I'm an idiot.
I installed a tefba filter into my upper radiator hose to filter out all the crud from my cooling system. You've got to check it periodically or it will get clogged and your engine will overheat... you probably see where I'm going with this...
My wife has been driving my car lately and she has a much longer commute than me which would explain the excessive buildup and my neglect. I've been busy as hell lately with family issues, financial issues, car issues, job issues, health issues, (maybe even some mental health issues lol) and even with all these excuses I still can't forgive myself for forgetting this I feel like I've left my baby sitting in shitty diapers until it developed a flesh eating bacteria...
Sorry for that, on to the details.
I had been driving down the freeway in my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis for probably fifteen to twenty minutes when I noticed the check engine light came on (FEAR) in the rear view mirror I could see smoke/steam coming from my car (PANIC) then I saw the temperature gauge all the way up and started hearing the steaming coolant gushing out of the engine (!TERROR!) so I pulled over and immediately noticed that I was leaking coolant. It was kind of dark outside and the coolant looked dirty but as far as I could tell it didn't look like it had oil in it and I couldn't see any coolant dripping from my exhaust.
I opened the hood and I could still see coolant spraying from what looked like the front lower driver side of the engine drenching the coolant reservoir and pretty much everything in the front left corner of the engine bay. It wasn't coming from the water pump area or the upper radiator hose where the Tefba filter was preventing coolant from flowing into the radiator. It wasn't leaking from the radiator either. I couldn't get a good look at the lower radiator hose but what I could see seemed to be intact and not clearly leaking. It was too dark and dangerous to look any closer. It was towed and is now sitting at my mechanics. My guess is (hopefully) the leak sprung from the lower radiator hose and sprayed upward, or (hopefully not) pressure from overheating caused a gasket in the engine to blow spraying the coolant from that.
What do you guys think? How bad did I fuck up? Could the ole 5.0 put up with my idiocy or should I be comparing estimates on an engine replacement? What kind of damages could I be looking at from all this pressure and overheating?
It's ironic that something I installed in the hopes of increasing engine life has most likely drastically reduced it and I have no one to blame but myself. The worst part is people are gonna look at me like "oh he needs to get rid of the POS and get a reliable car" when it's the other way around! I'm the POS, my car is reliable as FUCK! It didn't fail me, I failed it. The only good thing about this is that I'll be spending more time screwing around on GMN. As always thanks for any and all comments or suggestions. Where the hell would I be without this place.
I installed a tefba filter into my upper radiator hose to filter out all the crud from my cooling system. You've got to check it periodically or it will get clogged and your engine will overheat... you probably see where I'm going with this...
My wife has been driving my car lately and she has a much longer commute than me which would explain the excessive buildup and my neglect. I've been busy as hell lately with family issues, financial issues, car issues, job issues, health issues, (maybe even some mental health issues lol) and even with all these excuses I still can't forgive myself for forgetting this I feel like I've left my baby sitting in shitty diapers until it developed a flesh eating bacteria...
Sorry for that, on to the details.
I had been driving down the freeway in my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis for probably fifteen to twenty minutes when I noticed the check engine light came on (FEAR) in the rear view mirror I could see smoke/steam coming from my car (PANIC) then I saw the temperature gauge all the way up and started hearing the steaming coolant gushing out of the engine (!TERROR!) so I pulled over and immediately noticed that I was leaking coolant. It was kind of dark outside and the coolant looked dirty but as far as I could tell it didn't look like it had oil in it and I couldn't see any coolant dripping from my exhaust.
I opened the hood and I could still see coolant spraying from what looked like the front lower driver side of the engine drenching the coolant reservoir and pretty much everything in the front left corner of the engine bay. It wasn't coming from the water pump area or the upper radiator hose where the Tefba filter was preventing coolant from flowing into the radiator. It wasn't leaking from the radiator either. I couldn't get a good look at the lower radiator hose but what I could see seemed to be intact and not clearly leaking. It was too dark and dangerous to look any closer. It was towed and is now sitting at my mechanics. My guess is (hopefully) the leak sprung from the lower radiator hose and sprayed upward, or (hopefully not) pressure from overheating caused a gasket in the engine to blow spraying the coolant from that.
What do you guys think? How bad did I fuck up? Could the ole 5.0 put up with my idiocy or should I be comparing estimates on an engine replacement? What kind of damages could I be looking at from all this pressure and overheating?
It's ironic that something I installed in the hopes of increasing engine life has most likely drastically reduced it and I have no one to blame but myself. The worst part is people are gonna look at me like "oh he needs to get rid of the POS and get a reliable car" when it's the other way around! I'm the POS, my car is reliable as FUCK! It didn't fail me, I failed it. The only good thing about this is that I'll be spending more time screwing around on GMN. As always thanks for any and all comments or suggestions. Where the hell would I be without this place.
Comment