I remember one day in particular Dad was working on the Beetle because it had a very bad oil leak. I was playing with some friends nearby when he called me over. Thinking I was heading for the garage, I went over to where he was working. Mom was there too. I'm not sure whose idea it was originally but they asked for my gum. Gum? I know, yes, they asked for my gum. Mom took the gum and gave it to my Dad; who then took it with his oil covered fingers and, as you probably guessed by now, put it over the oil leak on the engine. It worked beautifully. No more leak. I didn't want my gum back.
Fast forward a number of years that never will be discussed in this blog, our Perfectly Nice Car here in Korea has had a two week history of leaking coolant. I don't mean a little drop here or a little drop there, I mean a spot on the cement we measured comparing to plates (dinner plate, salad plate etc.). The amazing person we bought the car from has stood by the vehicle as no other used car salesman would in the world. Mr. Tony has tried to fix it twice already.
This past discovery was found while shopping. A Korean gentleman kept staring at the front of the car by the headlights. Curious I went up to the front of the car and looked. Sure enough there is coolant coming out of the headlight and a HUGE puddle on the ground. We get back to our parking garage and Jason pops the hood. Big as day, there is a fountain of coolant coming from one of the hoses.
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| My little fountain of coolant. |
This time I knew what to do and I told Jason. Then I race up the elevator and grabbed the kids. I handed them the camera and told them to give their gum to their Dad. They both grabbed a piece of gum and headed down to the garage. Jason got the gum on the hose, but the damage had been done. Coolant was all over the floor.
I should take a quick moment to describe Korean parking garages to you. They are the cleanest I have ever seen. There is at least one attendant if not 10. They are constantly sweeping, cleaning and wiping off something....in the garage. If you take the nicest parking garage in Austin and clean it up tenfold that is what you have here. The floor of the parking garage is actually shiny. Up at the kids school I have seen a person on what looks like a riding lawn mower only it is steam cleaning the garage floor. I think you get the picture.
Given this description it really shouldn't have been a surprise the next day when our door person called Jason over to ask him about the car. We assured him it was being taken care of. When we went down to check on it someone had placed newspaper all around the front of it. But it appeared that the repair was holding and it wasn't leaking anymore. Mr. Tony and Mr. Lee came and got the vehicle and promised all new hoses would be put on the car. They dropped it off today. As we were casually discussing the vehicle (and after seeing our parking garage he understood why we couldn't have a vehicle that leaked anything) he commented that our repair was genius. That the gum had held all the way back to Osan. I quickly told him the story about where I had gotten my car repairing technique, and we all shared a laugh.
At dinner I told Jason about Mr. Tony's comment about the gum repair and he almost dropped his fork. Jason admitted he only did the gum repair to humor me not thinking it would work at all. It turns out it did work and didn't go unnoticed. The car is back and now works fine. We'll see if it leaks anymore but if it does we will know what to do. I'm putting a pack of gum in the glove compartment today.
By the way, the kids don't want their gum back either. Now that I think about it, even if they did, my husband is the one that attached that gum to that hose. Trust me, it's there for a while.
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