Letting of steam

Today is Wednesday. We have a customer who needs to have an Earthing job done tomorrow and so, we need an Earth Tester. Normally, we do not do this because our job is to lay the Earth cable, thump in the copped rod to the ground and go home. But because we believe in doing things right, this meter is therefore, essential. And you cannot just buy it as if its a RM25.00 copycat meter. No, this meter is very sensitive and so, are we.

Almost three hundred meters to my destination, the car suddenly gave an very odd and familiar sound when I stepped on the accelerator in the traffic jam Yeah, the pistons were plinking. And suddenly, the car died. And so, stuck in the traffic jam, in KL and with nothing much I can do but to put in the hazard lights, I called my Boss to report the situation. And in times like this, you know that everyone is watching you and you'll feel very stressed. In other words, I nearly smashed my Nokia 5800 to the ground because it hang-ed halfway through the call. Luckily, I caught myself and used my backup Sony Ericsson. It seemed that the radiator has boiled all the water away. It was minutes after the call that I decided to try my luck again since I do not want my Tech to come over allt he way from Jalan Ampang to Jalan Imbi just to push the car. After a few times, the car started up again and I slowly urged it forward to the back parking lot, away from the main road.

By that time, while the engine was cooling off, I had a better grasp of the whole situation. But try as I might to deduce the clues in front of me, I have abosolutely no idea except for the fact that the car is in serious doo-doo. So, not wanting to waste anymore time, I let the car cool off while I walked half a kilometer to buy the Earth Meter before going back to my Office in Kepong.

The brown stuff is actually the dried-off coolant. Once
you add water to it, it will turn fluorescent green again.

I got a bit impatient and poured the first litre which I
collected the water from the nearby draining pipe.

Something if very wrong here as sign shows that
the radiator spewed the coolant everywhere.

And the funny thing is, the car's dashboard's temperature
indicator did not show any problems whatsoever

Just in case, my Boss told me to buy at least four
bottles of mineral water for the trip back to office.
He was right because it overheated again, just after
I passed by Brem Mall. One of the signs was that
the air-con, which I set a minimal cooling, got very
cold all of a sudden. So, being the wiser, this is a
sign that I have to pull over immediately, with
seconds to spare. Luckily, there was a customer
nearby and so, I saved two bottles of mineral water.

Back at the office, my Boss took a look at the engine

and we were surprised that apart from the loose nut,
there was a rambutan skin and two pieces of bones,
which looked like some ribs. He did asked me if I did
any checking under the hood which I replied I did as
I opened the engine the previous week for some
topping up of windshield wiper water..........

And also, chewed cables as well........

And so, I had to leave the Hyundai at the office while Boss gave me the Van to drive back home as I needed the transportation to go to Kuantan the next day.