Baton Rouge — The Founder repaired and rescued his car from underneath the Perkins Road overpass Saturday after a three-hour operation in which he replaced the radiator thermostat.
After watching the Brazil-France World Cup match at the Mellow Mushroom, a local pizza restaurant, Leif and his girlfriend drove to AutoZone to purchase a thermostat, radiator coolant, an O-ring, and thermostat housing sealant. He managed to reach around all the hoses to unbolt and replace the thermostat, a cheap eight-dollar part. After refilling the radiator with a coolant-water mixture, he was on his way.
However, when parking the 1990 Toyota Corolla outside his girlfriend's house, the Founder noticed a coolant leak, most likely due to forgetting to apply thermostat housing sealant.
Monday morning, Leif again successfully removed the hoses and unbolted the housings, this time to apply sealant. The car has not yet been restarted to test the seals.
The Founder has decided to quickly replace the Corolla and plans to look at buying a Toyota Prius in the coming days.
