Repair

Turtle Broke Down! (By Andy)

A Blog Post by Andy:

About a month ago, we left Las Cruces, New Mexico at a decent time, as we were wanting to get a good start on the 40-mile drive to Hatch, and get there well before 11:30. Should be a breeze. After maybe 15 minutes on the highway I noticed the temperature gauge go above the middle. I like to watch gauges—it’s a hobby. And it continued to go up. I thought I could smell a little antifreeze. And the gauge was still going up. The gauge went far to the right—to the max—so I slowed and pulled to the shoulder. At that point, the white smoke was billowing, billowing, billowing out from under the hood, and the sweet smell of antifreeze was in the air. (The steam actually soaked the carpet on the passenger side after we opened that door.) Did not take the time to snap any pictures at this point, but I jumped out and got the hood open to find:

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The top radiator hose had ripped open and emptied the contents of the radiator onto the hot engine. Quite a scene. After identifying the problem, Amy asked, “So what do we do?” I replied, “Well, I’ll climb up to the rocket boxes, get the spare hose, get some tools out, let the engine cool for a minute, install the new hose, refill the radiator with water from our blue jugs on the back, and we’ll continue to Hatch.” That is why I look happy in the picture!

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Anyway, in 20 minutes we were back on the road. Pretty pleased with that! And, we made it to Hatch to have a pair of the signature green chile cheeseburgers from Sparkys—we have agreed that it is one of the best burgers we have ever had!

Anyway, that’s just a short day-in-the-life. It did spur us to revisit the following conversation. . .

We had a bit of a debate about what it means to “break down”. I had thought it meant that we had to have a tow truck involved. Amy thought it meant having to pull off the road due to car trouble that prevented the Turtle from operating on its own. After some talk, we decided that a break-down shall be defined as an unforced stop or non-start event that would cause someone who does not work on cars to need to call for help. With that definition, here are a few other break-downs we have had:

  • Bend, Oregon: Ignition system failure that took a few days to fix (mentioned in a prior post).
  • Driving toward Montana from Idaho the engine died. This was related to the Bend electrical problem, that I temporally fixed on the roadside, and made a lasting repair later.
  • Driving from Bozeman to Billings, MT: A/C compressor seized, causing the belt to have “a few hot spots”. In layman, that is black smoke and melting, burning rubber. Cut away belt and cooled the hot spots, and got back on the road. (Amy’s note: Andy tried to minimize this event by saying it was “just a few hot spots”. . . I saw the firedrops falling steadily from under the hood and now whenever he describes things like “a few hot spots” or “just some sparky bits” I have a good grasp of the level of danger we’re dealing with. Andy is a known under-exaggerator.)
  • Billings, MT: Hard start, then flooding, then backfire, then small engine fire. Got it cleaned up, and started after some fiddling.
  • Billings, MT: Old carb started flooding crazy, and would die if the RPM was slow, so it was a stressful two-footed drive to Bozeman (one foot on the gas, one on the brake), trying to keep the RPM’s high enough, with a lot of Neutral to Drive shifting at stops. Installed a sweet new Holly Street Avenger carb after that.
  • Bozeman, MT: battery overcharging and stuff…
  • Spearfish, SD: Could not start. It was cold, so I got out some starting fluid. The fuel line to the carb loosened and leaked, and trying to get it running ultimately ended with the fire extinguisher. Got better hose clamps and fixed it all up the next day.
  • Somewhere in Montana, pulling a long, steep hill the engine would seem to starve of fuel and putter. Had to pull over, and rev the engine with no load to refill the carb bowls, then get back on the road. At least that what we think caused the problem. We finally made it over the pass.
  • Others, including an overnight stay in Reserve, NM that was more vacation than stranding. Details to follow.

Amy’s Note: Andy felt pretty pleased that in the last year and a half, by his definition, we’d only “broken down” once. When we discussed the issue and I asserted that by most people’s standards we’d broken down many times, I have to admit how pleased I am that he doesn’t conform to other people’s definition of breaking down, since he is Boy Scout Level prepared to deal with any issues that arise. He keeps radiator hoses on hand, for dog’s sake. We’ve never felt hopeless, despite the amount of smoke and fire flying out of the engine.*

*Family members, please note that I am a serial exaggerator, but also that things have gone wrong as things can do, because our trusty Turtle is an old one, and still we are mobile and safe and continue to move down the road. Andy’s got it under control. 🙂

 

A Good Place to Crash—Outside Roswell, NM

We’re back in New Mexico and we couldn’t be happier about it! We never imagined we’d stay in a single state for multiple months during our travels, but we can’t seem to rush through anything here. We always plan a general outline of our route a few weeks out and estimate how much time we’ll spend in each spot, but it’s always subject to change and sometimes we trip over a great spot and end up staying much longer than anticipated. The reasons for the extension vary each time, but more often than not it’s because we find a great quiet spot where the weather is clear and we can get some work done on the Turtle!

