Not asking for anything here, but if you are the praying type, they are appreciated.
To talk about today I've got to back up and hit on a couple of things from the last month and how it all really went to shit this week. It's best that I go cronologically, but the bad parts is towards the end.
A little over a month ago I got a crack in the windshield of my dailydriver 2010 Kia Forte. Scheduled for replacement Monday of the following week wasn't a problem. That Wednesday was the injection for one of my eyes and on the way to the appointment the car starts to overheat. I make it to the appointment, but due to the procedure it's the next day before I can retrieve the car and the weekend before I can start diagnosing. Ultimately I wasted the weekend chasing a hose when it was a hairline crack in the "temperature control assembly" where the hose attached. Took a week to get the first replacement. Opened it saturday to install and it didn't include required seals (picture and description said that it did) and no one had them locally. We're into week three when I find out that the replacement housing is manufactured wrong and will not seal around the pipe coming from the water pump. Order another replacement housing, this time a new OEM Kia part, but just the housing instead of the full assembly like the first. It took two weeks to arrive after USPS sent it on a tour of the Northeast US (AZ to TN, to CT, to NH, to NJ, and finally to GA). Got that buttoned up last week and was going to drive it for several days to ensure no more leaking before adding coolant, I did manage to get atleast a few in with no signs of leakage.
Was going to drain and fill with coolant at my parent't house this past weekend, I'd left the coolant burping funnel and antifreeze there when doing the work. Dad felt like he had a sinus infection, so I stayed away to let him relax thinking I'd so it one afternoong this week. It wasn't a sinus infection. I'm not going into a detailed play by play, but dad is in the hospital again, he had a brain bleed start sometime over the weekend. Important information first is that he had surgery late this evening (Wednesday), it was successful and he should be starting to get relief.
Sunday they went to the medstop to get medicine for the sinus infection, which they did get. Monday the pain was a lot worse so they went to the ER in Warner Robins, GA. CT scan showed the brain bleed and he was air medicaved to the Memorial Hospital Neuro ICU in Savanna on that afternoon. Couldn't make it from here to the hospital there in time for visitation Monday, so hit the road about 5am Tuesday morning. The doctor's initial plan from the time he arrived in Savannah was to wait and monitor for 5 days while his prescription blood thinners flushed out of his system, so was looking like Saturday earliest for surgery. Nurses taked about the possibility of advancing the operation early this morning (Wednesday), but couldn't get answers from the neurosurgeon. Saturday was still their standing plan when we (dad kinda included) decided I would go home tonight and come back for the weekend, save the work leave days in case it was needed next week (probably will be). I'm on the way home and stop for gas when mom calls and says that they are doing the surgery today. My sister had gone home with her family Tuesday night since her husband had to be at work today, and she is returning Thursday. So mom was there alone with no support, and I was close enough that I was seriously considering turning around even though she said no. As I was thinking about that, my vehicle broke and I had to continue home.
Not sure what my sig shows, but the current drivers are the F-100, the '99 Ranger, the F-250, and the 2010 Kia Forte. When you need to make a mad dash to the hospital 3 hours away, you are going to take the quickest ride you have that seems like it will make the trip safely. That definitely isn't the F-100, though I have no doubt it would reliably make the trip stopping at every gas station both ways (and probably want a gas can to be safe). The Ranger isn't up for it yet, need various things and transmission isn't right. The F-250 isn't the quickest, the tires should have been replaced a couple of years ago, and I canceled the tire appointment to head to Savannah. The Kia it is.
Boy did I torture test it with the drive out and the bumper to bumper rush hour traffic in Savannah. That cooling system is for sure working properly. Car still broke on the way home this afternoon, and forced me to continue the trip to the house instead of turning around. Was maybe about a third of the way home by distance (more like half way by time due to rush hour) and stopped for gas as I mentioned. Popped the car into drive and it went backwards when I hit the gas. It went backwards when I put it in neutral, park, and reverse too. Fortunately I'd encountered this before and recognized the symptoms of a broken shifter cable bushing, but for this car it isn't something that a local parts store carries. I have tools to remove the center console and get it into gear, but I can't fix it in Savannah or really drive it around the area like that. Continuing home was the only option.
I got home about 8:15pm and mom called about 8:45 to say that he was out of surgery with no complication.
As I said the important thing is that they got dad into surgery this evening (Wednesday) so he can start getting some relief. Tomorrow I'll be taking one of those days I was trying to save to get tires on the F-250 just in case I've got to take it back out this weekend. Repair bushing should be arriving Friday, but that was a repair bushing that broke, so don't trust it. Once tires are on the truck I'm going to go to the hardware store and junkyard to see if I can cobble together a more permanent fix. At the very least a way to prevent the cable from popping off if the bushing breaks again, it would work if I could keep the cable attached. Then change the oil and put proper coolant in it while I'm waiting for parts to arrive.
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