I was driving the 928 with my kids following in the rental car. A right, a left and a left and we should be approaching the town. Doesn't look familiar, though. I stop and ask my son. "This is the way" he assures me. We do it again and then find ourselves in a road work backup. No I'm worried.

Ken had drained the gas tank. That was welcome news to me. We had added some gas in the garage. Maybe a half gallon. Ken had, graciously, offered to fill it more and I had, mistakenly, refused. It's quick to town and I might have wanted to swap the pump so no need for more. Right?. Now we're driving uphill...and it should be down...when the car sputters and comes to a halt. Looks like trouble.

First option is more gas so we head back down the wrong-way road and find the town where it should have been. The nice, small-town clerk loaned me a gas can (no deposit) and offers to drive me back. Nope. I'm good. Back at the car I put in a few gallons of high-test fuel and it fires right up. At least I didn't get too much further towrds the Pacific.

After being escorted to the station I sent the kids off to explore Washington. I had plans to work on the car a bit and get fluids changed. They could have some fun.

Made it fine to Centralia and the horrible road manners were becoming clear. On the gas it'll go right and on the brakes it'll dart left. Worse, if it hits a hole of joint at speed it'll lurch left. Yikes. Gets less jumpy on the highway after not using the brakes for a while. In town it's tough.

I hit a parts store to get some supplies. New wiper blades, a long ground strap and an assortment of fasteners. The blades go on quick and work fine. No delay mode but it'll clear the windscreen.

Next up is Earnies Oil Change. Nice guys. I get a fill of 5w40 synthetic in front and 80w90 synth in back. He finds the oil drain nearly loose and the threads shot. It's the original style plug (23mm?) and he says a plug from a Dodge Durango will just work. It drips a bit still, but not much coming off the stick.

It's tough for the tech to get the tranny drain plugs out. I encourage him to get them out and he does but one's wrecked. He's surprised I've got one.

By now the kids are back from visiting the ocean. We link up and I proceed to screw down the door panel while they find an WiFi spot to look for hotel rooms. We're running a bit behind and will stay in Seattle instead of heading for Wyoming (Or Idaho) (Or Spokane) that night.

Meanwhile, I get the door panel tamed. At least it doesn't flop and the handle stays attached when closing. Reattached that panel below the pod, too.

The ground strap goes in so the door on the battery will close. With the short battery the stock strap won't let it down and we need all the space for our luggage.

The only place with WiFi on a Wednesday night is the library. I get a room (Hotwire is the best) near the Space Needle. Off to Seattle we go.

I had reserved the rental car for 23.5 hours on the idea that we'd be back 6 hours earlier. Nope. Needed it all. Didn't help that the car had no lights so I couldn't read the map. Oh, well. I wanted to circle the airport. The disfunctional suspension was keeping me pretty busy as well.

About 9 we cruised into the Holiday Inn. Wandered about for a restaurant and had the best salmon I think I've ever enjoyed.

And Day 2 was done.

:roflmao:

Quite an adventure! Enjoying it vicariously. :corn:

I was never a fan of cliff hangers. atleast i dont have to wait a whole week to see the next segment.

Seattle is a fun town.

My daughter wanted to see the Space Needle. I wanted to hit the road early.

The Space Needle was cool.

Since we had some time to kill before it opened, we took the fabulous monorail downtown and walked to Pike Place Market. (Don't all tourists go there?) it's an interesting place. We noticed some TV trucks and a crowd so we went to investigate. Turned out the Today show was broadcasting live from the market. Looking around, there she was. An object of my irrational interests...

Kathy Lee Gifford

She looked pretty good in person, guys and, yes, another one off the bucket list.

We packed up and loaded the car. In the parking garage I could see a flow of oil coming from under the car. It was on a little slope and looked worse than it was. A couple of tablespoons but I've got to drive it a long way. I elected to not test the remaining threads and watch the level instead. Also re-strung the power steering belt for the first of maybe 6 times.

We hit the road noon-ish and headed across Washington; hoping to get into Montana.

The driving was pretty good. I90 threads through the mountains nicely. The suspension was being difficult but I was figuring it out. After a while we get into the hinterlands (I'll bet Washingtonians have a better term) and the road straightens out.

I'm passing a few cars and keeping the speeds honest. I figure out that 2600 RPM is roughly 70 and that's 2.7 MPH per 100 RPM. (Time on my hands) I pass a few cars and see that sight that all P-car owners know:

Red and blue flashing lights on the front of an unmarked Chrysler.

The officer asks about my unsignalled lane changes. "I know, officer." I'm concerned he'll ask why I'm not using a seatbelt (Doesn't work) or why the fuel filter hangs like that or any other awkward topic. He sticks to the violation.

I receive my ticket and re-enter the highway using a clear hand signal. He leaves me alone at the time.

I'm signalling that way for a while and stop in a rest stop to effect a fix. I can't figure out what's wrong. Apparently no power to the relay when the stalk is moved. I fashion a jumper and route 12V to the relay output so the lights turn on when the stalk is up or down. 3 out of 4 corners work. So it goes.

We get into Missoula, MT about 9 and call it a night. It's surprising what hotels charge for walk-in guests. Well, not surprising. The only place that's serving food is an Irish restaurant with a really loud folk group. Eating is good, nonetheless.

At the end of the day, the car's moving, we're in Montana and I'm the proud recipient of a $124 ticket.

Are they playing music? Maybe that was a "cover charge" otherwise known as free market capitalism. I gotta admire your cohones on this long distance trip. I've driven some similar equipment failures, but only short distances; this one I think I would have trailered, although I note you asked and he said he thought it would do the trip. And actually, so far it is; the cop should have cut you a break on this one, but it's his call.

