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Well, not the dust. More like coolant.
I was at my friend's house and his little brother came in drenched. (pouring down rain yesterday) His friend was broken down... 2001 ZX3 DOCH Zetec. They heard a loud pop and then lots of smoke... from the hood and from the air vents.
I ended up going to help since not one of em had any mechanical inclination.
30 feet away from the car I could smell the steamy coolant (is that an oxy-moron?) Max (My friend's little brother's friend.. .. confusin aint it)
I ask him if he knew what might have happend.... he shruggs his shoulders. All they know is that the radiator overflow/reserve is empty and the car is heating up after it steamed. Well, all the hoses look fine at a glance. All the clamps are attached and tight. I wrap my hand around the upper radiator hose where it attaches to the thermostate and the hose just colapses in my hand.There's about a 4inch long gash going the length of the hose on the upper bend.
That was at 7:15pm..... they want to drive it to Ford to get it fixed. Service closed at 5pm and parts closed at 7pm.... and I doubt this kid had the cash to get it fixed at ford. So I tell him I will do it for him, he just has to buy the parts. Should be less than $45. All he needed anyhow was the thermostat and upper radiator hose.
So we head off to Advanced.... they had didn't diddly.
OK... we went to Auto Zone.... they had less then diddly.
OK... so we went to Pep Boys... they actually had the diddly, but were renovating and relocating all the merchandise and could not find the diddly.
And NOT ONE OF THESE FRIEKIN PLACES HAD THE BUNDLE OF RADIATOR HOSE WERE YOU COULD CUT IT TO SIZE..... WHAT A JOKE. They only had the pre-cut pre-shaped kits.... So at PepBoys I told him to just get 2 packages of hose repare tape. Figured I'll patch it up so he could at least drive it home and to the Dealer in the morning to pick up the parts to fix it when I get to the house.
$4.... and 11pm later its all patched. I did not remember it being so damn hard to remove a thermostate... what a pain in the butt. Without the thermostate there is no seal where the upper hose attaches, so it has a very unoticable seap. We went back to the house and tested the thermostate. Boiled water..... sucker did not open right away. It sat there, you could see the spring flex.... then it just popped open.
For now he can drive it around and not damage his car, hopefully today or tomorrow he can get the parts so this can be fixed properly.
(this was his first lesson in, "HOLY CRAP... CAR JUST BROKEDOWN SMOKING IN A DOWN POUR WHILE THE STREET IS FLOODING.") <~his words as we pulled up to assess.
Is there anything that I might have missed? I know I am not an expert, but this is something that I have delt with on my Focus when the thermo went sticky. I just do not want to do more damage than was already done.... O and no dummy light either. I don't think he gave the computer enough time to realize something happened.
I was at my friend's house and his little brother came in drenched. (pouring down rain yesterday) His friend was broken down... 2001 ZX3 DOCH Zetec. They heard a loud pop and then lots of smoke... from the hood and from the air vents.
I ended up going to help since not one of em had any mechanical inclination.
30 feet away from the car I could smell the steamy coolant (is that an oxy-moron?) Max (My friend's little brother's friend.. .. confusin aint it)
I ask him if he knew what might have happend.... he shruggs his shoulders. All they know is that the radiator overflow/reserve is empty and the car is heating up after it steamed. Well, all the hoses look fine at a glance. All the clamps are attached and tight. I wrap my hand around the upper radiator hose where it attaches to the thermostate and the hose just colapses in my hand.There's about a 4inch long gash going the length of the hose on the upper bend.
That was at 7:15pm..... they want to drive it to Ford to get it fixed. Service closed at 5pm and parts closed at 7pm.... and I doubt this kid had the cash to get it fixed at ford. So I tell him I will do it for him, he just has to buy the parts. Should be less than $45. All he needed anyhow was the thermostat and upper radiator hose.
So we head off to Advanced.... they had didn't diddly.
OK... we went to Auto Zone.... they had less then diddly.
OK... so we went to Pep Boys... they actually had the diddly, but were renovating and relocating all the merchandise and could not find the diddly.
And NOT ONE OF THESE FRIEKIN PLACES HAD THE BUNDLE OF RADIATOR HOSE WERE YOU COULD CUT IT TO SIZE..... WHAT A JOKE. They only had the pre-cut pre-shaped kits.... So at PepBoys I told him to just get 2 packages of hose repare tape. Figured I'll patch it up so he could at least drive it home and to the Dealer in the morning to pick up the parts to fix it when I get to the house.
$4.... and 11pm later its all patched. I did not remember it being so damn hard to remove a thermostate... what a pain in the butt. Without the thermostate there is no seal where the upper hose attaches, so it has a very unoticable seap. We went back to the house and tested the thermostate. Boiled water..... sucker did not open right away. It sat there, you could see the spring flex.... then it just popped open.
For now he can drive it around and not damage his car, hopefully today or tomorrow he can get the parts so this can be fixed properly.
(this was his first lesson in, "HOLY CRAP... CAR JUST BROKEDOWN SMOKING IN A DOWN POUR WHILE THE STREET IS FLOODING.") <~his words as we pulled up to assess.
Is there anything that I might have missed? I know I am not an expert, but this is something that I have delt with on my Focus when the thermo went sticky. I just do not want to do more damage than was already done.... O and no dummy light either. I don't think he gave the computer enough time to realize something happened.
let for brake it for you 