Considering how limited our storage capabilities are, we keep a surprising amount of project materials on hand in case we find a good spot to do a little maintenance and housekeeping. Of course this was Andy’s idea, and the additional paint, brushes, wood, and tools for which he prioritized space has made Turtle life much more comfortable and manageable. It helps that he’s a wizard with problem solving, woodworking, electric jobs, and wordplay. (That last one has less to do with this topic, but it’s worth noting.) Anyway, we’ve got a pretty customized Turtle these days!

We never know when the work space is going to present itself. Thanks to our arsenal of travel apps, we can tell if a spot seems to be a good place to stay the night, but we can never know exactly what we’re going to get when it comes to the view, the size of the site, the crowds, etc. So we left stormy Lake Meredith on our way to sunny Roswell, NM thinking we’d just travel through Roswell on our way to some great National Parks.

First we stopped in Borger, TX and this happened:

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Don’t worry; he’s fine.

After we got him back on his feet, we stopped in Portales, NM to catch up on some computer work, journaling, and letter-writing at the Roosevelt Brewery, where we happened upon some new friends who are also really into the vandwelling lifestyle and have some plans of their own on the horizon. It’s so much fun to meet people who understand the impulse to make life simpler and more fulfilling and adventurous by traveling full time in a tiny house on wheels. So we decided to stick around and spend the evening with them, and had a great time. It was so much fun meeting you, David and Robyn! And thanks for the stickers; we really wanted Roosevelt for the brewery sticker book. You guys are the best! Keep in touch! 🙂

The next morning we were ahead of schedule daylight-wise, since we hadn’t anticipated a stop in Portales, and we were super close to our next stop in Roswell. But since I’d bookmarked an interesting OHV site (Off-Highway Vehicle) for the previous night, we thought we’d just swing by as we drove past to see what it was like.

Aaaaaaand, we loved it.

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It was like being on a Star Trek set.

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And because this spot is made for toy-haulers, each of the sites is huge, and even has a covered picnic table, grill, garbage, and bathrooms. Not to mention a great view.

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The weather was perfect, the space was ample, and the nightly fee was minimal, so we decided to settle in for a bit. Because when you live in a Turtle, there’s always a project waiting to be done!

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So while the animals enjoyed their enormous new back yard, Andy and I got to work.

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Jobs that needed to be done included:

(Andy’s notes)

– Toilet started running continuously. We got a new valve for $45 in Amarillo, TX, and installed it here. Needed to remove the toilet, remove old parts, install the new parts (took the time to thoroughly clean the toilet), and then reinstall it. 
– Rotated the tires. Kept them all on the same side, and moved front to inner rear, inner rear to outer rear, and outer rear to front. We had a slow valve stem leak some time ago, and when we did, I rotated the spare into the front at that time.
– With the tires off, took time to clean the rims and brakes, and inspect the brakes with the wheels off.
– Made, painted and installed the Nalgene holder for behind the stove. 
– Installed the D-ring recovery points onto the rear bumper where it is welded to the frame.
– Installed an ammo box under the spare tire in the back. They make a nice waterproof container, and inside I have replacement ignition parts and other electrical parts we what to have on hand and keep dry. 
Some notes: We travel with all our tools, including a 50-ton bottle jack and two 3-ton jack stands. cordless drill and jigsaw (that charges from the solar). They came in useful here!

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Gracie helped.

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When the weekend arrived, we decided to leave the spot available for the real OHV riders and see if we could find some aliens in Roswell.

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We saw a bunch, but sadly none of them took us with them for a universe tour. Which worked out for us, because a couple of other strange creatures were waiting for us to take them back to our desert landscape for a few more days of work—and even more play—before hitting the road again for further adventure on planet Earth.

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The galaxy can wait for now.