After the gig last night I pulled the Murder Van around into the alley to pack up the gear and it just stopped driving. In gear, but no go, still running and revving, but just sitting there. I got out and found a giant pool of oil under the radiator where a hose had blown. Looking down the alley there was a trail of oil leading back to the street. Poor Murder Van looked as though it'd been shot through the guts and dragged it's bloody carcass into the alley where it slipped into unconsciousness from blood loss. Du Keeps gave me a tow home with his Chevy 4By.
Now, here's the thing. The loss of oil does not seem a likely cause of the tranny loss. I fixed up the busted hose clamp today and topped up the oil, but still no tranny action. Obviously. Checked the tranny fluid to find it was bone dry. Total coincidence? If the tranny fluid hadn't dried up at the exact same moment that the oil line burst, I'd have driven home with oil spilling out the whole way, probably causing the engine to seize or overheat and cause serious damage at least. So I'll be topping up the tranny tonight to see if that solves the gearbox issues, but I'm hoping I got my Christmas Miracle last night and not a Christmas Massacre. My shining star in the east, a dry gearbox.
UPDATE: The Murder Van is back on the road. If it wasn't for
Dale being in the back for the winter I could'a stole like 5 kids tonight.
