If you haven't done "The Tail" yet it is a GOTTA do...!!!

Enjoy the trek...!!!

Jim Olson

 
"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave! 

 Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

Finally back.  Things did not go well.  I had my first indication that there were going to be problems when in Atlanta area on the bus, I lost the ability to do internet with my tablet.  What I didn't know was that the CrowdStrike thing had messed up the east coast really badly.  Once I got to Miami, the transit world was scrappling with an inability to do "reservations" of any kind, and once finally in a hotel, the "keys" didn't work, and staff had to follow every patron to their rooms to let them back in.  This in a cruise ship staging area that saw room turnover at about 1000 per day.  Gets worse.  Once I made my way to the Corvette, it was instantly apparent that the car might have run and drove, but was only safe at extremely low speeds and steering was still extremely difficult because the fluid leaked right through it - no power steering.  The buyer tried to negotiate with the seller over the "runs and drives" thing, but the seller wouldn't take the car back.  Next door was a shop, which graciously took the car on and made repairs to the steering (required a new pump and more fluid) and the brakes (required a new booster and repairs to the vacuum system serving it).  There was NO WAY I could've done this in the 107 degree heat, with no place to work on the car (space very limited there with lots of activity, in the dusty gravel.  My tarp did come in handy as I made under car checks, but it would've been in the way if I would've tried any maintenance at all.  Just no room.  Once they had finished, they made sure I understood that I needed to make 50 mile or so checks on the fluids levels, and check their work often as I dealt with the Florida heat on my trip home.  I would make any additional repairs myself.  Once on my way, at the first check, I realized that I forgot to ask for the old parts (we had discussed that) and that already a nut (attaches the frisbee we have discussed before on this website) had already fallen off -- they also removed and kept the frisbee (dampens vibrations due to the a/c compressor coming on and off) as well.  SO it looks like apparently the mechanics didn't have time to check their work.  One more good check, then about a half our later, the arm to the tensioner pulley broke catastrophically.  Belt system was unpowered, and in the time it took to get the car onto the shoulder, the car fried instantly (suspect a passenger side head gasket failure).  Trip over.  Additional repairs likely to exceed the car's value.  At least at this point (just south of Melbourne), I was dealing with folks who spoke English again.  (Seemed that Miami is a Spanish speaking town now.)  The car's owner decided to abandon the effort and we made arrangements to leave it with a repair shop.  I rented a car at the Melbourne airport and crossed the country in a 4 day drive back home.  In the 2 photos you can see the part that failed.  You can see some darkness on part of the break that shows that perhaps the crack had been developing for a while.  I am facing the same steering pump rebuild that the shop in Hileah did, and I noticed that there was a tendency to try to save time and pry against this arm to get the job done.  I resisted that (my college shop instructor made sure we didn't do any of these stupid tricks) and waited until I got to a Harbor Freight and bought more adaptors and other do-dads so I didn't have to distort that part.  I suspect that those mechanics cracked the arm and just didn't worry about it.  The car made 190 miles after the repair before the arm failed.  Since my C4s were well used before I bought them, and I replaced that tensioner on almost all Corvettes I own, I remember them as being much more robust than this apparent factory one.  Not sure, but this whole affair has been sad.  The owner lost his investment, and I feel terrible.  Going to take some time to feel enthusiastic about cars for a while.

Very sad to read a story like this. Hopefully the buyer sues the seller for severe damages, if at all possible. And I guess you didn’t get a chance to go to the Tail of the Dragon oh well, maybe next time. Thank you for taking the time to write a very informative and accurate story.

No lawsuit.  Difficult dealing with the repair shop due to the language barrier as well.  Just a big lesson to not trust the phrase "car runs and drives" in an advertisement.  I had been lucky on 3 Corvettes in my past, but times have changed.  

That is sad and sorry to hear about the whole scenario. 

Dan, so sorry to hear about the trek going sideways on you.  Most unfortunate to say the least.  Hopefully there is some recovery of dollars that can be made to lessen the sting.

Jim Olson

 
"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave! 

 Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

It's so sad because things were going just fine.  Especially the air conditioning.  A/C helps the engine in hot weather because it kicks in the extra fan.  These systems usually need help in older cars, so I had it made.  Like I said, though, I suspect a mechanic along the car's way heard that crack! sound while he "moved" the tool or the arm just that extra 1/4" and didn't think much about it.  Here are the photos of where the car "lost its soul".  Pretty area, but not at 109 degrees on the shoulder of the road.

It looks so forlorn. So is that its final resting place?

Maybe this one will lift your spirits!

Jim Olson

 
"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave! 

 Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

No!  That was my view of it from the hotel window BEFORE the trip began!  The car made it 190 miles before that bracket arm broke.  The buyer left it behind at a car repair shop in Florida.  Our intent is that somebody will take it on, but we have been told that the head gasket repair goes for about $3000 in that neighborhood.