Radiator stupidity

[brendan.hoban]

My radiator in my 22 Touring RHD required repair because the right hand side strap had broken off.

So, i took it to the radiator man who resoldered the strap.

I reinstalled it but it leaked, very slowly. I suspected the petcock so I replaced it with a new one. The old petcock had failed because of a broken spring.

After six weeks away I found that the radiator was only half full, coolant all over the floor, it seemed to be leaking from the new petcock!

I decided that it could either be the petcock valve failure or it's attachment to the radiator so I turned it on to drain the radiator anticipating a possible major repair.

Nothing happened. I decided it must be blocked with radiator crud so I tickled it with my special probe only to find that it would not penetrate more than a quarter inch. The petcock was turned off!

In the six-week time away, it has been open all the time and slowly dripping due to that radiator crud!

I have turned the petcock off and it dosen't leak anymore. No major repair is required.

I'm almost 80. Is this age related stupidity?

[Allan]

Nah, not age related Brendan! But I see you are from Victoria. I wish all my fixes were that easy.

Allan, in South Australia.

[jiminbartow]

Couldn’t the radiator man have flushed it when he had it? He could have also found any leaks with a low pressure test.

[signsup]

I filled my sand blast cabinet with media yesterday and when the trigger did not produce any flow, realized that the bottom media door was wide open and I had dumped an entire bag of coal slag on the ground. Spent 1/2 hr sweeping and sifting up all the media and kicked myself for not checking and then dumped the bucket back in the cabinet.
You guessed it . . . did not close the open door that started this whole mess. Repeat and rinse.

We call them senior moments.

[frontyboy]

What I hate is working on one of my t's and need a tool in another side of the barn. Get up go over to the other side and stand there because that short walk caused me to forget what the hell I came over for!!!!!!

just sayin'

brasscarguy

[signsup]

And, then, walking back to your car and wondering what the heck you needed that tool in your hand for.

Been there, done that.

[John Codman]

I filled my sand blast cabinet with media yesterday and when the trigger did not produce any flow, realized that the bottom media door was wide open and I had dumped an entire bag of coal slag on the ground. Spent 1/2 hr sweeping and sifting up all the media and kicked myself for not checking and then dumped the bucket back in the cabinet.
You guessed it . . . did not close the open door that started this whole mess. Repeat and rinse.

We call them senior moments.

I have had "senior moments" since I was a kid.

[Rich Eagle]

These are relatively cheap entertainment and it only gets worse.
Mine was new radiator only to have extreme boiling after installation. The problem turned out to be a black plastic cup installed in the lower inlet to prevent dirt or critters from getting in. I removed the cup, and all was well.

[RVA23T]

If I only drive modern during the week, I still forget there is no drivers (LEFT FRONT) door on the touring car.

[OilyBill]

I filled my sand blast cabinet with media yesterday and when the trigger did not produce any flow, realized that the bottom media door was wide open and I had dumped an entire bag of coal slag on the ground. Spent 1/2 hr sweeping and sifting up all the media and kicked myself for not checking and then dumped the bucket back in the cabinet.
You guessed it . . . did not close the open door that started this whole mess. Repeat and rinse.

We call them senior moments.

It may NOT have been a senior moment, my friend!

I have had the dump plate on the bottom of my blast cabinet trip open just rolling it out of the garage, ( I only use it outside) and my cement is VERY smooth. I have since added a spring catch to it, to keep if from misbehaving again. Just the rumble of the wheels on cement was enough to trip it over center and dump all the contents on the base shelf.

[Tadpole]

I drove down Main Street at 10:00pm with my spark lever nearly all the way up, went down the sloped part of the street and "BOOM!!!" Wakey wakey! The mind is a mystery no matter your age.

[OilyBill]

These are relatively cheap entertainment and it only gets worse.
Mine was new radiator only to have extreme boiling after installation. The problem turned out to be a black plastic cup installed in the lower inlet to prevent dirt or critters from getting in. I removed the cup, and all was well.

Rich, I bought a 1929 Caterpillar "10" tractor (kind of like a mini-dozer, my wife called it a "Puppy Bulldozer!" when she first saw it). I started to look it over after I got it home, and took some parts off to repair them, like the water pump assembly, which I figured were toast from age and abuse. When I took the upper water tube off it, I found they had made a gasket for it, BUT LEFT OUT THE HOLE FOR THE WATER TO FLOW! I bet they wondered why it overheated all the time! But that was not all I found, it appeared that the previous owner was NOT the sharpest boulder in the gravel pile. In addition to the shut-off water inlet, he also had managed to fracture the end off the clutch lever, which is 8" long and has a 1" X 1" pad on it that engages with the clutch lever in the transmission body, thus releasing the clutch. I have NO CLUE how they managed to do that! Like every part of a Caterpillar tractor, it is built incredibly heavily. But they found a way.

Leaving a packing plug in a radiator outlet is not that bad, especially if it was black. Packing plugs on aircraft parts are usually either red or yellow for that reason, so they don't get missed.

If you start making gaskets without through-holes, or start breaking clutch pedals on bulldozers, you then KNOW you are having a "senior moment"

[RVA23T]

[OilyBill]

Rich!

I almost forgot MY senior moment, except it was when I was 25 or so, and had just gotten my first Model A Ford. I spent about an HOUR trying to get the light bail back on the end of the steering column, the one that retains the light switch assembly. I finally stumbled on the fact that, if you are SMARTER THAN THE LIGHT SWITCH BAIL, you can just hook the ears over the attach lugs, and pop it over the end of the light switch. (Ten seconds if you are slow!) So THAT was how I found that I was (eventually) smarter than the light switch bail on a Model A Ford.

[Steve Jelf]

It's inexperience, not age. What I don't know about these cars fills volumes because I don't have the experience to know it all.