  I got out a gallon of water and poured in a little into the radiator but when the water went down into the engine, the engine was still so hot that the water started boiling right away! I could hear it just bubbling away.  Finally after another 10 minutes and 3 more gallons of water it stopped boiling and I could fill the radiator. Now I was ready to move on down the road. I started Big Red and rolled onto the highway and within 100 yards it was back up to 245 degrees so I immediately turned off the engine. At this point there were no turn offs but I was on a downhill grade and the road ahead of me was a straightaway.  I coasted down the grade as far as I could.  I figured at least I was on a long straight section and could be seen along ways away from either direction so I knew I should be safe enough.

I get out and walk around to the front once again and this time I happen to see what the cause of the overheating was.  The fan belt was hanging down and when I looked at my alternator  it was not in its proper position. The bolt that holds the alternators tension on the fan belt that turns the fan and water pump had snapped so the water pump that pumps the water to cool the engine wasn't being turned.  Fortunately the fan belt didn't break, even though I carry a spare.  So now I had to figure out where on my rig would I have a bolt that could possibly be the same size.  Fortunately the piece of the bolt left on the alternator I was able to remove so I could try and match it up with something on Big Red.

I began looking around and then I saw the bolt that holds the battery cable to the battery was the same size but unfortunately it was metric and the bolt needed had to be standard thread.  I got my mind working on where else I could find the right bolt.  I was walking towards the back when a semi pulled up.  The Mexican driver got out and asked if I needed help and I told him what happened and he said maybe he had a bolt in his truck that might work.  A few minutes later he came out with a few bolts but nothing that was the right size. I thanked him and soon he was on his way.  As he was driving away I turned to the back of my rig and I realized that the porch on the back was held up by 3 hinges with bolts that could possibly be the right size. I held the broken bolt up tone of the hinges bolts and it was the right size!  Got my tools, unbolted the bolt and got underneath Big Red.  Put the fan belt back on the alternator, put the bolt in the alternator then adjusted the tension on the fan belt.  All the while I was in the middle of the highway 1 only the semi passed by and by now the sun was just beginning to set.  My timing for this fiasco was just lucky enough to have given me enough sunlight before I would have been a sitting duck in the dark stuck on Highway 1.

 

                         Oh No, Not the Throwout Bearing!

 2023

I was on my way back down to Baja and had just drove into Ensenada. It was early in the morning when I pulled over to look at a big swell that was running.  The waves were breaking over the jetty that protects the shipyard from the ocean.  I have never seen waves big enough to be washing into the shipyard.  Anyway I happen to call my wife Roberta to tell her about the waves when she said that we have a problem back home.  She said we had a leaky hot water heater.  I was all packed and on my way for a 2 month surf trip and now I needed to turn around and head back home. 

Just before I took off for this surf trip there was a slight sound coming from the clutch area. I figured it wasn't sounding too serious and I would address the sound when I got back from this trip.  As I was heading back towards the border the noise kept getting a little more suspect.  Then it would go silent for most of the way back.  When I got to the border in Tijuana the noise started up again then would disappear  but each time it showed up it was when I used the clutch and eventually it began getting louder and louder.  Anyone who has ever been in line at the border knows it is inch by inch to the US border stall. Each time you move with a manual transmission as everyone who has one knows you have to push the clutch in to move the car and by the time you get to the border if you don't have a cramp in your clutch leg you are lucky because that leg close to 500 plus times depending on how far you are in line from the US side.

Well I was 2 1/2 hours of pushing my clutch pedal and by the time I got to the border the noise coming from the clutch  was sounding pretty bad.  I finally made it to the border then onto my house which is 25 miles from the border.  I pull into my driveway and shut off the engine. The next day I'm under Big Red and getting ready to take off the clutch inspection cover. When I take off the cover the bearings from the throwout bearing come falling out onto the ground!  If I hadn't called my wife and waited a few hours more I would never have made it back across the border.  I would more than likely have been stranded a few hundred miles in Baja with no way to fix Big Red!  As it was, it took few days to get the part and another couple of days to complete fixing the problem.  More than one thing needed to be fixed. It wound up that I needed to fabricate a few parts.  So it was a good thing I happen to make that call in Ensenada to my wife.