We were out celebrating our first anniversary this past weekend deep in the depths of New Brunswick. We spent the weekend at the Fairmont Algonquin, which was fabulous.
Unfortunately late Sunday we heard a strange sound from the car, something like running over a small branch and it getting kicked up under the car, but there was no branch to be seen. I pulled over, had a quick look underneath, saw no obvious damage in the suspension so I drove off. On Monday morning I thought to check the engine and noticed that the alternator belt had split in half. Exactly in half. Leaving half of the alternator belt perfectly intact and seemed to function well enough.
Given that Monday was a holiday, a garage wasn’t a really an option. So we figured we’d give it a try and see how things went. We made it all the way to the Cobequid Pass (about 150km away from home) and I saw that the clock on my dash had dimmed to near nothing. I knew that I’d lost the remaining half of the alternator belt so I turned off anything that was on, radio, lights (it was the middle of the day), etc… There was an exit near us and we made it off the highway. We thought it wouldn’t be too bad as we pulled up near a garage, but as it turned out that garage was closed and for sale. With nothing else in sight, we tried to call CAA. My cell phone for one reason or another wasn’t allowed to use the network that it was connecting to, so a very, very friendly Roger’s operator who patched us through.
CAA picked us up and brought the car in to the Canadian Tire in Bedford and we were able to get home. The car was fixed this morning and is running shockingly better with a working alternator belt.
Moral of the story, keep an eye on your belts, sometimes they squeak a lot before they give up, sometimes they just give up. CAA is like insurance. It’s not worth it until you need it, then it’s the most valuable thing you can have. We were out in the middle of nowhere and knew who to call. That’s a comforting feeling.
car
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Mark // May 24, 2007 at 11:20 am
Good advice…we had something similar happen on a snowmobiling trip on the Idaho/Montana border. If we weren’t carrying a spare belt we’d have been stuck a long way from anything! Be prepared, right?
2 Marc // May 24, 2007 at 11:29 am
If you’re out in the woods like that, definitely. We had CAA as our safety net, and I certainly am glad that we kept our membership up with them.
3 msdanielle // May 25, 2007 at 1:50 pm
my timing belt broke north of the grapevine. if you’ve ever driven from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then you know about the grapevine. i was somewhere 100 miles north of Los Angeles in the middle of the desert. luckily, i had AAA (triple A is the equivalent of CAA i suppose?) and they towed me to a garage, and the tow truck driver didn’t charge me anything additional for going an extra 10 or so miles to the place. thank goodness i had AAA!
4 Marc // May 25, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Unfortunately I’ve not made my way to that coast yet
The grapevine sounds like a place I’d like to see. I’m a big wine fan.
AAA is the same as CAA and it is amazing isn’t it. Happy to hear your adventure had a happy ending though
5 msdanielle // May 25, 2007 at 8:57 pm
well i’m not sure the grapevine has many wineries. hehehe… drive 350 miles north to Napa and you will be in heaven
6 Marc // May 25, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Ah, I figured it was just another wine area around there. Heard lots of wonderful things about the Napa valley. It’s on the list of places to see