In episode 91 Newbern and I flew from Georgia to Iowa to purchase a 1998 Ford F800 cab and chassis commercial truck that had been stretched from a four-door crew cab to a six-door behemoth. The truck only had 30,000 miles on the odometer and we believed the mileage figure to be accurate. We also believed the seller who said it was ready for a cross-country road trip, even though the truck had a few suspect attributes. First off, during the test drive, the heater kept shutting off whenever I put my foot on the floor. Second, the radiator cap was leaking and lastly, the oil level dipstick had a homemade rubber strap holding it in place. None of these were good signs that the Cummins 12-valve diesel engine was completely healthy but after flying all the way to Iowa and falling in love with the six-door cab, we figured we'd take the risk and buy it anyway. After all, the dude said he had performed a "blobby test" and it passed with flying colors. lol
Anyway, the truck ran fine but about 150 miles into the trip the heater stopped blowing cold air and then the temp gauge pegged the needle at the "H" mark. I quickly pulled over and shut off the Cummins. Popping the hood revealed a radiator gushing an mixture oil and coolant from the overflow tube, a surefire sign that the combustion chambers were no longer isolated from the cooling passages of the engine. It was late at night, nobody wanted to tow the behemoth without charging us several thousand dollars to do so, and so we checked into a local motel.
This video picks up the following morning after my friend Jimmy Bullard helped us find a local tow company operator who was so generous that he not only towed the truck to his shop, but he also let us use his tools and fix it ourselves. What a guy!
If you'd like to support the channel then please visit our website and check out the rad shirts, hats, stickers and hoodies we have for sale. Thanks for watching!
-finnegan
0 Comments