Driving back from Oxford, New York yesterday I had the most bizarre cascade of car problems that I have ever encountered. Lets see if anyone can figure out what it was (1999 Dodge Stratus with a V6). This will be really boring to anyone who doesnt find strange car problems interesting. First, I got stuck in traffic in some fog and noticed a strange sound coming from the engine compartment. The thermostat began to climb to the half-way point, which is not normal. Traffic opened up quickly and as I accelerated back up to normal highway speed, the sound went away and the temperature went back down to normal. About 200 miles later, the thermostat was still fine so long as I wasnt going slowly, but there was an awful sort of grinding noise coming from the engine compartment and it changed pitch depending on acceleration. Still 87 miles from home after any repair shop had closed, I hoped to limp my way home. Suddenly, I heard and felt something drop out of the engine compartment onto the road. The sound seemed like something that was dense and had a longer part as well, like if you tied a weedwacker string to a rock. The sound from the engine ceased. I instantly took my foot off of the accelerator and assumed that this was the end of my drive. As I pulled over to the break-down lane, I pressed the accelerator for a moment just out of curiosity. The car accelerated just fine. In fact, the noise had completely disappeared. The engine purred like the proverbial kitten. So I kept driving. About 30 seconds later the battery light came on, yet all electrical systems seemed to be working ok. As I drove, I ran through every possible electrical thing that I could test. Brakes, signals, etc. all worked fine. With no cars around, I swerved a bit. It was tight on the edge. The power steering was gone. Highways are engineered with very gentle curves, and if youve ever tried to steer a car with the power steering knocked out youve noticed that the middle of the wheels motion is pretty easy to use, so I had no problems at all on the highway. When I approached the stop light and hard right turn at the end of the exit ramp I really had to push on the wheel to turn. It was only the last mile and a half before home that things got tricky. What could possibly have caused this particular cascade of symptoms? Debris kicked up from the road? What was the thing that dropped out of the engine compartment?
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 16:44:32 +0000
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