Tim Leary's bus was named "Further" , fits here I think.

Yep, amplified folk music. Not poorly played but I'd have preferred silence.

To be fair, the owner said it'd make it to Seattle which is about 100 miles away. It was my irrational exuberance that turned that into a cross-country jaunt.

Was the power steering pump pulley running at an angle instead of parallel to the engine front? Is that why the belt was coming off? Gunar

The belt was old and had stretched. I couldn't get it tight enough or it kept stretching.

I'm guessing you got your ticket around Ritzville, WA.... It's a known police trap area....

Too bad you didn't post up more advance notice of your arrival....I'm sure we could have helped you out...(I've got a shop in Tacoma)..and there are PacNW listers all across the State :D..

Anyway..keep on posting.....looking forward to the next installment.

Yep and I'm just 12 miles from Centralia, you could have brought it to my place and done all those things on the lift here.

Glad things worked out for you though, and congrats on the new 928!!

Thanks, Guys. I know there's a contingent of active 928 owners in the area. I was thinking to call for help if something really bad happened.

I got the ticket in Kittitas county.

Ahh...CleElum and Ellensburg..Seen a few troopers around those parts when we head over..but nothing as bad as Ritzville (always there giving out tickets).

We got going from Missoula fairly early. We stopped at a parts store to get some oil. The drip from the drain plug was totaling maybe a half quart a day. Not too bad. Also got a brake light bulb.

After topping off the oil I checked the coolant. It was a bit low. They had topped it up some at the oil change place so I was concerned. Back inside to get some antifreeze. I filled it to the top and we were on the road.

When I started the car I had a real surprise: no warning lights. No need to press the "genius" button. While there were a lot of things that didn't work the warning lights all did. At times.

We blasted (blasted!) down I90 towards Yellowstone. We're in the neighborhood, right? The engine is really running nicely at this point. Suspiciously nicely, I'd think. No matter. We were moving along well.

One thing that concerned me was the gas situation. No gauge and no mileage. I resorted to figuring out the use like an airplane; in gallons per hour. Looking at the fill-ups and the time on the road it was something like 3 1/2 per hour. Since we were moving along at 70 or so it was getting about 20 MPG. Suspicious! Can't be that good. Still hard to keep track of. At the last station before Yellowstone it takes 21.5 gallons. We'd have never made it to the next station.

None of us had been to Yellowstone before. It's pretty cool. All the geysers and hot springs and such. We did some hiking and looking and made it to Old Faithful just before an eruption. "Hey! That's cool!"

It's getting late in the day but it'll still be light for the next one so we go for a hike in the area. We're a ways off the boardwalk, minding our own business when my son, in the front, says "Look! Buffalo!" And, sure enough, there are two on either side of the trail. Maybe 10 to 15 feet off the trail. "The Boy" calmly walks between them. The bison (Yes, we know better) don't move a muscle. Pretty tired of us bipedal interlopers. I had picked the tree I'd run behind. And the one I'd climb.

We see another eruption. It's smaller than before and obscured a bit by all the steam. Still very cool. Then it's time to hit the road.

I go to start the car and... click. click. click. The battery is too weak to crank the car. Looking under the hood I can see the alternator belt is hanging pretty slackly.

I've packed jumper cables and get a jump start. The car fires, runs a bit and dies. The park is pretty empty and is emptying out fairly quickly. I wanted to start it and then tighten the belt with it running. (Hey! We can all do that. Right?) Another jump ends the same. I did get it backed up a bit so decide to tighten the belt there.

Only takes a few minutes laying in the wet parking lot to get it tightened. My son and I push it a bit and I can jump in and get it to fire. Success! All the warning lights come on and refuse to go off. The gauge shows good voltage so we're set for a drive to Jackson, WY. That's the former Jackson Hole. Those Chamber types can't have fun, I suppose.

We're cruising through Yellowstone as darkness falls. It's first pretty and then pretty scary. A lot of corners and waves that upset the car. Plus the specter of large mammals that may wander out on the road. The speeds are low so we wander out of the park when it's pitch black. No moon that night. No stars, either.

We're talking about getting to Jackson Hole and my son's plans to see a good college friend of his when I notice that something is wrong. The gloriously lit-up dash seems different. Dimmer. Crap. The headlights, too. In a couple of minutes the car starts to stumble and then stops running at all. I coast it off the road and we go to check the situation.

With The Boy holding his laptop over the engine it's clear the belt is completely missing. Fortunately, Ken had given us some parts and in there was an alternator belt. We get down to business.

Seeing a classic Porsche on the shoulder attracts some attention. And Wyomingans are nice people. The first group to stop offers a flashlight. Gratefully accepted! Another guy volunteers to check on us in a half hour. It takes about that long to get the belt on and get it push started. Again. The lights blazed on full and we were off.

Arrival in Jackson Hols was a bit behind schedule. The decent restaurants were closing and we were directed to a pizza place. It's a haven for the distracted youth of the town who have droopy eyes and sport very cool skate board clothes. A DJ sets up in a corner and starts playing music. It is Friday, after all. Actually was a good time.

Took a while to find the lodge from Sky King ski area (Hotwire rules!) especially since the desk clerk didn't know East from West.

All-in-all, a good day.

Sounds to me as if the exciter circuit is not working on the alternator.....

You're good, Colin.

The voltage doesn't rise until after I rev it the first time. That's a strong exciter problem indication and I didn't mention it.