Loud engine squeals in the middle of nowhere: NOT good!

[jmowreader]

I like living in the modern era. This is why:

On last Friday, I was in Aurora, Illinois, picking up a load of bucket lids to be taken to a cooking oil plant in Texas. So loaded, I headed out. The route I was going to take: I-55 to St. Louis; I-44 to Big Cabin, OK; US 6 (which becomes US 75 in Texas) to Dallas, then I-35 to Fort Worth. The first day's journey took me to Joplin, Missouri. (If you've seen CMT's "Trick This Truck," you know about the Chrome Shop Mafia. The truck stop I parked at is right across the street from 4 State Trucks...CSM is a branch of 4 State Trucks.) After resting, I took off for Texas.

I got all the way to Sherman, Texas. A car roared past me, and I heard a very loud squeal. Is it that car, or me? The car went down the road but the squeal did not. Must be me, huh? I got off the road and shut down the engine, then popped the hood. What had happened was the shaft in my water pump broke way up inside it. The Cummins ISX engine (heavy duty inline-six turbodiesel with 15-liter displacement) has a serpentine belt, which uses an idler to set the belt tension. The idler pulled the water pump pulley up. This caused the front seal on the pump to break, and all the coolant in the engine to drain out onto the road.

Thank (insert deity here) for Qualcomm! I picked mine up and wrote a message: I am sitting on the side of the road in Sherman, Texas. I cannot move. My water pump is broken and all the coolant has drained out of my engine. Exact location is approx. a quarter-mile north of exit 60 on the southbound side of the highway. Warning triangles are out.

Now here's where the shit gets surreal: Our breakdown department sent a reply: "Is the fluid bubbling out or dripping out?" I sent back my own reply: "Neither. The coolant came out of the middle of the water pump at the rate of over 2 gallons per minute, as it took less than five minutes to completely drain the engine." (There are 48 quarts of coolant and 55 quarts of oil in a Cummins ISX.) My cell phone rang: "It came out THAT FAST?" Yep. The waterfall coming off the back of the radiator looked like I was washing it with a garden hose. "Then just hold tight. Make sure your trailer lights are on, stay in the tractor for safety, and I'll send a wrecker out for you."

They fixed it fine, but I really didn't need the downtime.

[hippywife]

1. Qualcomm is a lovely thing, indeed.

Sorry about the delay. :hug: