[Shotimes] Got at least ONE of them running......

[George Fourchy]

(Hey Dave K.....a two and a half pager.......!!)

....the two cantilever constructed wheeled metallic objects collecting dust in my
garage, that is.....

The wagon has been in there for the last month and a half....dripping, then
streaming, then gushing water out of the cooling system....finally totally emptying
itself in any given 100 miles of gentle driving (if I didn't attend to it, that is).
 I thought it was the radiator, whose tanks were bent by the bent lower support
(Ex-wife high centered it in the front at the same time she snapped the tie-rods,
years ago).  Got a newish one from Alan Fanning after I fixed the support.  That
allowed it to build up pressure.  The pressure finished off the waterpump that I put
in about 5 years ago, breaking off a tab on the timing cover during its intstall
(requiring a new timing cover...they were recalled anyway, but this car was too
old).  Then those endless alligators that are around here stopped me working on it
about Thanksgiving time.  House warmings, this problem, that problem, work.....

So it went together (FINALLY) last night.   I filled it with water, and pumped it up
with my Stant tester.....a marvelous piece of equipment, I might add.  (It's how I
found the leak in the water pump in the first place....that took about a minute to
do.)  Water came gushing out of the front of the engine again....twice as fast as it
did before.  

Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!  

It's 9:30 at night.....I'd LIKE to finish and go in and shower, please.....it's COLD
out here....at least down to 50 degrees!!  Then I remembered......HEY!!  I forgot to
tighten those two nuts on the back side of the pump, nearest the firewall....all the
other bolts are tight, but that alternator support rod covered the nuts.  I could
get to them without removing the support.  Now fill it again and try the tester.  
Hot Diggety......it holds pressure.  Success....(maybe)....for the first time in 9
years this car might not leak coolant.....!!

Next (this) morning....it needs an FCF (functional check flight) in the local area
before I attack I-80 for the 53 mile commute to work.  So we went around the corner
to the store to pick up the Christmas dinner for work tomorrow.  It makes this
interesting noise..... rrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr......as I speed up
and slowed down.  Not the engine....that's fine, but it sounds like REALLY badly
cupped tires, in the back.  They aren't cupped.....???  Zig zag in the lane,
listening for change in the sound.....worse turning right than left.  So, folks, it
looks like we have here one of the few documented cases of rear wheel bearing
failure in a Taurus (115K miles....hardly broken in...!!).  It's been so long since
I drove this car that I forgot I was hearing the noise before, but not NEARLY as
loud as it is now.  During the time it sat, the bearings apparently, being out of
grease, rusted some due to not moving every day.  So now it will be a noticably
quieter ride after they are changed.  Shouldn't be expensive ....maybe 10 or 15
bucks for all the bearings....they're amazingly cheap, especially at my NAPA store. 
They might even give them to me free, since I haven't been in there for months and
months......they might think I'm MAD at them......Naaaaaa....they know better.

So now, Lowrider is (almost) the only derelict in the garage......Maybe......just
maybe......I can get to it before the sun crosses the equater again, in March.....!!
That 300,000 mile mark might be hard to get to, after all.  Let's hope all the
bearings and other moving parts don't lock up in it before I get it out and
around........    Alligators.....SCAT!!!      BEAT IT!!!!

............maybe.........      (I sound like an ad for the California Lotto!)

George