Day 6 - May 14On the Road Again
Tech corner: Turns out that the problem was a blown brake master cylinder! And the smoking oil that was on the muffler actually came from WITHIN the engine! When the seal in the master cylinder went, it allowed brake fluid to be sucked into the engine intake via the brake booster, almost emptying the reservoir. The unburned brake fluid oozed out the center muffler's drain and seams, right next to the differential, causing us to believe that the oil was thrown ONTO the muffler, rather than coming from within. The clue we'd given Dan was the long downhill run just before the problem appeared—the closed throttle caused all the vacuum that sucked the oil out of the master cylinder. The phenomenon would have caused some interesting braking problems not far down the road. This woulda been a good one for Click and Clack. So that resolved, we all looked the car over while she was on the lift, noted a couple of small issues that can be dealt with later, changed the oil, and pronounced her healthy and ready to cross America at around 9:30. At 11:30 or so (you AROO guys know what we're talking about), we gave our thanks and said our goodbyes and were on the road. Thanks once more, guys and gals!!! We drove east (finally!) out of Portland, taking the VERY scenic Route 14 all the way up the north side of the Columbia River gorge, easily one of the most beautiful drives anywhere. Unfortunately, it was dark when we came IN to Portland with Doug on Saturday and raining when we went OUT of Portland today, but it was still a stunning ride. We hemmed and hawed about our planned route, thinking we might hit more Interstates to make up for our lost three days, but ... nahhhhhhh—back roads it is! We're heading northeast up toward US Route 2, anticipating to travel across the top of the country. Tonite we're in Spokane. Adios! This is where
we went today
Beer(s) of the Day
Culture Feature Did we take another wrong turn? No, turns out that this Stonehenge is an accurate true-scale reproduction (in concrete) of the original in England, constructed to commemorate our World War I veterans. (We don't quite get the connection either.)
Alfa Spotting!
Back to the Road Trip 2001 title page |
We awoke at Doug's and were just rubbing our eyes when we got a call from
Diane Sommers at their Veloce Motors shop saying that Dan already had our GTV up on the
lift, saw the oil we were talking about, but didn't think that it looked like a pinion
seal failure, and quizzed us more about the symptoms. So we obliged, and then headed
into Portland to meet them. We arrived 45 minutes later, and Dan said, "Well,
it's all fixed and you're ready to go."
