I’m tired! Started early but things didn’t go quite as hoped- Imagine that? I was feeling less than fantastic about the Mercury as I wasn’t sure where the coolant leak was. My buddy Jerry squeezed me in and found it with-in a few minuted. I realized that I would have been wrong if I’d guessed. Another “Imagine that?” The good part- I have the parts and material for the repair! The bad part is the intake manifold has to come off to get to it. I know for a fact I’m not up for lifting a manifold with all the associated things like fuel injection system off the engine. I did close to that on the Ford a few years ago and almost hurt myself. Jerry is returning within a few days to do the job. He estimates 4 hrs. ME? It would be 4 days at least IF everything went smoothly and I was still able to function after lifting it off the engine. It is a fairly common occurrence a simple hose. $16 worth of special hose recommended by the parts folks (professional parts distributor). They have a regular customer with a fleet of limo’s with that engine so he was very familiar and suggested the special hose. It’s a multi purpose industrial material that is very tough and, key issue, VERY heat & abrasive resistant. Just a few bunks more ($6) so go for it Crusty. I did! Then it was the new gasket for the manifold – again I went for the good stuff. I don’t believe that mentioned that when I discover there was a problem I jumped started the Ford and drove it to charge the battery and it over heated immediately (within a couple miles) – That I was comfortable with my diagnosis – stuck thermostat. I believe I can handle THAT! I have all the parts for both except I forgot new hose clamps for the Merc. Jerry is pretty committed with other work but between now and Tues he expects to get the Mercury done. In the mean time I will attack the Ford- That shouldn’t be more than a few hours for me even. I plan on selling or giving it away ASAP as basic short term transportation OR it’ll get a one way trip to the salvage yard. The thermostat is as far as I’m going with messing with it. It doesn’t owe me anything. I can’t remember how long we had it but it has to be close to 10 years and it has performed OK especially for a $600 car. There aren’t any of those left anymore (chuckle)
The temperatures here are climbing - today 106, 120 expected by Tuesday.
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