Well I put another 480 miles on the Roady this weekend, and my "new" Z28 cluster now has 5000 miles on it. The Roady didn't let us down...but did have a few issues crop up....I'll consider them older car issues....up until now the Roady had been flawless on trips.
So Friday I headed to the car wash before the trip...can't take a trip in a dirty car. I'd had the windows down and a/c off all day, but was in the low 80's and rolled up the windows, hit the AUTO button to kick on the a/c, and got no cold air. Blew hot. Compressor not coming on. Scary issue to have before a road trip. After washing the car I unplugged the pressure switch on the accumulator to see if it had dirty connections, and jumped the plug. Compressor kicked right on. Removed the jumper and plugged it back into the switch...no a/c issues the rest of the trip...blew cold.
Changed the oil and filter before the trip. No leaks under the car. Good deal.
Trip up to Big D was uneventful. Had all five kids, my wife and I, and the big dog in the car, and the cargo carrier on the roof, loaded down. Got to Dallas at midnight Friday.
Sat everyone loaded in the wagon for my nephew's birthday party at a Laser Tag place. All the kids had a ball, and then I took all the kids to a cool wooden park in Lancaster near my in-laws house.
Laser Tag birthday party
Cool park in Lancaster Tx
That evening we all loaded back in the wagon and headed south to Ennis to the Galaxy Drive-In theater. Weather was perfect, in the 70's, and we brought dinner, blankets and pillows, and layed the tailgate and seats in the wagon down. Also brought folding chairs, and my brother-in-law and I sat outside while the kids watched from inside the wagon. Kid movies, The Lorax and Journey 2, but had a great time, and the stars out there are awesome. I love the drive-in!
Pulling in to The Galaxy just north of Ennis Texas
Waiting for the sun to set
Kiddos watching the movie from the wagon
Tailgate party at the Drive-In
Got a great seat next to the wagon, my view from my chair
Wagon during intermission between films. Fun stuff!
At midnight, leaving the movie, pulling on to I-45, I had a red light come on for about a second in the middle of the Z-28 cluster on the speedometer. Was not sure what it was, it went off just as I noticed it. Got back to the in-laws and forgot about it...car ran fine...we were beat.
On Sunday we had a good lunch with the in-laws, and Lily, the 12-year-old, wanted to go for a motorcycle ride. The other kids were playing X-Box, and I asked my mother-in-law if I could borrow her bike. It's a Honda Pacific Coast. About the easiest motorcycle in the world to ride, it looks like a spacecraft and is about as involving as a scooter, but is fun to putt around on. Lily and I headed south and spent a few hours on the country roads through the farmland and then rode under the trees along the creek from Rockett to Pecan Hill and back to Red Oak. Gorgeous weather and a fun ride.
Here's Lily on the Pacific Coast. Longhorns in the field behind her. God Bless Texas!
Got back around 3pm and loaded up the Roady.
Drove from Lancaster to Waxahachie, about 15 miles, because gas was cheaper there. I swear the gas gauge was just above E when I pulled in the gas station there. We'd last filled up in Austin on Friday, about 300 miles ago. I left the car running for the a/c, since my wife, the kids and the dog were inside and it was in the mid 80's. I removed the gas cap and it vented A LOT of fumes, and I plugged my credit card in the pump, pulled the hose off, and was about to start pumping when the Roady began running rough, then stalled....Say what??
I put the pump in the car and set it to pumping, opened the driver's door and asked Misty if she'd turned the car off. Nope, she said it must have run out of gas....weird. I sure didn't think it was that low, and we'd only gone 300 miles...but it was 300 miles with a cargo carrier on most of the time and loaded down with people and luggage and dog... Still my heart skipped a beat and I pictured replacing a fuel pump in a parking lot, 180 miles from home. Scary. BUT when I turned the key the car fired right back up. Ended up putting 18.5 gallons in the tank.
Ran fine all the way back to Austin.
I ran the car fully loaded, cruise set at 80mph, a/c on the entire way. Got home and dropped the kiddos off in South Austin at 11pm. Was midnight when we got home. Misty took our kids inside and I set to unloading the luggage and taking the cargo carrier off the roof, and I heard a gurgling sound. Popped the hood and the coolant was bubbling in the overflow tank. Weird! I watched the gauges all the way home and it never ran hot. Ran fine. I told myself I'd been pushing the car really hard and it was just the overflow filling back up, and went to bed.
So this morning, on the way to work, the red light I mentioned seeing when we left the movies the other night came on again for a second. This time I saw what it was, a low coolant light. It only came on when I first left my driveway, and then went off. I came on into work, and all seems fine. Will have to look under there at lunch and see if the overflow bottle is low.
Such fun.
-Mike
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Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:56 pm