Minor Surgery

So, it all started last summer...On random occasions my car would overheat dramatically and then drop to normal temperature in a matter of minutes. This didn't happen every time the car was running, but often enough that it worried me. Well, summer ended and so did that problem. Well, that is until we were 30 minutes outside Phoenix late Sunday night on our way back from California. Chuck, as we affectionately call our car, started to overheat, but right when it would get near the top, the temperature would drop back down to normal. We pulled over, but couldn't see anything obviously wrong, so we drove the last hour back to our apartment with the windows down and the heater all the way up. Not fun.

I rememberd that my uncle and grandfather had pretty much decided it was a thermostat problem and got the part to fix it, but then the problem stopped. Darren called his dad to see what he thought, and he quickly agreed that it was most likely the thermostat. Darren and I talked about it and decided that we should probably fix the problem before we drive another 11 hours back to California this coming weekend and risk more overheating. We headed over to our local AutoZone on Tuesday and bought a new thermostat and borrowed tools from our Elders Quorum president and got to work this morning.

It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get everything taken apart and drained before we could even get to the thermostat, and then less than an hour to switch it out and then put everything back together. Darren and I felt very accomplished though when we turned on the car, let it run and nothing leaked!

We were both filthy afterwards, and these pictures don't even do it justice. The true test will be this Friday when we drive back to California. Think positive!