Just to give you a quick update,
We drove over 400 miles today, with no issues!!!
Yesterday evening I was able to successfully install the new fan clutch and an auxiliary electric fan. I ran the engine without the Aux fan for over an hour and it didn't overheat.
This is quite frustrating as the fan clutch is a "simple" part that shouldn't break. We replaced it in March, and now again.. this time the Aux fan will hold us incase it ever does break again!
We had to forgo our adventures to Austin and San Antonio as well as visiting with a friend in Dallas. (we drove through Dallas without stopping) We weren't sure if it would hold all day and didn't want to get stuck in the south of Texas when we have appointments we need to make in Utah and Colorado.
So it's with sadness that I need to say to our friends there, we will be back... someday.
But with happiness that I get to report that we're sitting still in Amarillo for two days so I can get caught up on work before we head into the mountains.
Praise God, Gracie is up on all 8 tires and running like a champ again.
There's a slight chance that we might have head gasket issues, but it's 90%+ likely that the mechanic who looked at it didn't know what he was talking about. My virtual mechanics helped a ton!
On the docket for this week, an oil change for Gracie and verifying/testing for any head gasket issues, but I'm fairly certain we don't have an issue there.
Oh and Amarillo is actually a spanish word for Yellow, and Tejas is the spanish spelling of Texas... thus this:
And thus we come full circle. I myself was in Amarillo not long before we met face to face in Canada!
Super thrilled to hear that Gracie is back to running smoothly (*knocks on wood*) and that you guys have mad some mileage. Sorry to hear about the missed friends, but that’s just a great excuse to make your way back that way again!
Seriously – congrats, and here’s to both safe and adventurous travels!