$175 alternator belt (long)

[Marc Swanson]

Nice (well, sort of) story Ken, I enjoyed reading it.

I had a similar tale of woe on my 88 90q.  I was headed to NH from CT
and going through the mass pike tolls I got the battery warning light
(uh-oh).

Not having the gauge pack that some cars have I couldn't verify the
autocheck warning so I decided to push my luck (but still turning off
all unnecessary electronics).  By the time I hit the curves on 290 going
through Worcester I started noticing a definite miss in the engine (crap
crap crap).  This is really not a very good place for this to happen as
traffic was heavy but I suppose breaking down on the NJ turnpike
qualifies as worse :-).  At this point I shut off my headlights and took
the next exit (only a mile ahead).  The engine was really starting to
run rough now as I suspect that the coil wasn't getting enough juice to
fire properly.  Interesting though that everything else (like the fuel
pump) still had enough juice to operate properly, but the coil was the
first to malfunction.

I headed for a nearby gas station and ended up coasting through a red
light as the engine finally quit just a few hundred feet from the
station.  I opened the hood to check things out and I could tell that
the belt had become way too loose.  This was frustrating since I had
just taken the tools out of my trunk for use in my other car and had
forgotten to pick up an extra set for the 90.  All I needed was an
adjustable wrench or two and I could have been on my way.

I actually considered taking a taxi to the nearby Sears at the mall to
pick up what I'd need but decided that I was within my 100 mile towing
radius for AAA (barely) and since I wasn't footing the towing bill I'd
just go that route.

'Bob' (why are they always named bob?) the tow truck driver seemed
pretty nice, although he didn't have a clue where to put the grab hook
to pull the car up on the flatbed.  I opted for the safe way out and
used the boost pack that I always carry in the trunk to give me enough
juice to just drive up the ramp (if you don't have one of these things,
you should get one... or two!).

Over the next two hours 'Bob' told me all about his ex-girlfriend and
why he left her and why his boss is a jerk and so on.  More interesting
was listening to him talk about how profitable snow storms can be for
them.  Apparently they tow cars that violate winter parking bans in the
city.  Typically they make $300/car (between towing fee, storage fee,
etc) and most storms they tow around 200 cars.

When I got home, I tipped the guy a coupla bucks and drove the car off
the same way I got it on.  I pulled the car into the garage and had the
stupid belt fixed in a matter of 10 minutes.  Wish I would have had my
tools with me, but all in all things didn't work out so bad.


Anyhow, that's a long enough post for me.  Glad to hear you got back on
your way without the need for too much KY leaving the garage...

Later


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Marc Swanson, Software Engineer
Sonitrol Communications Corp.
Hartford, CT

Email: mswanson at sonitrol.net
Phone: (860) 616-7036
Pager: (860) 948-6713
 Cell: (603) 512-1267
  Fax: (860) 616-7589
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