Worst Z Day Ever

[Lukaniuk]

For work I fly out of Saskatoon Saskatchewan to a uranium mine on a week on week off rotation. However, I live by Edmonton Alberta which is 500 kilometers away from Saskatoon. My last 3 rotations I drove the Z with no problems.

 

At 11:30PM Last night, 50kms past the nearest town and 150kms from home, my alternator died. Literally in the middle of nowhere. I was able to phone a tow truck driver and he showed up an hour later with a truck who's parking brakes, reverse and spot lights didn't work. Also, since the brakes didn't work, he turned the truck off so that he could put it in gear to stop it from rolling away and we couldn't start the truck again. We eventually got it running again by chocking the wheels and kicking the starter with a screwdriver. We get the car loaded and make our way back to the tow truck's shop in small town Alberta.Now its 2:30AM and I'm 200km from home.

 

Although not the most prepared tow truck driver, the man was one of the nicest people I have ever met. I am truly lucky he was working last night. He let me stay on his couch, In the morning I ate breakfast with him and his wife and he helped me replace the brushes in my alternator and I'm on my way by Noon.

 

And then I make it 99% of the way home. 10 more minutes to go. One more truck to pass. And then, while passing... Temp gauge runs to max, steam from under the hood and clouds of smoke behind the car.

 

I pull over, white smoke from the tailpipe and the rad is nearly dry. 'F***!!!! Head gasket' I was able to find some water, fill up the rad and limp it home. I'm nearly out of water again by the time I'm home.

 

This thread turned out to be more of a vent for me, but I hope somebody gets some enjoyment out of it. Also, if you have an extra head gasket around I'd gladly take it off your hands with ample compensation if you can ship it fast.

[ozzinc]

For work I fly out of Saskatoon Saskatchewan to a uranium mine on a week on week off rotation. However, I live by Edmonton Alberta which is 500 kilometers away from Saskatoon. My last 3 rotations I drove the Z with no problems.

 

At 11:30PM Last night, 50kms past the nearest town and 150kms from home, my alternator died. Literally in the middle of nowhere. I was able to phone a tow truck driver and he showed up an hour later with a truck who's parking brakes, reverse and spot lights didn't work. Also, since the brakes didn't work, he turned the truck off so that he could put it in gear to stop it from rolling away and we couldn't start the truck again. We eventually got it running again by chocking the wheels and kicking the starter with a screwdriver. We get the car loaded and make our way back to the tow truck's shop in small town Alberta.Now its 2:30AM and I'm 200km from home.

 

Although not the most prepared tow truck driver, the man was one of the nicest people I have ever met. I am truly lucky he was working last night. He let me stay on his couch, In the morning I ate breakfast with him and his wife and he helped me replace the brushes in my alternator and I'm on my way by Noon.

 

And then I make it 99% of the way home. 10 more minutes to go. One more truck to pass. And then, while passing... Temp gauge runs to max, steam from under the hood and clouds of smoke behind the car.

 

I pull over, white smoke from the tailpipe and the rad is nearly dry. 'F***!!!! Head gasket' I was able to find some water, fill up the rad and limp it home. I'm nearly out of water again by the time I'm home.

 

This thread turned out to be more of a vent for me, but I hope somebody gets some enjoyment out of it. Also, if you have an extra head gasket around I'd gladly take it off your hands with ample compensation if you can ship it fast.

Man your luck was like

rodney dangerfield, you had got know respect from your z car.

but its good that you made it home, you could actually do a book sort of like obama, but in this case you could call it memoirs from my zcar.

[woldson]

Truly a very cool story, very well told.

My hat is off to that fellow that let you stay over, way neato!

 

Ohhh sorry, in the moment sorry about your misfortune, been their my self. Wait, wait...... still going though events. Guess they are always great afterwords.

[Boy from Oz]

... Guess they are always great afterwords.

