The Breakdown - Coolant System Woes - Part 1

So I have been running the fan delete for about a month now. The car has done fine. No spikes of heat or any issues at all. While tripping down to the beach on holiday (aka vacation), the system had enough while sitting in a drive thru. The temp climbed to about 230' F. The temp gauge never moved past the middle most point, however with the Torque app I was able to monitor the real temperature of the coolant.

After climbing up to 230`F the upper radiator hose blew off. Steam and coolant proceeded to spew fourth. Ruining our chance at dinner and my mood. I was able to reattach the hose, top off the overflow and, creep back to the hotel.

You can see the broken ring if you look closely at the inlet.

The stress that ensued was high for me. There was a helpful guy in a Mercedes 240D and someone walking by who helped us push the car into a parking spot. The gentleman in the Mercedes, Austin, dove right in and took a look at the car. He found that one of the nipples from the upper radiator hose neck broke off in the hose. I'm so happy he spotted that because, I did not.

So there we are. I'm stuck at the beach with an overheating car. We tried to give it a fixer but, the bleeding process I'm used to using, didn't seem to get me anywhere. It was time to call in some help. I had a convo with my buddy Jeremy. He gave me some tips and things to look at. I took a look at what I could. Still no success. A tow was inevitable.

I Googled for a shop to take her to. There was a Euro shop south of us called Europro. After a nice conversation with one of the techs named Cal, I called roadside assistance for a pickup. A tow arrived with in the hour. The driver, Gary was nice, helpful, and pleasant to deal with. He took good care of Helena whilst traveling over to Europro.

Since I was on vacation I did not transit to the shop with my car. This is where the stress came in for me. In hind sight I should have made a trip over there right then and there. It probably would have saved me some stress and money. However, I called and touched base via telephone through out the duration of them working through the issues. I'll do a write-up on their shop up and coming. Spoilers: Don't worry it is all good. This story has a good ending as well.