Chances are pretty good that by this time tomorrow I will have picked up my "replacement" vehicle (which is not what I wanted, but my wife insisted on a car "she" could drive, i.e. a three-row, four door AWD V8 SUV with all the bells and whistles; With $2500 to spend, a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer Premier V8 AWD in A-OK shape is the best I could find), and I think my Custom Cruiser knows.

As soon as I fixed the exhaust system (new flange, piping and lots of welding and bolting and such) and got the smoking problem under control (or at least out of under the hood), she pops with a "LOW COOLANT" warning light.

She has a new radiator and hoses and clamps and isn't leaking anywhere. Pull the thermostat and its clean and green up to the top, and the overflow tank is right at "HOT FULL" when she is both.

So before I ignore this as just another light that tells me how sick her engine is (the li'l bit leaky head gasket issue I've discussed before no longer shows itself in exhaust smoke or coolant drops but it's still randomly lighting up the "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light), I'd like to know if the problem is likely a sensor, a water pump failure (seems and sounds fine) or what.

I don't see why the head gasket leaking into the engine would cause this fault, as the coolant is getting pumped around just fine. But with no OBD-II there's no easy way to diagnose the fault.

Unless you know what can cause it. Suggestions?

[It's going to be like bringing home a new baby. If this is the way she's acting now, once my wagon actually has to share driveway space with her usurper I'll be lucky if she doesn't set fire to herself in protest...]

 

This is why everytime I get out of the car, I pat the bonnet and say thank you... Just like my Dad did.

 

It's a level sensor either in the radiator or the coolant tank.

 

Wife number two talked me out of buying a 1970 442 Y-74 pace car.

She's now EX-wife number two...

As for the three row, four door, and V8, the Custom Cruiser already has that. Is the AWD REALLY going to be used that much? My non-scientific observations is that 99% of SUV owners only take their vehicles off-road if they accidentally back over the landscaping on the way out of the driveway. Also, here in NoVA, the only cars that seem to be stuck after sliding off the road in the winter are SUVs (admittedly that may just be due to the high percentage of SUVs in the total vehicle population, however).

My first car was a 68 Vista Cruiser. I lived in central MA at the time, so I'm no stranger to winter. Most of the time I didn't even use snow tires, just BFG T/As, and I never got stuck. My wife's daily driver is a 1985 Delta 88. With snow tires she's had no problems in winter.

 

"the only cars that seem to be stuck after sliding off the road in the winter are SUVs"

I fondly refer to it as "four wheel drive disease". Basically it is the belief that you can't spin off the road because you have four wheel drive. Seems people with 2wd either stay home or drive more carefully.

 

So true

 

A friend works on a country estate organising pheasant shoots among other things. He is constantly puling AWD BMWs, Range Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers and other upscale "off road" vehicles out of trouble in slippery conditions.
He has an old Series 2 Land Rover that performs the task admirably, often he doesn't even use 4WD. Why is this?, simple, he has proper off road tires fitted that grip in muddy slippery conditions, the cars in trouble universally have street tires fitted.
An AWD vehicle with the wrong tires will be in a much trouble on icy roads as a farmer wearing ballet shoes.


Roger.

 

C'mon Rog ... that's hardly a fair comparison. The old Land Rover's were unstoppable.

 

I can understand the tires being the biggest contributor to those other awd's a 4x4's getting stuck. When I was a fireman we seldom used 4wd on the brush trucks because it did fine with just the off road mud tires.

 

The two pieces of classic wisdom are that 4x4 will just get you stuck harder, and positraction will put you in the ditch, but let you pull out once there.

I finally hung my open rear end 2WD Tacoma up after seven years of Indiana winter last year. This year, more sandbags and snow studs on the rear tires. Ideally I'd like to add an air locker, but that might be next year.

 

Been stuck with all my 4 wheel drives at sometime or another, the most stuck was the ones with a winch! Sometimes there isn't enough cable in the world or something big enough to attach it to. Best to stay at home by the fire and watch it snow anymore....Tedd

 

I read in an old British Off Roading magazine of the remarkable feats accomplished by Fiat Panda 4x4s, Lada Nivas (built in Russia to this day I believe), and other vehicles that don't immediately strike me as likely candidates for tough going.
But the universal common factor was chunky tires built for the job.
Soft deep mud will bring a Land Rover to a halt, maybe a little after some others..


I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of Icelandic off roading in the UK in 2000, I would pay serious money to see it again.


If you want to do some serious off road trips but don't like cold weather then Australia is a great place to go. Diesel Toyota Land Cruisers rule out there, Land Rovers mostly stay in town, not breaking down is very important in the Outback.


Roger.


Roger.

 

I can weigh in on the 4x4

 

You guys have overlooked the obvious. It is NOT the AWD, 4WD, 2 wd or 1 wd that matters, it is the driver. I hate BMW drivers on dry pavement and Land Rovers are a close second. In slippery conditions, AWD is only marginally better then 2wd, but the drivers believe they can't get stuck, so they drive like they do on dry pavement. I bought my first 4wd in 1969 and still own it, a 1949 ****** CJ3a. I can only remember getting stuck once and it took a large farm tractor to pull me out.

It is just like boats, just because you can afford the payments doesn't mean you know how to drive them.

Back on topic, I was very supportive when my wife announced that she want to buy a classic VW Beetle convertible. We looked at a few and discovered that a co-worker had restored one and never drove it. So she bought it, she never brings up my 20+ any more.

Joe, make sure #3 has her own classic car. It doesn't have to be an Olds!