** DEJA Trail Ride at RC - Nov 24 2012 **

Fernando, wasn't that you who gave me a quart of ATF+4 at the Wawa Saturday morning? I sent you a PM but got no reply. Just wanted to say thanks again for the generosity, and rest assured I'll make it up to you ASAP. If it wasn't you, it was someone else new to me in your Wawa RC convoy. Jim

Quote from quadna

What happened?

Somewhere between Dover and the Route 7 Wawa (the convoy rendezvous point) a tranny fluid hose at the bottom of the radiator got nicked by the harmonic balancer. The hose ruptured and sprayed fluid. Since the fan was right there, it did a great job of distributing the fluid evenly over every inch of the Wrangler (except, strangely enough, not the windshield). It was a terrible situation -- at the Wawa in the dark and freezing cold laying under the TJ trying to figure out the source of the leak. It wasn't easy, since fluid was dripping from virtually everywhere. I told the convoy to go on without me and then did a make-shift repair by looping a hose back on itself and bypassing the radiator. We (there were four of us in the TJ) limped down the Kirkwood Hwy to the Pep Boys. It was still very early, and we managed to be their first customer. The Pep Boys mechanic actually just assisted me in the bay, but with the cost of 2 hoses (one for spare), fluid and the "shop time," it still set me back $127 -- not to mention the ruined clothing. We made a judgment call that it was too late to head to RC, which was a huge disappointment since it was Michael's birthday that day and an RC trip was a present to him. We went from Pep Boys straight to a car wash, then we fooled around on the C&D Canal roads/trails for awhile and then followed Route 9 back home. Washed the vehicle three times in less than 24 hours to rid it of the tranny fluid. Still have no idea why the hose touched the moving part....I had been under the TJ the day before and never saw an indication of a problem. So that was my Saturday.