RLSH700

I am not one who believes in superstitutious things, but I had an interesting day. My secondary boss and I had to make a trip from one office where I work to another and while we were riding in his 2002 F-150, we couldn't help but notice the engine was running very rough with a distinct ticking sound. So my boss continued to drive despite my recommendations to stop until things got worse. The ticking got louder as the engine was running worse until the engine stalled. I got out and we looked under the hood. Nothing appeared to be loose on the outside of the engine but my boss tried to start it back up (which I didn't think was a very smart move). White smoke was all that came out of the exhaust pipe. Right after that, I noticed that the reservor was bone dry. I didn't get a look at the dipstick but he claimed it was okay. A service guy came out, added coolant and did a more thorough dipstick check which revealed coolant in the oil. After the service guy determined that he would be unable to fix a problem of this level, most likely a head gasket failure, my main boss came out with his 01 2500 Cummins and towed him to town. When he got to town, all of the rental places were all out of cars, but he was able to borrow one from a friend in the meantime.

Now some would consider this a sign of proof of the curse of Friday the 13th, I call it mixed luck. Although this was a genuine problem and a very expensive one at that, I think we were lucky that this happened close to work where help was available, were our cell phones worked, and the traffic level was extremely low which prevented any potential accidents.

Any other interesting Friday the 13th stories?