The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - Craziest thing you've done to "just get home"

Indyuke · 03-31-2012, 10:01 AM

When i was a kid, the family decided to move across the country. 3,000 miles, and during that time two valve springs broke on the old 292 in the '65 chevy truck we where driving. we had a box of simple tools, so we pulled into a theater parking lot and parked under an overhang in the pouring rain while my dad changed out the spring.

he couldn't figure out a way to keep the valve from dropping into the cylinder while changing the spring out until my mom give him one of her knitting needles to bend into this wierd contorted form so it would fit through the spark plug hole and my mom could hold up the valve while my dad tried to compress the spring enough to get the new one on. we did that twice on that trip. he kept valve springs in his toolbox for many years after that, long after we got rid of that truck.

a couple years back, we had a really hot day (103F) here and the truck overheated on the way into seattle 30 some miles away. Pretty soon coolant and trans fluid was pouring onto the ground and i parked the truck a couple miles from where i needed to be, told the wife to guard the truck and i would be back.

i sweated several miles to my destination, then several miles back, hopped in the truck hoping it was cooled down enough and headed home. 5 miles down the road, steam starting coming from under the hood and sure enough, trans fluid starting pouring onto the ground. so we whipped into a 7 eleven, got 10 quarts of trans fluid, filled up the radiator with a hose and jetted out of there. we made it the remaining 25 miles home, stopping every couple of miles to put another quart in the trans. There was a very nice trail of trans fluid and antifreeze behind us the entire way. by the time we got home, the trans wasn't shifting right and i had pretty much resigned myself to it being destroyed. I wasn't worried about the motor, it had seen worse.

The next day i went out, fixed the overheat issue, fired it up and still drive the truck to this day. Never a problem with either engine or trans since then.

03-31-2012, 10:01 AM	#38
Indyuke Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lake Stevens, WA Posts: 623	Re: Craziest thing you've done to "just get home" When i was a kid, the family decided to move across the country. 3,000 miles, and during that time two valve springs broke on the old 292 in the '65 chevy truck we where driving. we had a box of simple tools, so we pulled into a theater parking lot and parked under an overhang in the pouring rain while my dad changed out the spring. he couldn't figure out a way to keep the valve from dropping into the cylinder while changing the spring out until my mom give him one of her knitting needles to bend into this wierd contorted form so it would fit through the spark plug hole and my mom could hold up the valve while my dad tried to compress the spring enough to get the new one on. we did that twice on that trip. he kept valve springs in his toolbox for many years after that, long after we got rid of that truck. a couple years back, we had a really hot day (103F) here and the truck overheated on the way into seattle 30 some miles away. Pretty soon coolant and trans fluid was pouring onto the ground and i parked the truck a couple miles from where i needed to be, told the wife to guard the truck and i would be back. i sweated several miles to my destination, then several miles back, hopped in the truck hoping it was cooled down enough and headed home. 5 miles down the road, steam starting coming from under the hood and sure enough, trans fluid starting pouring onto the ground. so we whipped into a 7 eleven, got 10 quarts of trans fluid, filled up the radiator with a hose and jetted out of there. we made it the remaining 25 miles home, stopping every couple of miles to put another quart in the trans. There was a very nice trail of trans fluid and antifreeze behind us the entire way. by the time we got home, the trans wasn't shifting right and i had pretty much resigned myself to it being destroyed. I wasn't worried about the motor, it had seen worse. The next day i went out, fixed the overheat issue, fired it up and still drive the truck to this day. Never a problem with either engine or trans since then.