Old cars are like we old people. We develop the strangest problems the older we get, and when we are taken to someone who might be able to help us, we refuse the show symptoms. Why is that? We are left standing there looking like liars. Fortunately, experienced mechanics see it happen all the time. It's a joke for them.
This past week my aging Volvo developed the strangest problem. At speeds of less than 100 klm/h all went well. The minute I got up to 100 the most awful, very loud noise would start. Originally, it scared the beejesus out of me, and anyone in the car with me. The mechanic had never been presented with such a problem before, and when he removed panels expecting to find something or the other hanging loose he found everything to appear absolutely normal.
To find the solution was through a process of determining what would vibrate if it was not fully anchored and removing that piece and changing the seal. So it was that they came to the windscreen. They took the panel out, reglued it and replaced it. After that dried they took the car out for a drive at 120 klm/h and it was as silent as it could be. Found it!
Which was just as well as the glue had started to lose its adhesion. Eventually the windscreen would have simply popped out and would have gone with the wind.
So, the moral of the story is that materials lose their strength as they get old. Glue, rubber, leather, cloth, plastic are all suspect, just as their equal objects in people are also prone to breakdown.
It's all a part of the great cycle of life.
Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael
