My car is wet! Its peeing in its pants!

Chain of Events

Thought it was just another routine Sunday dinner meeting with the guys, I drove my old Ford Taurus out to pick up Bertrand and Joanne with Trainee driver Eng Wee and Instructor Ricky following closely behind in their black Mitsubishi Galant. Both our cars split up outside The Summit apartment where I turn in to pick up Bertrand and Joanne while they head to Vista Pointe, meeting up with Leng Chuan and Dave.

I ended the first leg of my journey outside Bertrand's house and gave them a call for my arrival. Joanne step out of the house first and greeted me with a smile. She came to my side of the window and in a very very calm and quiet tone told me "Er...Ric, I think you car is leaking in front." I guess she does not realise the severity of the findings cause I was like jumping out of my car immediately and heading straight to the front of the car. I was confuse and shocked while she was still kinda calm. Bertrand came out and he was really concern about whether the car could even safely move at all and advised me to just park it at his apartment overnight. It turn out that my car radiator is leaking and its forming a pool of coolant right outside Bertrand's house. We call for the rest of the team,The Black Mitsubishi Galant piloted by Eng Wee and Ricky and a Silver Acura Integra piloted by Leng Chuan and Dave, over to salvage to the situation.

So it appear that we got a team of professional technical team right now to assess if its a GO or NO-GO for this old grandpa car to be drove back to my Apartment. We got an Air Frame man - Eng Wee, 3 Rotortunist- Leng Chuan, Dave and me, an Electrical Instrument man- Ricky, an Engineering Officer - Bertrand plus a very sharp eye for detail DCC Joanne. Joanne was commended by Bertrand for her vigilance in spotting the leak and calling off the mission. She will be duely rewarded with another round of Hanasho/ SEOUL Garden meal the next time. With the enormous technical support, I was much much more relieved.

In the end, the decision was made to drive the troubled vehicle back to my place, closely escorted by the Galant and Integra. Before heading off, the radiator was top up with a gallon of water plus a extra gallon in the car boot for emergency use along the way (Water courtesy of The Bertrand's and Joanne's Company). Thanks to the escort by Leng Chuan, Dave, Ricky, Eng Wee, Bertrand and Joanne, my car was drove back to my apartment uneventfully.

We continue on our Journey to a Vietnamese restraunt for our dinner but in my mind, I am kinda worried about the seriousness of my car SNAG.

FINDINGS

Today is Monday and its the end of another day of work and Peace Prairie Detachment. Got home early and decided to rectify the snag. Thanks to the years of service in RSAF, I have well trained eyes in inspection and removal of compnents. After removing a panel, the ECU console, the radiator pipe and spilling a small pool of coolant on the ground (opps!...even an expert make mistake too), I finally spotted the source of the leak! I thought in the beginning it was some pipe that was broken but now it turn out to be the plastic tank attached to the side of the radiator that was leaking whenever the car engine was running. A small 1.5 inch hairline crack was the source of the leak. Going to get some high temperature sealant or epoxy to seal it up, and hopefully the old car will give me another few weeks of trouble free driving before I sell it off as advised by Leng Chuan...

"Better to sell it when you can still contain the problem rather than waiting for the big explosion which leave you nothing for returns."