This has been a most troubling week. It started on Monday morning on my drive to work. The coolant light had come on, so at the next stop I whipped out my owner's manual and found that I should "...Add coolant at the next earliest opportunity." o.k. then, after work I'll stop by the dealer and pick up some coolant. When I finally got to work, the "low coolant" indicator had turned off. I searched this board at the office and found that a couple people had this indicator come on when the weather started getting cold and it was possible that the coolant level had dipped slightly due to compression of the coolant fluid.
I start my commute back home and the coolant light comes back on. About five miles into my drive, the temperature gauge starts racing to HOT! I pull off at the next exit which happens to be the most gang-infested neighborhood in my area. I start searching for a place to stop and fortunately there was a police station a block down so I parked in their lot. I call roadside assistance and they tell me they'll have a truck out within the hour. The police station had just closed to the public, so I have to hang out in my car. An hour goes by, then another. I call roadside assistance and they tell me that there was a major accident in the area and that the California Highway Patrol has requested all available trucks to help out, so I have to wait another 2 hours! The tow truck finally arrives and we take my car to the dealer.:ben:
The next day, my dealer calls me and asks whether I garage my car. I tell him that I do and he says that they found rodent feces on the top of the engine and they had gnawed through the heater hose! He said that they didn't have the hose in stock so I would have to wait until tomorrow. They gave me a shiny new Hyundai from Enterprise Rental since all of their loaners were out.
The next day my car was fixed and "fortunately" the damage only totaled up to $200. I was worried that had been engine damage since the car had been driven for a few minutes with the high temperature light on.
I have told this story to a few people at work and got quite a few chuckles. I explained that I had just set out some mice poison over the weekend and one of my co-workers told me that this causes the mice to seek out water wherever they can find it since the poison coagulates their blood. Apparently, my 3 month old BMW was the closest place.:banghead:
The moral of this story is that if you think there may be mice lurking in your garage, make sure you put out some water if you decide to use poison or use some good old traps to kill the bastards!
I start my commute back home and the coolant light comes back on. About five miles into my drive, the temperature gauge starts racing to HOT! I pull off at the next exit which happens to be the most gang-infested neighborhood in my area. I start searching for a place to stop and fortunately there was a police station a block down so I parked in their lot. I call roadside assistance and they tell me they'll have a truck out within the hour. The police station had just closed to the public, so I have to hang out in my car. An hour goes by, then another. I call roadside assistance and they tell me that there was a major accident in the area and that the California Highway Patrol has requested all available trucks to help out, so I have to wait another 2 hours! The tow truck finally arrives and we take my car to the dealer.:ben:
The next day, my dealer calls me and asks whether I garage my car. I tell him that I do and he says that they found rodent feces on the top of the engine and they had gnawed through the heater hose! He said that they didn't have the hose in stock so I would have to wait until tomorrow. They gave me a shiny new Hyundai from Enterprise Rental since all of their loaners were out.
The next day my car was fixed and "fortunately" the damage only totaled up to $200. I was worried that had been engine damage since the car had been driven for a few minutes with the high temperature light on.
I have told this story to a few people at work and got quite a few chuckles. I explained that I had just set out some mice poison over the weekend and one of my co-workers told me that this causes the mice to seek out water wherever they can find it since the poison coagulates their blood. Apparently, my 3 month old BMW was the closest place.:banghead:
The moral of this story is that if you think there may be mice lurking in your garage, make sure you put out some water if you decide to use poison or use some good old traps to kill the bastards!
