Bad News Bears
We are expecting some inconveniences and problems while traveling, but didn’t realized the trouble would start so soon.
After landing at SFO, we get to our car at the airport parking lot and the coolant light comes on as soon as the car starts. A quick look under the hood reveals the fluid level is quite low…that explains the light. It’s 12:30pm so we just start driving anyway, stopping at a few gas stations to look for more antifreeze. No luck since they are either closed or don’t have the “special” kind that the VW requires. We eventually just added some water, which made the light turn off, but didn’t solve the heat problem.
I decide to just see how far we can get before overheating. The good news is the car is still running, the bad news is we cant go any faster than 40mph. Which is super fun on 101, at least it’s late and traffic is minimal. Getting up the hill on highway 17 was quite a challenge, but we made it to the top and coasted all the way down the mountain and made it home around 2:30am. Good thing one of us doesn’t have to work in the morning.
The diagnosis from the mechanic is that the water pump broke and the coolant wasn’t circulating. Of course it’s in a hard to reach spot which makes for an expensive repair. Heather had to work at home Monday and part of Tuesday until we got the car back. And I still need to get new tires. Ugh, I cant wait to forget about these problems and start the trip.
