Van Ailin': Runnin' Despite the Devil
Sun., Aug. 27. 2006 12:29pm EDT
We mentioned in last week's newsletter that although the ApologetiX van had made it back safely from Rockford IL, Chicago IL and Toledo OH, it started overheating that Sunday night. As original Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth might put it, "Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit hot tonight."
Our bass player and van caretaker, Keith "Holy Driver" Haynie, provided a temporary fix so we could make it to Monday's concert in Elizabethtown, but on Tuesday, the van went back into the shop to fixed once and for all. As Van Halen's second lead singer Sammy Hagar might put it, "That's what dreams are made of."
Here's an update we received Tuesday night from Krista Haynie, who is Keith's wife and Karl's sister and often acts as our liaison with our friendly neighborhood mechanics, Rodney and Rex.
We went up to Rodney's again today and he put on new brakes, charged the air that wasn't fully charged, put the catalytic converter back on, and accidentally solved the overheating problem.
We didn't have an appointment for the intake job, but he wanted to pull the "dogbox" (cover for the engine; you know it best as the drinks/change/etc. holder between the driver and shotgun passenger inside the van) to see if he can see anywhere else the antifreeze is leaking. When he did, he solved the problem. The van did not need an intake job as the outside symptoms led him to believe.
The repair shop in Wisconsin hadn't put a clamp back on, and the antifreeze was leaking and dripping all over the underside of the van. Rodney said that apparently they slid the clamp up to work/replace things and never slid it back down and tightened it. He said that the hose could have come off and sprayed hot antifreeze everywhere. Even though he had to remove the alternator (another hour or so) to put the clamp on, he insisted that we wait because it wasn't safe to drive.
Editor's Note: As third Van Halen and original Extreme lead singer Gary Cherone might put it, "There's a hole in my car that can only be filled by huge amounts of money."
Krista continued:
Think of all the miles that have been put on that van since Wisconsin and how the Lord protected all of us! Rodney and Rex said (while referring to the van in general) that we are either the luckiest people in the world or...(he paused without a verbal explanation, but I filled in what he was alluding to) "the hand of God is on us and He protected us and kept us safe," to which Rodney concurred!
So the van is good for now. We'll need a couple of tires in the early fall and we should get the van aligned, but he doesn't want us to make the appointment just yet because we've spent enough money on the van for now. :)
Amen, Krista! Praise the Lord for His protection!
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