 

Yep, you are right, they do sound much funnier afterwards. Mine is a motoring story rather than a Z story so firstly my apologies about that. About 30 years ago we drove a VW across Australia. Coming back we got around halfway when the crankshaft decided to become a two-piece crank. After waiting a day and one half beside the car (survival rule #1) a truck finally stopped to help. We attached a rope to the back of the truck and to the beetle and took off.

 

If you are not familiar with trucks that travel in outback Oz let me give you brief description. They have one prime-mover but they have multiple trailers, we call them road trains and I think they are LCVs in Canada and Triples in the USA, you probably get the idea - point is, we were rather a long way back from the driver, but not to worry we only had 100 klms to the next town.

 

The first surprise we got was just how fast these rigs travel – 60 mph. The second thing we noticed was dark brown spots appearing on the windscreen. The third and most disconcerting thing we noticed was where the spots were coming from – sheep! Each trailer had about 150 sheep, all a little nervous about going to market and all appeared to be suffering bowel stress.

 

First response was to hit the wipers – I don’t need to detail the efficacy of 6 volt wipers that are not being charged. After about six cycles the windscreen just became a brown smear and the wipers stopped. Second response was to stick my head out the window to see where I was going. This simply removed any barrier between the sheep and my face. In desperation I tried to steer out from behind the trailer and toot the horn and flash the VW headlights at the driver. The state of the battery rendered the horn useless and the layers of faeces on the headlight doomed this option also.

 

To spare you the murky details we eventually made it, however, it did as they say, leave a bad taste in my mouth for quite some time. Over several days seven different drivers (none carrying livestock!) towed us nearly 1500 klm to Sydney and didn’t charge us a cent – it was very pleasing to see from Lukaniuk's tale that generosity amougst the motoring community is not yet dead.

 

Hope I’m not seen as hijacking this thread but Lukaniuk’s post brought back this motoring memory.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

Speaking of VW and snapping cranks, my dad's friend built his FIRST stock 1200cc engine once, and didn't know how to shim the cylinder's for the appropriate compression ratio. He ended up with something like 10:1 compression ratio on a STOCK 1200. He said it was able to get up to 100mph and then he heard it start knocking. he pulled over and tugged at the pulley to find, his crank was snapped in two (by the amount of endplay he suddenly had) It had broken at a jagged edge, so the two halves were still meshing enough for it to run on all 4's.

[Calgary280ZT]

Wow dude, that stuff always happen in the most inconvenient spot. Which town were you near? You must be working for Cameco....I consulted for them back in the 90s when I lived in Prince Albert. Which mine are you working at? Are there many AB guys working there? I know lots of SK guys that commute to Fort Mac to work in oil, you're the first one I've heard of that commutes to SK.

 

Wish I had a spare head gasket for you. Only got the one for my Rebello head and need it right away. Have you tried Jim Karst in Calgary? He's got tons of parts and I'll bet he has a head gasket. Which head and block are you running? He's home all this week, I can ask him for you. PM me at markham@patch-marketing.com.

[Lukaniuk]

Wow dude, that stuff always happen in the most inconvenient spot. Which town were you near? You must be working for Cameco....I consulted for them back in the 90s when I lived in Prince Albert. Which mine are you working at? Are there many AB guys working there? I know lots of SK guys that commute to Fort Mac to work in oil, you're the first one I've heard of that commutes to SK.

 

Wish I had a spare head gasket for you. Only got the one for my Rebello head and need it right away. Have you tried Jim Karst in Calgary? He's got tons of parts and I'll bet he has a head gasket. Which head and block are you running? He's home all this week, I can ask him for you. PM me at markham@patch-marketing.com.

 

I'm actually staying in Camrose for a while so I was taking highway 13 which goes straight to Saskatoon. The town was Provost. Ya I work as a mine engineer for Cameco at the McArthur River mine. The majority of the people there are still from LaRonge, PA and Saskatoon. A few of the technical staff (engineers, geologists, and techs) are coming from Alberta, and Manitoba. Some even come in from the Vancouver area.