6/15/2012
Break Down in Junction, Tx
That's my advice. We found a mechanic who seemed knowledgeable and honest, a comfortable motel room for a reasonable cost, and a restaurant with friendly service and good food. If you have to break down somewhere, I recommend Junction.
Daniel, my son, and I (and the rest of the family) knew that it was only a 50/50 chance that we'd make it to Orlando in the 1989 Toyota Camry we'd bought. But we loaded it to the gills and took off - just him and me. It was doing fine until we got into Texas, and then it started overheating. We stopped somewhere along the way around 4:00 am to let it cool down and got back on the road. In Fort Stockton, we stopped for breakfast and to let it cool down again. (I don't recommend breaking down in Fort Stockton. The only place we could find for breakfast was a Burger King.) We found that the car needed both oil and coolant; we filled both and continued on. By the time we hit the rest area just east of Junction, the Camry was overheating again. By now we knew that it would take a couple of hours for the car to cool down enough to get the lid off the radiator, so I spread a blanket under a live oak tree and prepared to take a short nap. Until I noticed that the puddle of liquid under the car was coolant, not the water it had been last time. I woke Dan up to take a look. I called Tom. I had Dan crawl under the car. We decided to go back to Junction and seek professional help. (By now I had been up for about 30 hours and was pretty sure I needed professional help of a couple of kinds.)
We decided to look for the mechanic. How do you find a trustworthy mechanic in a small town in Texas? (In any place, for that matter.) We stopped in at the NAPA store and asked. NAPA pointed us to Rite A Way and Randall Newton and his two assistants, Billy and Bob. We sat in his waiting chairs a long time that afternoon. And it was worth every minute. I knew we were in trouble when Bob brought in a bucket and had Randall sniff it. Randall shook his head. Then Bob sniffed it again and shook his head. Then they both went out to the shop. A few minutes later, Randall came in and sat in the chair next to me. "What have you all been putting in the radiator?" "50/50 coolant." "You put anything red in there?" "Nope, the 50/50 is green." Randall nodded like he thought we had good sense. "You didn't put anything red and stinky in there?" "No." "You had any work done on the car?" "Yes, we took it to the dealership for some work." "Huh." He got back up and went out to the shop again.
He came in a few minutes later. "Who messed up your timing belt?" "The dealership did, but they said they fixed it after we complained." "Huh." Out to the shop again.
The third time he came in to talk to us, he brought the thermostat housing in for us to see. One of the 3 ears had been knocked off the elbow piece. "How'd this happen?" We shrugged. The he showed us the corrosion hole in the threading of the other piece of the housing. "Looks like they tried to patch this up with black silicone." "From your tone of voice, I'm guessing that that's not the best way to fix that problem?" "Nah. We can probably get you a replacement piece tomorrow. But that's fine since the engine still isn't cool enough to get a good look at things... I'm happy to fix it for you, but it'll take a couple of days. I think you should consider junking it." "Dan has to be in Florida by Friday or we lose the apartment and the apartment deposit. Junk it." "I don't mind fixing it, I'm just not sure it's the best solution." "It's ok; junk it." "I called and I can get the part, but it'll take a couple of days." "No, we need to get moving. Junk it." "It still isn't cooled down; there might be other problems we haen't found yet." This went on for awhile. I finally convinced Randall that I was okay with junking the car, calling the rental car company in the next town over (that's another story), and getting back on the road.
Which we did the next day at about 5:30 pm. After breakfast in the very comfortable, clean and cheap motel called Legends; and after checking on the rental company and being assured they'd get us that morning; and after checking on the rental company and being assured they'd get us by 1:00; and after having lunch in Isaac's; and after checking on the rental company and being told it would be awhile bef... well you get the idea. Like I said - another story.
Later - Wilda Jeanne
"Is there a car rental place close?
