Last week, I drove my mom to Manila Doctors and then to Makati Medical Center.
On our way home, while we were in the middle of the Skyway, the car overheated. Suh-weet!
At first I thought something was just stuck under the car, because it was making this weird, tin-can-like clangy noise. Then I noticed the air conditioner was emitting this gross, burning smell and when I glanced at the temperature gauge, it was showing the engine was overheating. Calmly, I told my clueless mom that the car will explode and that we had to pull over.
There we were, standing on the side of the Skyway, trying to figure out what to do. Of course I had no idea what I was going to do. LOL! I heard somewhere before, that if the car overheats, turn the car off, pop the hood, let the engine cool down, and then pour water in the radiator. I thought to myself, “Okay, first things first. Pop the trunk and get the early warning device set up.” However, I had no idea how to set up the EWD! The whole time while I was standing there fumbling with the EWD, I kept imagining myself getting crushed by an out of control, speeding SUV. Morbid, but possible. I’ve seen it happen on TV! I just kept thinking, “Oh, dear Lord, please let help arrive.” Sadly, there were no good Samaritans traversing the Skyway that day.
Next thing was to pop the hood. I have popped the car’s hood a lot of times, but the problem is, I have never lifted it. I’ve seen Felix do it effortlessly, so I thought it was going to be easy. I mean, how was I supposed to know there’s a latch under the hood that I had to pull in order to lift the stupid heavy piece of metal?! The good news is, I was eventually able to lift the hood. The bad news is, I had no idea which cap to open. I was staring at the engine, thinking, “NOW WHAT?!” LOL!
About fifteen minutes later, the Skyway patrol officers arrived to provide us assistance. Apparently, my radiator hose cracked, thus, causing water to leak. I was told it was a good thing I caught the car overheating before it stalled. They tried to fill up my radiator with water, but the crack on the hose was so big that water just kept leaking out before they could even fill it up.
After a couple of gallons of water dumped in the radiator and some UVA & UVB exposure, the car’s temperature finally went down. We monitored it some more, just to see if it was going to rise up again. Since it didn’t, we were told to go and be on our way. The patrol officers were very efficient, they even assisted us all the way until we made it to our toll exit. Thank you, Skyway patrol officers!
At least now I can reason out why the PNCC charges so much for toll fees.
See!! You’re ahead in the game. I learned about latches here.
Not that we broke down (altho we’ve had our share of that), Jay just loves to tinker with cars.
Pero Nins… pulling over while on the bridge is not safe at all. Skyway’s a bridge diba? Next time (unless super traffic talaga), make sure to get off the bridge first. Wala lang… they always tell us that here. Good thing cops came to your aide right away. Talk about an adventure. :-p Glad you guys are safe.
::Dimps::
I’m not sure if it’s called a bridge. It’s an elevated high-way on top of the expressway.
The thing is, we had just entered the Skyway when the I noticed the car overheating. The exit was still about 10km away from where we were, and I didn’t really know what to do. I just thought we weren’t going to make it if I went on and that I had to pull over already or the car will explode, LOL!
I will keep in mind not to pull over when I’m on the bridge. It was quite an adventure, but I’d rather not go through it again!