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Tuesday, 06/03/03; Rockford, Illinois
Get out and get under…
Marcia warned us to avoid the Interstate just south of Chicago. She said it was very congested, so we had an alternate plan to beat a course south to US-30 before we got to Gary, Indiana, if the going got rough. Dennis was in the lead and he decided to stick with the Interstate when we got a bit of congestion where a couple of major routes converged. We had bumper to bumper for about 15 minutes, and then the traffic opened up and we were cruising at our 50-55 MPH normal. However, we were not to get by without any problems. Later we decided to take the Interstate around Joliet instead of the more direct route through the city. As we turned off the I-80 to go north, we came to a complete halt followed by a creeping drive too slow for idling in low gear. This lasted for about 45 minutes and then we found an escape route on a state route. We discovered the cause of the traffic jam – a fatal two-car accident! Had we opted for the shorter and slower route through Joliet, we would have avoided this tie-up, but one never knows!
White knuckles.
The Smith’s car was still exhibiting some electrical problems. The new battery didn’t solve the intermittent problem with the turn signal and there was a problem with the CB radio when the engine was at idle. Keith decided that he would change to the spare alternator to see if that would help. We pulled in early in the day at Rockford, IL to accomplish this task. A close check of the alternator disclosed that one of the mounting brackets had failed in the weld! This wasn’t a part of the electrical problem, but was one that needed a fix. We didn’t know if the bracket could be welded while the plate was installed on the car, or not. The alternative, to remove the plate would require that the alternator and the air-conditioning compressor be removed from the car. Dennis suggested that the alternator be strapped to the mounting plate using a heavy-duty nylon tiewrap. Using Dennis’ electric drill, Keith made a hole to accommodate the tiewrap and installed the spare alternator.
Keith felt that the noise in the CB was due to a poor electrical grounding of the battery. Therefore, he removed the floorboard and loosened the grounding strap and cleaned behind it in the hope that would improve the connection. He couldn’t remove the strap entirely without raising the car sufficiently to get under it to remove the nut on the attaching bolt. He hoped that this halfway measure would be adequate. Neither the spare generator nor the cleaning of the ground solved the electrical problems, but the car was still drivable and the CB could be used except when the engine was at idle. Thus, we planned to press on and think about other solutions.
Regards from,
The Puzzled Four
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