9/15/2012

Last Saturday was International Drive Your Studebaker Day.  So I piled the kids and the dog into the car and went off in search of ice cream.  On the way noticed a strong smell of antifreeze and stopped to check it out.  Steam was pouring out of the back of the engine.  The freeze plug of doom was leaking.

Like any owner of an old car I have a gallon of water in the trunk so I dumped that in and took off.  I felt like I was in a Viagra commercial.  I got within two miles of home when the plug popped out for real and the remaining coolant gushed out on the road behind me.  Game over!

I pulled into a parking lot and called my insurance company.  My coverage includes towing and they quickly had a flatbed on the way.  Meanwhile my kids arranged a ride home.  1 hour later the Sorry Studebaker was back in my driveway.

A new freeze plug was a whole 3 dollars.  The problem is the work involved to get AT the thing.  I will spare you the blow-by-blow.  The process was a rerun of the last time.

I found the old plug laying on the bell housing.  I think I was too gentle pounding this one in.  Notice it is not all that flat.

Well we are not going to make that mistake again. I got a brass plug and pounded the snot out of it. It is so tight the camera was out of focus.

I hope it holds this time.  I am getting real tired of dropping the engine.