[Mgs] Finally got the hook

[Simon Matthews]

Max,

When I had a heater valve start leaking, I was able to get home (just
a few miles for me) by removing the radiator cap. The heater valve was
only leaking under pressure and removing the pressure stopped the
leak!

Regards,
Simon

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 2:59 PM, Max Heim <max_heim at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Well, my MGB's "untowed" streak has ended after roughly 20 years. The
> temperature suddenly shot up in heavy traffic in the East Bay on Thursday.
> It was clearly due to rapid coolant loss, and I was headed to BART to get to
> a meeting in Oakland, so I just left it and walked to the station. When I
> got back to the car around 5pm, I bought a gallon of water at the liquor
> store and dumped it in and fired it up to see where it would come out. It
> turned out to be the heater valve. Since there is no easy way to bypass this
> contraption, I had to weigh the value of continuing my string of successful
> "limp home" repairs (I was two blocks from an auto parts store, so I could
> have got some RTV and gasket material, if there wasn't any in my trunk kit,
> and rigged a blockoff) vs. getting grubby in my business clothes and
> certainly arriving late at my in-law's for my wife's birthday dinner. Given
> that choice, discretion seemed the better part of valor, so I found a pay
> phone and called AAA (which my wife only signed us up for a few months ago).
> So I arrived on-time, albeit in the wrecker with the B on the hook.
>
> This morning I snipped off some sheet copper, punched two holes into it, and
> created a blockoff plate. I had to plug the other heater hose with a 1/2-in
> bolt. I drove it home to my house with seemingly no ill effects. The first
> place I called for a new valve was out of stock, but I just found one, too
> late to pick up today. But I don't really need the heater yet, in this
> climate, not since I put the hardtop on at any rate.
>
>
> --
>
> Max Heim
> '66 MGB GHN3L76149
> If you're near Mountain View, CA,
> it's the primer red one with chrome wires
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