The elusive humpback green turtle made it up many mountain passes over the past few days and has gone many, many miles. We’ve been keeping watch, and although the temperature gauge would creep up a bit while idling, it quickly returned to normal. It wasn’t acting quite right, but we didn’t see anything wrong under the hood.
Then, on our way down from visiting Monarch Pass on Hwy 50 in Colorado, the little green turtle’s temperature was running a little too high for comfort. We were coasting down. We would have expected to see the temperature gauge be well below normal, not running hot. It makes much more sense to overheat while going UP the mountain, not down it. We knew there was something wrong.
We made a stop at a gas station at Poncha Springs to inspect the engine. What we found was coolant splashed everywhere under the hood. After wiping up the coolant and taking a few things apart, we discovered there was a split in the inside of the upper radiator hose.
Luckily, we were just about five miles from a parts store. We made a quick guerilla tape repair and made our way to Salida.
We were in luck. The part we needed was in stock. With tools on hand and a new radiator hose, the parking lot repair was a success.
So far, the little green turtle has kept a normal temperature. It made for a bit of excitement for our trip, but certainly didn’t hamper any of our travel plans.
