The previous part of this story can be found here, but if you’re just joining us the beginning is all the way back here if you’d like to catch up.
At this stage of things my mechanical knowledge bank consisted of how to check fluids, change oil, and scrape ice off the windshield. I was terribly green. And worse than that, the last memory I had of trying to do something like I was about to undertake here was an utter failure.
Years ago, I remember coming out of work one evening to find a pool of antifreeze underneath my '84 Cherokee. A little poking around with the help of my co-workers revealed that it was coming from the weep hole on the water pump. “Seals gone bad, bud. Don’t worry though. Easy fix.”
Sure, I thought. Maybe for you. Sounds like open-heart surgery to me.
After a bit of internal back and forth I decided to give it a go. I purchased a new water pump from the the local part store, and proceeded to tear into the repair with the basic hand tools I had lying around. Walk before you run. Crawl before you walk. This operation was equivalent to whatever you do before you crawl. I would have had more success ordering a pizza from a Chinese restaurant in Portuguese.
After being repulsed several times, I was finally able to get the three or four bolts off holding the old pump to the front of the block. And with the hard part over I rushed into installing the new piece, only to immediately strip out the bolt holes by overtightening things. Oops.
As I barely knew how to undo a hose clamp, imagine how perplexed I was with this new hurdle. I thought I broke the engine for Pete’s sake. I took months to get the old girl back together, and that only happened after paying “professionals” to stack washers and thread sealant until the pump finally sealed.
Back to this current issue, I was not confident going into this new coolant leak on the new Jeep. In fact, it conjured up old fears of failure. But it needed to be done, and if I couldn’t afford to have someone else do it (quotes I got seemed ludicrously expensive…everything seems like that when you’re poor, though), looks like I would have to be the man for the job.
I’m not sure why, but there is something encouraging about buying parts for a project. I guess it gave me a tangible picture of what I was getting into. It also gave me a bit of momentum heading into things. Though nothing was yet done, once I hit the order button for the stuff I needed, it felt like things were set in motion that could not easily be undone.
Second time around, with some hope that it would turn out better this time. A little confidence can go a long way (especially in hindsight…one small step for me then, one giant leap as I look back on it now).