Random thoughts from home

The past few days have been extreamly hot and humid here in central Minnesota.
Last night the cooler air started moving in and the humidity started to drop. The next two days are suppose to be way more comfortable- wahoooo!!!
During this time of heat my sisters truck decided it needed to break down, which did not make her a happy camper. Because she doesn't drive, I have been running between home, Litchfield, and Hutchinson where the repair shop is. First it was the battery that was trash; it was a brand new one from Wal- Mart; then the air- conditioner needed recharging. I tried bringing the truck home after that only to find that if I ran the air-conditioner the truck over heated. The shop had closed for the evening and so I ended up driving home with the air off, the windows open, and the heat turned up full blast with the fan blowing on high. After a half hour of being in the high heat, high humidity temps with the truck heat on high I was ready for some cool air.
Then yesterday I told Cecila what was going on and she called the shop up and they said to bring the truck back in by 9 AM. Another trip in the heat! I dropped it off at the shop and they loaned me their truck- with air conditioning; oh that felt heavenly! Late yesterday I went back down to pick up the truck. They found that the fan clutch had gone out and so the fan blade in front of the radiator was not turning. They had just finished replacing it when I got there and so they took it for a test drive. When the mechanic got back he told me that it was still over heating so they replaced the thermostat thinking that it might be the problem. Another test drive and he came back. It wasn't the thermostat. It is a process of elimination and it is expensive. You start with the least expensive repairs and hope that you don't have to get to the more expensive ones but in this case- it's going to get very expensive. Next up is the radiator.
In her truck it is an aluminum and plastic one. The coolant turns acidic in an aluminum tank and if it is not changed and flushed every two years it causes corrosion inside the tank. If you leave it go the corrosion plugs up the radiator. In most radiators you could hot tank them and get away with it but in an aluminum one if you do that you end up opening up the holes that have been left from the corrosion. it is expensive to hot tank a radiator and because the likelyhood of it being shot it is just better to get a new one and stick in it but this radiator is 193 dollars. Poor Ce; just wait until she gets hit with this bombshell this morning. So far the repairs have already cost her over 300 dollars. If it isn't the radiator- heaven help her because the next thing will be a head gasket and that is really going to get expensive!