That’s It. I Wanna Take Auto Shop!
I wonder if the community college in Bangor offeres an auto shop course. I sure hate that “we’re about to be stranded” feeling you get when something starts to go wrong under the RV hood…especially when you’re nowhere NEAR your final destination for that day.
In warmer climates, Richard always makes sure the coolant is topped off before we take a long drive. Today, the coolant smell was quite strong on the road and we were puzzled…and a wee bit worried. We stopped for lunch and Richard checked under the hood. Sure enough, the coolant level was considerably lower than it had been that morning.
After lunch, I was about to get into the passenger side of the RV when I noticed goopy fluid dripping from the floorboard there. Huh? It was all over the carpet where my feet had been! At first, I thought it was one of the children’s popsicles, dropped and forgotten IN MY SPOT. But, on closer inspection, I realized it was that neon green coolant color. I said, “Honey, I found the missing coolant.”
Thank goodness for our T-mobile card! Even on the outskirts of a small town in Alabama, I was able to get online and diagnose the problem by googling: coolant leak rv “passenger side”
It appears we have a leak in the Heater Core, which is a little radiator for the cab heater. Boy, I had no idea we had two radiators! Anyway, I found a quick fix online where you remove one hose thingie and hook it back into something else, thus bypassing the heater core (which we don’t need in this warm weather anyway, right?). But, when I was standing next to Richard in the front of the RV, telling him I bet I could figure it out, he closed the hood, put his hand on it protectively, and said, “Honey, I think we should leave this to the professionals.”
Darn.