Dave's Life

Let me start by saying that yesterday I reaffirmed that wisdom often comes from unexpected sources. We pulled out of BMRA about noon yesterday and started west down 154 out of Gilmer towards Quitman. About 10 minutes into my ride my temp gauge started climbing, which was pretty disconcerting considering I had to drive all the way out to Lake Texoma to drop my camper and then head back home, which is about a 4.5 hour drive. I pulled into a little gas station 17 miles before Quitman and found a small but forceful stream of coolant shooting out of the top front of my radiator. After asking a few locals if there was any chance of getting a radiator repair done on Memorial Day around there I quickly learned that I was on my own.

I went inside the station and asked the pregnant cashier (with her pack of smokes on the counter behind her!). She said "Why don't you put some table pepper in there?" Ummm... "Like black pepper?". She confirmed that is what she meant and sounded surprised that I had never heard of this fix. She continued by reassuring me that it is a common fix for small holes and won't damage anything. Given my situation and knowing that I had very little to lose in this situation I skeptically took a large bottle of black pepper to the counter and she rang it up along with a jug of coolant. After letting the engine cool off a bit, I refilled the coolant and proceeded to put about half of the bottle of pepper in the radiator.

Knowing dang well that I was likely to be stopping on the side of the road in about 5 minutes, I started back on my trip home. 17 miles later the engine was still cool and I stopped for a moment in Quitman to see how bad the leak was. Nada... nothing! Not even a wet spot on the radiator where it was shooting out 20 minutes before. I decided the next goal would be Greenville. If I got at least that far, it wouldn't be that bad for my wife to come rescue me. In Greenville, it was still dry! The engine continued to stay cool the rest of the way home and I had no further issues.

So... next time a pregnant cigarette smoking woman from East Texas gives you auto mechanical advice, don't immediately discount it. She may have torn down more engines than you!