Yesterday afternoon, I took the car out and after driving a few minutes noticed the air over the bonnet shimmering and undulating like in a mirage. I have seen this before and it's not good news. The last time I saw this sign, the car burst into flames, the birds flew away, the sky clouded up and I heard the devil. I quickly parked the car and took a look inside the bonnet. The engine had overheated and was hissing and puffing at the seams. I clearly remember adding any coolant, about four months ago. Understandably, the engine was unhappy about it. when I opened the coolant chamber lid scalding hot fluid gushed out barely missing making a hot meal of my fingers. Luckily a bottle of water I carry for emergencies was at hand. I emptied it into the coolant chamber standing as far away from the car as possible, and watched in fascination as the water went in and came right out, and kept doing this for a few times. A geyser.
The Scientific Indian
Science as a way of life
Search
Profile
I am working on some very smart things to say here. Really. Meanwhile, there's this and this. Welcome.
Suggestions
Recent Posts
- TheScian SF Contest 2009 Results
- Dr. M. S. Swaminathan on drought in India
- Pranav Mistry's SixthSense
- Bible and blood in my backyard
- TheScian SF Contest Results on 22nd
- If your parents don't like Ubuntu
- Entangled Reality
- A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Things Fall Apart, in India
- Raymond Carver: On Writing
Recent Comments
- D. C. Sessions on If your parents don't like Ubuntu
- Riesz Fischer on Entangled Reality
- anon on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Len on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- God on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Sun on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Universe on A matter of Life and er... Matter
- Dhaval Rathod on Raymond Carver: On Writing
- IanW on Raymond Carver: On Writing
- small indian cock on How a man's penis got so big
RSS Feed
Today's recommendations
Archives
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
« An English Experience: B&B in Whitby | Main | Gabo and Shakespeare: Two Islands, one hypnotic ending »
A geyser in the car
Posted on: July 30, 2007 3:53 AM, by Selva
Share this: Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Reddit Email + More
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/46815





Comments
I no longer have a car (I gave mine up several years ago after moving to a city in France where I simply don't need one), but when I did have one, that happened to me once. In my case, also a disaster. The headgasket blew. The cause was the thermostat had broken, so there was no indication of the temperature; hence, the fan to cool to the water in the radiator never turned on. As far as I can recall, there was no warning before the geyser, albeit afterwards the "oil" idiot light was lit (probably due to losing oil through the blown head gasket). Bletch...!
Posted by: blf | July 30, 2007 6:01 AM