Rare Find( saved my butt)

[Silver88]

This a long story so indulge me. :popcorn:

About a month ago, I was at a union safety conference in Pittsburgh. I bugged out a half day early( Thurs. afternoon) because I was going on vacation. I get back to the hotel parking lot,and before I got in the truck, I asked a young lady what was the best way to get back on I376E. She starts to tell me, then says" you're not from around here, are you?" I said "no", thinking , that's why I asked you, not because your cute( which she was). :brows: I follow her directions, which were simple, but realized I would be heading west on 376, not east. Got on I479N, then figured, Heck, I don't want to go all the way up to I70 and then come all the way around the east side of the city. Well, I get off, turn around and find my way to 376E. By now it's full blown rush hour, stop and go traffic, 11 miles to the turnpike.

Normally my truck runs a little on the cool side, but gets up to normal if it sits running. I notice it gets up to 210, so I keep an eye on it. It starts to slowly creep up, so I turn on the heat. Still climbing, I figure I better get off the highway. Take the first exit I can get to, Squirrel Hill. Find a place to pull over, I see a little steam come out from under the hood. Pop the hood, crack in the bottle, water shooting out. Had basic tools, but no spare parts on hand( lots at home in the garage, though). :help:

Stopped a guy walking down the street, asked if there was an auto parts or hardware store near by. He said he was new to the area, but there was a Jippy Lube up the street and a Sunoco across from that. Hiked up the hill, The Sonoco was a MiniMarket, picked up a roll of duct tape. Walked over to the lube place( Pennzoil) and asked if they had any kind of metal tubing. They asked Why? So I explained the problem, but they didn't have anything. so I asked them about any auto parts stores and they said there was one a few blocks over that might still be open. Hike over there,and found this little hole in the wall place, still open. Asked the lady behind the counter if they had what I needed, and she said " I'll get my boss, if anybody can help you, he can". The owner of the place,Burt, comes out and I explain my problem. He says he knows exactly what I mean and says he might have something that would work. First he calls some one and asks about a generic aftermarket item, no luck. So he goes to look in the back, come back and says " I'll call these guys down in Monroeville, Chrysler dealer, nice guys but they don't like to deal with Jeeps"He calls them, gets parts dept. on the line and tells them what we need, hands me the phone , and goes in the back to look some more. The parts guy finally comes on and says they don't have it,3-4 days shipped from Cleveland. 73.95 for the bottle, 5 something for thecap. I said that was no help. :wall:

Burt comes back said he swore he had some thing back there. Then he says that he has a Jeep, and even though he doesn't like to steal parts from his own stuff( not that I blame him), he didn't want to see me stuck 4 hours from home. so we take a ride, turns out it's a ZJ, not what I need. So we head back to the shop and I ask if he has an old heater core we could cut one of the water legs off of. He says to me " what about a flush tee?".My mind went blank and he says, " You know a plastic tee with a cap". Then it hits me," Like from a Prestone Flush and Fill kit?" He says yea. Boy am I dumb :doh: , it was perfect.

We get back to the shop,he goes and grabs it off the shelf some where, and brings it up to the counter. Asks me if I need antifreeze, I said yes, and sme water. He goes to get some water, I look at the back of the package, $4.98, must have been sitting around awhile. Burt bring back a jug of water, aks if I have tools(yes),and rings me up, $18.20.

I pay,, the he asks where my truck is, I said " afew blocks over and a block or two down". So then he says" We're ready to close up the front here( there is a workshop in the back) so I'll have Maggie( the lady up front) take you there. I thanked them profusely, as they really went out of there way to help me. Just before we left, he says, " here, you might need this", and hands me a razor bl;de. Maggie takes me right to my truck, asks again if I need anything else, I thanked her again, and said I think I'm ok now.

I popped the hoses off the bottle, used one of the Tees to splice the hoses and clamped it tight. I pulled the upper rad hose, filled the radiator up and dumped some in the head inlet. Put it back together and started her up, looked pretty good, so I drove s hort distance till it warmed up and I found some level ground.Popped the hood, no leaks, so I started for home. Stopped for gas about half way home, rechecked and all looked good. grabbed some chow and hit the road again. Ran fine the rest of the way home.

The whole point of this drawn out tale is that there are still a few decent folks out there who will go out of there way to help a stranger. Any of you guys in the area, I'd recomend them. It's not the prettiest place, and may not have everything you want on hand, but a place like that is hard to find.

They are in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, on the corner of Loretta and something( can't remember). :thumbsup:

[MJ86YJ90]

glad to hear ya made it home I travel that way for every penguin game to the city. Glad to know theres some locals that are that great

[Automan2164]

Great story. I too have been helped by the kindness of others in the Jeep world a time or two.

 

But, next time, I would suggest taking a picture of that cute chick who gave you directions at the end of the thread.

 

Give something for those who don't like reading to look at.

Rob L. :D