"AAGGHHHHH!!" or "I Wanna Cut My Suspenders and Go Straight Up!!"

[Shuckins]

Monday, Nov. 20, 2006:  Shuckins departs for work at 6:45 a.m.

At 8:15 a.m. Mrs. Shuckins rises from the bed, showers, and prepares to take number two son to college.

At 9:05 a.m. the Mrs. attempts to start the Escape...and notices a "low coolant" light flashing on the dash.

Calling her brother, who owns and operates two large auto-service dealerships, she attempts to ascertain how to add coolant to the radiator.

Thereupon, at 9:45 a.m., reinforced by said brother's advice, Mrs. Shuckins departs in the mother-in-law's car to Wal-Mart to buy a gallon of coolant.

Arriving back at the house at approximately 10:15, the Mrs. pops the hood and, with the nominal and, as it turns out, inconsequential help of number two (son that is) pops the top off the spout leading to the radiator and pours in the gallon of coolant, followed by water from the hose.

Then, when she attempted to crank the engine, there are muffled explosions and clattering rackets and cacophonies of various and sundry noises from under the hood and the exhaust belches black clouds of smoke into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, ole Shuckins is having a wonderful day at work...blissfully unaware of the aforementioned proceedings.  The poor fool.

A tow-truck arrived at his residence at 11:30 a.m.  After explaining what happened...the attendant mechanic ascertained that the Mrs. had poured the coolant and water down the oil spout.

Quothe he:  "I'll try to flush it out and see how much damage has been done.  Call me Wednesday afternoon and I'll be able to tell you more by then.

Shuckins arrived home from work at 4:15 p.m.  The two sons, numbers one and two, inform him of the days events.  He takes it surprisingly well....staring vacantly out the window for no more than two hours or so.


Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006.

The mechanic informs the Mrs. that there is water in the cylinders and a thrown rod in the front half of the engine but he could get to the rear cylinders and was going to have to tear the engine down further to ascertain fully but he doubted that anything could be done and that the best that could be done is the installation of a new or rebuilt engine.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Shuckins wonders about the futility of all human endeavor....

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ha!!!!

[storch]

I kinda doubt the thrown rod theory

[nirvana]

Why Storch?  Once you get coolant into the oil and the properties of lubrication are gone...that cap and bearing could be gone.


Best of luck to you, I'd recommend a Jasper rebuilt or a new one.  If you get one from a junkyard it might not be in any better condition then the previous one.

[WilldCrd]

Originally posted by storch
I kinda doubt the thrown rod theory

Im with storch on this one. Cant see how just STARTING the engine caused it to throw a rod. nope. Way back when wildcrd was a lil wannabe virtual pilot he and some buddies went to the local junk yard to experiment on some engines. We did a homegrown version of mythbusters...with out the hot redhead and cameras. Anywho pour coolent into oil, start and let engine heat up coolent and oil mix with heat and turn acidic and ruins said engine.
Was it truely acid? mmm dunno we were young. But it did eat up every gasket and anything rubber plus tourn the oil to sludge.
If all the Mrs's did was start the engine and then it died, I just cant see throwing a rod. unless she took it out on the road and let it heat up.

i would get a 2nd opinion
just my 2 cents

[john9001]

if what you say happened happened, she added a gallon of antifreeze and a gallon? of water to the oil already in the crankcase and then ran the engine. it sounds like it cracked or broke a piston trying to compress the non-compressible fluids, (pistons are designed to take a load from the top not the bottom).

the engine might be repairable but you will need a real mechanic and they are hard to find and expensive, with the cost of parts/labor it might be cheaper to buy a rebuilt engine.

you might think about having your wife and sons taking one of those short classes that teach you how to check fluids, tire pressure,change flats, etc. Our dealership gave them every two months for free.

[Airscrew]

I'm with Storch,  get a second and third opinion.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by john9001
you might think about having your wife and sons taking one of those short classes that teach you how to check fluids, tire pressure,change flats, etc. Our dealership gave them every two months for free.

The day after I married, we covered this.  "This is where you check the oil, this is where the coolant goes, this is where the oil goes...new cars say "OIL" on the cap..." etc. etc.

[storch]

I had an international dumptruck that had a cracked water jacket and leaked into the number eight cyl. starting that truck up every morning was the hardest part of the process as it compressed the water in the cylinder and spit it out of the manifold into the exhaust system.  I ran the truck like that every single day for about year until one day it threw a rod and ruined the block.  that wasn't the only one either.  we used to change engines rather than oil and filters.  the down time was almost the same.  it was far more productive to keep the vehicle in constant service.  ahhhh the good ol' days.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
The day after I married, we covered this.  "This is where you check the oil, this is where the coolant goes, this is where the oil goes...new cars say "OIL" on the cap..." etc. etc.

My experience is women + mechanical things = Disaster most of the time
No matter how many times you try to explain it to them

I knew a women who insisted on adding a quart of oil to her car once a month and on long rides.
If it needed it or not LOL

[Meatwad]

Poor car

[storch]

my wife had a nice 1979 mustang we bought her brand new.  a few years into the car, on a saturday during september I decide to take it for a spin on highway 3A between manomet where we lived to marshfield to visit some friends and go surfing.  I load up my crap, fire up the pony engage reverse release the clutch and ........ nothing.  shut her down pop the hood (I don't know why) everything looks fine.  drop the hood fire up again same thing ..... nothing.  look underneath, no drive shaft.  go inside honey how did you get the car home last night?  "the same way i always do i drove it home" honey the car doesn't have it's drive shaft did you hear any noises?  " oh ya it made a clunk sound on white horse road.  walk on out to white horse about a quarter mile up the road was my drive shaft on the shoulder.  u joint had failed, dropped, dragged quite a bit, came off of the front spline, she coasted home completely clueless as from the point where it failed to our drive was fairly steeply down hill.  gotta love the girls, bless their puffy breasts.  and no she ain't a blonde.

[Shuckins]

...if they just didn't assume that they know how to do EVERYTHING...and that the husband is a clueless dolt who doesn't have to be consulted before they take action...

[LePaul]

Here's what I would do.  In this order.

Shoot son.

Shoot wife.

Spend insurance money on excellent new vehicle!

But seriously...

We had a kid in shop class add not one quart of oil, not two...but he poured oil into the engine until it was overflowing from the top.  Rather than face the embarassment of asking what to do, he calmly leapt into the car and tried to start it.  

[RTR]

heh, I haven't had a new car yet that the Mrs didn't put a dent or deep scratch in it within the first week. I'm considering taking a baseball bat to the next new one immediately on delivery, just to get it over with.

ahhh welll.....she makes me cheesecake once in a while, so I guess i can put up with it.

cheers,
RTR

[CAF51]

I remember riding with my dad in an old 4 door Ford with a straight 6 when one of the rods broke and the piston punched a hole right through the hood.  Lucky it was an old beater we bought on the cheap