Well I promised you a story and I sure have one for you. Feel free to skip down to the pics if you don't want to hear my rambling, but I had my first real breakdown in the OCC yesterday trying to get to San Antonio.
Such fun.
I left my house around 10:30 am. It normally takes about an hour-and-a-half to drive to the San Antonio yards. It was overcast and in the upper 70's....sticky, but better than the 100+ degrees I dealt with on my last San-An yard run. It rained all day Saturday here, and the clouds were the back-end of that storm. According to the news it was already sunny down in San Antonio.
I got on I-35 and headed south. Tools in the back, radio on, big comfy car and a day of freedom. Not bad. Made it down and through Austin with no issues and set the cruise control at 80mph just south of the city. Hummed along for about another 15-miles, singing to the radio and enjoying the drive. Something caught my attention on the dash...not a light, but the temp gauge, which normally lives around 180-degrees, was now just over 220...hmm.
I kicked off the cruise control and shut off the a/c and slowed down a bit. The gauge moved higher...heading for the red. Whoa! What's this??? I pulled over to the side of the highway and the gauge went into the red. I shut the car off quickly and (forgetting that the window tint was new) rolled down the windows and popped the hood.
On looking at the engine, I could tell it was hot. Could see no leaks or smoke under the hood though, but the water in the overflow bottle was nearly to the bottom. Ok... So some water is gone, but do not see a leak... I squeezed the upper radiator hose and it was hard as a rock. Reached down and did the same to the lower hose, and it squeezed easily...
Thermostat...
I debated getting my tools out and pulling the thermostat right there on the shoulder of the highway, but I had no water or coolant to put back in, and knew it would go everywhere if I did it there. There was an exit 2-miles ahead...I could see the sign for it up ahead. I also knew that San Marcos (and auto parts stores) were only about 4-miles down the road. Decided to sit a bit an let the car cool down.
Snapped this pic....car hot and traffic rushing by at 80mph...gotta remember the fun times.
After about 20-mins of sitting the temp gauge had dropped to around 180 again. I fired the car up and pulled into traffic. I was STUNNED at how fast the gauge raced back up to the red. DOH! I went no more than a half-mile before the gauge was to the red again. I pulled over again...shaking my head and contemplating locking the car up and walking the mile-and-a-half for some coolant. I could SEE the exit now way off in the distance, and knew there was a gas station there.
After another 20-mins of watching traffic whiz by my window, I had an idea...
...and fired the car up....got it to neatly 90mph....popped it in neutral and shut the engine off....and coasted...ahahaha. Turns out these cars coast really well! Flashers on, I watched the speedo drop to around 40, and fired the car up and did it again!! Made it to the exit doing this and coasted into a Texaco station....fun too, no power steering or power brakes with the engine off. Not on issue on I-35 going straight, but hard to steering into the station and then double-footed the brake pedal to stop. Wheee!
I got out, popped the hood and went inside to buy a gallon of coolant. They had one kind, Havoline, and it was $18.95!! For a gallon of coolant! Ripoff!!
I paid it...had no choice, and asked the clerk how far away the nearest parts store was. Autozone was about 2-1/2 miles down. Ok then. Went back to the Cruiser and squeezed the upper hose again. Still hard. I got a towel out of the back of the car and put it on the radiator cap, and slowly turned it. Hot antifreeze began bubbling out of the radiator, through the hose to the overflow bottle....and it filled the bottle back up almost to the FULL mark. Once it stopped I took the cap off....it was of course low in the radiator. I filled the radiator back up with new coolant, and then topped off the overflow bottle, and put the caps back on.
Got back in the car and the temp gauge was still over 220 with the key on. Debated what to do, and decided I'd make a run for the Autozone, buy a new T-state and gasket and swap it in the parking lot there. I slammed the hood, fired the car up and pulled out of the station. Gauge still reading high as I sped down the frontage road...but then, all the sudden, the gauge fell rapidly down to 180...where it normally lives, and stopped. T-Stat opened! Ha!
