Marcel weeps for the first time
Immediately we were traveling by the worst way; by a schedule. In just a few short days we needed to be at a predetermined destination to link up with my brother & wife to visit my eldest brother near Clearlake, California. This, at least, allowed us to drop in at Point Reyes National Seashore for those few days so Kerri could get her coastal fix, which is ironic as we have spent months living on the coast in New Zealand. Who am I to question her needs though?
During our one-day drive down into and through the Sacramento area, poor Marcel was feeling the heat. It was in the low 90’s outside, and Marcel’s temperature needle had crept up to about three-quarters up the gauge. This did not please either of us, but once we neared the coastal breeze, the needle dropped again.
Once on the coast, we settled in for a couple night’s parked on the roadside and spending our work day inside Point Reyes proper. With a late-van-build back injury (my first in years, but inevitable doing all that work) I wasn’t doing too much but sit around, which was exactly what I wanted anyway. We eventually worked our way North to Bodega Bay and then hopped back over the coastal mountains to meetup with my brothers. The overheating issue showed up once again. With it being in the mid 80’s outside *and* climbing up mountains, the van was unable to stay cool enough. We had even pulled over climbing two different mountains to allow Marcel to take a breather. This was not ideal at all.
With a day-visit with my oldest brother complete, my younger brother & wife booked a room at the local casino where we hung out for the evening catching up while the heat of the day rolled past. By sun down it was cool enough to sleep in the van, saving us from having to book a room as well. During breakfast the following morning, Kerri and I decided that we must get the overheating issue resolved. While at first we thought we could resolve it in Ukiah, we chose instead to take a route that would minimize hills and get us back to the cooler temperatures of the coast, just in case this forced us to stay in place for days. Ukiah, was simply too hot still.
Marcel made it back over the coastal mountains where we camped outside of Mendocino, with the ocean as our front yard once again. It was here that I was able to finally start looking into the issue we were having, and found that the previous owners had used radiator stop-leak at some point… a lot of it. This stuff is known to not only stop a pinhole leak, but to clog up an entire cooling system in the process, and that was now our problem. Even if we got the system flushed out, it would only expose a leak in the radiator, so a new radiator, thermostat, and hoses were now needed. On top of that, Marcel’s water pump was now dripping, signaling that it too would need to be replaced.
Replacing the parts is all something I can do myself, even roadside… which is why we buy these older vehicles. However, dealing with gallons of coolant, which is considered hazardous waste, and the many gallons more to flush the system is not something we have the means to do. I hate that we now have to pay for repairs that I could have done myself just a week ago for only the cost of the parts, but so is life. If I had caught this issue before we paid for Marcel, I would have offered – and insisted on – many thousands of dollars less knowing the entire system was now shot.
Public Service Announcement
DO NOT USE STOP LEAK! If you do, use it only in an emergency (a very small amount is all that is required) and drive straight to a repair shop and have the system flushed and repaired properly. Stop Leak is *NOT* a leak “fix” . It is an emergency tool only meant to get you to a shop, to get the leak fixed properly, likely at a higher cost for using Stop Leak. It is probably cheaper to get a tow to the shop then to use this garbage.
