We started the day off today with a walk to the Car Quest. Luckily there was no rain, so we did not need the overhang that went around the edge of the building. Although it did provide shade while working on the car. That's always a good thing. We got there, and purchased a few things. We got:

• 1' of 5/16" Fuel Tubbing to replace the worn hose. I didn't know how much to get, but new that 1' should be plenty.
• Package of zip ties to tie the hose off to the side since we were purchasing a straight hose, and not the pre-bent Mazda hose.
• 1 11mm deep socket to take off my cross over tube. I had a tool kit, but it did not have a deep socket and did not have an 11mm open end wrench. Well it has a deep socket now :)
• 1 small hose clamp to replace the stock piece o' crap clamps they put on.

When we had everything purchased, the owners Dad offered us a ride back to the Motel. We took him up on it as it saved us a little time. I got the crossover tube off with no problems but the old radiator hose was a little tougher. The tough part was getting the stock hose clamp off. They double clamped it since they broke one while putting it on. So I had two to take off :(

Once I got it off, I found the reason the hose failed. While the belt was flippin' around comin' apart, it bent the stock hose bracket that was to hold the hose away from the belt. Since it was bent, the hose was riddin' on the belt, and that's obviously no good. You can see here the hose is right up to the belt on the shot I took before I took the belt & hose off.

The next problem was figuring how to run the new hose so it did not get caught up in the belts & Pulleys. So instead of using the old bracket which was made for the pre-bent hose, I ran the hose around a different way and made a new mounting bracket out of the zip ties I purchased :)

Before starting it, we had to refill the radiator as all the water came out. As Pat was filling it, I saw I forgot to put the top hose clamp on, so took the hose off, put the clamp on, and put the hose back on. When I took the hose off, water started to run out. That was a good thing, it meant the water was getting in. I lost very little by the time I got it back together.

Now that I had the car together, I had time to take a shot of the building :)

I got everything installed and when I started the car, it had a new squeal that it was not making before. There was nothing to do except let it squeal. It sounded like a belt squeal, so I let it go. The belt squeal went away and a squeak started. I just let that go too. After it ran a little bit, I checked the water in the radiator again, and I could not see it in the radiator. I added more and let it run. After a while longer, the squeal went away.

We talked to Ron again (guy with the bad water pump) as he was out with the dog. He thought the Jeep would be ready around 11:30am.

Since all seemed to be working, we packed up and left around 11:00. On the way out of town, we stopped at the Car Quest again, and got 2' of fuel tubbing incase something happened again. I figured it was a good $1.40 insurance. The squeal started as we were leaving, but quickly went away after a few miles. As I drove, I felt and heard every squeak and bump from the car hoping it was not something else going bad.

I drove into early afternoon. When Pat drove for a few miles, the new belt started to go, so we pulled over before it got the new hose. We stopped at a house, and we had a greeter dog come out to check us out. It was friendly and we both had to pet him and say high. I cut the belt and we continued.

Once Pat started to drive, the roads started to straighten out so it was no fun for her to drive, then again there was no power steering. We found this along our journey. I even got Pat in the background on this one.

So it may not have been all that bad. Now we started to watch the fuel gauge, and started to look for a place to get gas. Every town we went through had something like 150 people or so, so there was no gas. She was starting to freak a little as we were getting down to E on the gauge. I was not concerned as much as I new we had over a gallon after the needle got to E, and there was a town about 15 miles away that had 1800 people. They were sure to have a station. We made it and stopped for gas and a drink, and she told me to drive as it was almost dusk and she didn't want to drive at dusk. Well, there were a few turns after I started to drive, but not many. But, many more than Pat had :)

We stopped at a motel right a dark and it was pretty nice for the price. The lady at the desk was also a big help with locating a car wash for the morning, and a car parts store.