Pissed-on by Parked Car!

[LillFilly]

Yeah...

I stopped at a store before work wearing most of my uniform. After parking, I noticed the car next to me (a 90's model jeep grand cherokee) leaking what appeared to be antifreeze. It wasn't just leaking, it was...gushing from underneath the vehicle. When I went in the store I told the nearest clerk and asked them to page. By the time I was finished nobody had showed. As I went back to my car I had to pass in-front of the jeep. It was then I felt a...hot wetness along the front and left-side of my body! I jumped back and realized the the antifreeze was now SPRAYING from the front grill of the car; it was arching a good 3-feet! I ran back in the store and told them to page again because the car was spraying! At that point santa's fat redneck brother ambled to the front of the store and growled "Yeah, that's mine; it does that all the time! What you want me to do about it!?" I told him did he realize just HOW MUCH his car was leaking, and that it had just doused me? He yelled "What am I supposed to do!? Not go shopping!?" I told him no, but he should take responsibility for the problems his car was causing me and any vehicles he might damage. He yelled "The stuff'll dry-up in 15minutes!" And went back into the store. I could only shake my head, growl "Asshole!" And get in to work because by that point I was going to be late. By the time I'd pulled-out, there was a puddle and river flowing from under his car.

Oh, and I left a note under his wiper thanking him for ruining my work uniform. By the time I got to my shift there was MOST CERTAINLY a stain on my pants.

I wish I'd had time to go through my entire tirade with the guy; namely, what if it had been a small child who got a face-full of hot antifreeze; would he have considered it a problem then!?

[jjllbb]

"What am I supposed to do!? Not go shopping!?"

yes! that's exactly what you're supposed to do! Go get that mofo fixed you jerk.

[mikoyan29]

Radiators are expensive....Although Dexron or whatever can probably start to add up pretty quickly. Engines get even more expensive...

[Sleepwalker]

If it was gushing like that, he'd no even get out of the parking lot around here without the hood shooting off like it was launched by a rocket. My thermometer went out on my radiator last year, and the amount of time for th engine to reach terrifying amounts of knockiness was about a minute...

[Racket_Man]

in the last 9 months I have blown 2 head gaskets and lost 80% of my antifreeze (Dexcool type). both were while I was working. I barely made it back to the store in one peice and barely made it from the store to my mechanics location (about 2 miles). inbetween I had to dump almost a full gallon of antifreeze into the reserve just to keep the engine running. while making the peroulious journey from the store to the mechanics the engine was shakin and rocking and I was really having trouble keeping the engine running let alone trying to drive down the street.

so I am thinking how in the HELL is this guys vehicle even able to run if it is spewing most of its anitfreeze????? heck the engine SHOULD have seized up and blew something out fo the top of the hood.

[ditchdj]

Antifreeze actually has ingredients in it that prevents the radiator from deteriorating. BUT, those ingredients degrade after the scheduled maintenance change.

[LillFilly]

Oh, and the antifreeze smelled like rotten fish! I was told that means it's oooooollllldddd and dirty.

Reminds me I have to wash my shirt still...

[mikoyan29]

Of course this is no different than the people who are spewing huge clouds of burning oil from behind their cars. I wonder how someone can not notice that.

[tropicsgoddess]

Jeebus! I don't know much about cars, but that guy needs to get that shit fixed ASAP! What a jerk.

[Android Kaeli]

If I was told my anti-freeze was leaking in my car like that, I'd be out of the store faster then one could blink. And then call the dealer where I got the car at, trying to get it fixed.

[Shalom]

Dexcool, and its relative merits and defects, is the subject of as much debate, and as much acrimony, as most religious debates I've heard. On the car forum where I hang out lately, it's been banished to their equivalent of Fratching, it's that bad.

Basically, GM claims that one fill of Dexcool will last 150K miles. It's orange instead of green, so you know there's a real improvement, right? Problem is, if there's any air at all in the system, such as might be caused by a tiny leak somewhere coupled with a rusted radiator cap (which will cause it to suck air from the leaky spot when it cools, rather than coolant from the overflow), it turns very quickly into sludge and can plug up stuff you didn't even know you had. Plus, if you mix the orange with the green, it can cause Bad Things™ to happen. This despite the manufacturer of the green stuff swearing up and down that they're miscible.

I get the feeling somehow that if the engine's already knocking, something's already broken.

[Sheldonrs]

..."Yeah, that's mine; it does that all the time! What you want me to do about it!?"

...He yelled "What am I supposed to do!? Not go shopping!?"

...He yelled "The stuff'll dry-up in 15minutes!"...

At this point it would have been appropriate to piss on his leg and give him the same excuses he gave you.

[blas]

My Neon went through two radiators in two years. Once when the head gasket and entire engine blew (didn't help that I limped it to my parents' house) and the next radiator they put in must not have been that great, because earlier this spring, I saw that dreaded leak again.

And let me tell you. Both times, it went from little droplets to gushing in a matter of hours. How does that guy even get around anywhere without blowing up his damn Jeep?!

[Racket_Man]

Dexcool, and its relative merits and defects, is the subject of as much debate, and as much acrimony, as most religious debates I've heard. On the car forum where I hang out lately, it's been banished to their equivalent of Fratching, it's that bad.

.

/threadjack
Thank YOU Shalom. that thread was a GOD send for me. It has now pointed me in a good direction as to why (as detailed in my above post) I had to replace 2 Lower Intake Manifold Gaskets in a 4 month period (over $2000 in repairs) and a water pump about 2 years ago ($400)

Thank you again
/end threadjack

[Shalom]

/threadjack
Thank YOU Shalom. that thread was a GOD send for me. It has now pointed me in a good direction as to why (as detailed in my above post) I had to replace 2 Lower Intake Manifold Gaskets in a 4 month period (over $2000 in repairs) and a water pump about 2 years ago ($400)

You're welcome. Glad I was able to help.

(I should point out that, Dexcool notwithstanding, the original Delco gaskets were just crap to begin with. What idiot specifies plastic gaskets for a high-temperature application like that? The GM Vortec engines (both 4.3 and 5.7) were and are notorious for blowing their lower manifold gaskets, and when they go the antifreeze will pish out as fast as you pour it in -- it's as if you were pouring it straight on the ground. As my mechanic put it, you've either replaced it already, or you will. I replaced mine with a Fel-Pro gasket, which has a metal core. Unfortunately the manifold itself was shot, so I had to have that replaced as well, and had to get a second gasket. God knows what's going to break next.)