15th Dec 2006
Car Awry
Anyone that knows me will know my love for my ‘97 ///M3. Once in a while, that love is put to the test …
Last night I was heading home from Silicon Valley - about an 85 mile trip. 5:45 pm… I was on 280 North, just approaching where 380 joins from the airport … It was dark …
Kaflump! Kablump blump! pssst!!!!
I was in the left lane, and *felt* something passing under the car. For a moment I thought I had hit something. Then the battery light went on. That’s bad … bad bad bad. Surrounded by rush hour cars doing 50 in the left lane.. ewww .. I wrestled the car over to the right (no power steering), and managed to stop in a nice clear spot next to a callbox. Lots of smoke (turned out to be steam) .. Towing was ~$300 (to be reimbursed …)
So what Happened????
- Water Pump exploded …
- which threw that belt off
- which got entwined with the other belt …
- which then shredded up the fan blades…
- .. and then a fan blade pierced the radiator…
In other words, a pretty impressive laundry list of damage from a chain reaction …
I’m thankful to have some track training which helped me stay calm. Feeling a car start to come unglued under you can be disconcerting :-)