Car now running cool and normal I went to Autozone and bought a new thermostat and gasket. Went back out to the car and started it up...all seemed fine. Check under the hood...the overflow bottle was still nearly full. I topped it off with my gold-plated Havoline anti-freeze and let it run a bit. Running quiet and cool....
It was now around 12:30. I didn't really want to pull the T-stat if the car was running fine. 20-mins ago I was concerned about how I was going to get home, and now I wanted to go yarding again...ha. I put the new t-stat and gasket in the 3rd row well with my tools and got back on the road.
Car ran perfectly the rest of the 250-miles of the trip. Hahahaha! Will replace the t-stat soon anyway, just to do it. GOOFY!
So now back to the point of the post, here are the salvage yard pics. Had a good time, sun came out and the yard was basically dry in San Antonio. I did not find everything I wanted, but did ok.
Here we go!
The best thing about Pick-N-Pull is the free ride! The B-bodies are in the WAAY back....hop on the free shuttle and ride in the shade. Good way to spot cars too. LOVE Pick-N-Pull!
Clean Cutlass 4-door at the front of the yard. Most parts interchange with the 2-door cars, and the 2-doors tent to be totally picked over while the 4-doors are hardly touched. Found a perfect Malibu dash in a 4dr Malibu for my friends El Camino. You gotta knw what to look for!
Picked-over Cutlass coupe. Was a bucket-seat, floor shift car with the sport steering wheel...but ROUGH
Lots of the smaller FWD wagons in here
Regal
Another very-complete and solid 4dr Cutlass. G-Body fans need to get this stuff!
94 Roady with a vey nice light blue center-front armrest. Man I wish it had been my color blue. It would have cleaned up!
Picked-over Caprice
Another very good G-body doner car. This little '78 Grand Prix had TONS of good parts on it. Full silver-face gauges (no tach though), and the bucket seats were still in really clean shape. Bumpers and chrome in general were all in nice condition.
Another picked-over Cutlass coupe....buckets and floor shift again.
Late-70's Regal
Early Seville with a lot of good parts still on it
81 Citation. Very basic but the grill and headlight bezels are a can of black paint from being good X-11 parts!
Big Caddy coupe with still-nice blue leather seats
OUCH. Think this hurt?? Celebrity wagon
LOTS of B-body cars!
Roady Sedans
Electra wagon
Got all four blue headliner grab-handles out of this 92 Roady sedan. Will put them in my Cruiser eventually I hope. This car also had really pretty cloth seats in super shape, and a near-perfect center arm rest/storage box...but cloth, DANGIT! If it had been leather I would have it in my wagon now. This was a low-option car. No power passenger seat, manual climate control and no door panel lights.
80's Riv
77 Riviera..funky...had the 3-spoke wheel but interior is trashed.
Very clean and solid 79 LeSabre. Nice wheels and great chrome. Need that bumper for the 79 Electra...there is that scratch in the brown car.
It's really amazing how many BIG B's they have in this yard
Solid late Caprice with all four wheels
Another newer Caprice. I yanked the wiper pulse module out of this car. It looked new inside the motor
Caprice wagon
More rows of B's
92 OCC! You can start yelling at me now...I could not get the grill off. The heads on two of the torx screws were stripped. GRRRR
Man I love this yard
Blind...I'm BLIND
Another ANOTHER 92 OCC. Pretty picked-over.
96 Roady wagon Collector's Edition. Sorry folks, front wheel trim was dented
85 Grand Prix with a leather wheel...lots of good parts left.
Big cars!
Again happily I made it home with no issues....of course had to wash the yard dust off the OCC on the way home. Ha!
And here's what I came home with. Not a huge load, but some good stuff. Found a really nice front floor mat, all four roof grab handles, got some Cruiser and Olds emblems as well as some Buick GS emblems, and got the wiper delay module...which I installed last night and am HAPPY to say fixed my wipers. Score!
Sorry I was not able to get requests for the forum. I only had limited time in the yard and was trying to see all I could.
Other than my thermostat issues on the way, it was a fun day. Hope you liked the pics gang.
-Mike
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Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:35 am
