I left Mellow Yellow downtown overnight because I had had a little too much free wine at last night's bi-annual Art Walk,* and Mrs Squirrel drove me home. She dropped me off this morning to fetch the van before the authorities towed it away before this weekend's Fall Festival kicks in. Last night was our first freeze. I had to scrape the window, and the thicker oil in the engine caused it to crank a little more slowly before catching. I was driving home but after about 5 minutes the gas pedal suddenly would not depress. The engine dropped to an idle and I pulled onto a wide shoulder. I got out and looked at the pedal and found that the push rod (Bentley's 20.31) had come loose from the underside of the gas pedal. Puzzling. I snapped it back into place and drove the rest of the way with no further problem. I'm wondering what might have made this happen. Because I'm wearing an immobilization boot on the right leg I don't have a good sense of feel down there -- it's like a ski boot -- so I suppose that I might have inadvertently hooked the pedal and pulled in up and away from the push rod at some point, when braking, maybe, but don't remember any odd sensations or noises down there. Is this a Known Issue that I need to do something about? This time it occurred in a quiet neighborhood with little traffic. I'd not like this to happen on, say, the highway. ============== * It is Mr Squirrel's habit to either take a cab or ride his bike home after pubbing if he's had sufficient alcohol to risk either a ticket or take someone's life. Mr Squirrel would not be clumping around in an immobilization boot after ankle surgery to repair a damaged ankle if he had been this sensible when he was 29 and crashed head-on to another car one wet, dark, rainy night in Topanga Canyon. No one else was hurt. Mr Squirrel's car was pretty mashed, as was Mr Squirrel. See photo http://socal2bend.blogspot.com/2009/07/photos.html
-- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Bend, OR KG6RCR |
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