Pickup truck breaking down

The transmission dies because the truck is old and junky. My old chevy blazer broke down 150 miles from home on the way back from skiing. sad times. it just went slower and slower and slower and we pulled over when we couldn't go over 10 mph.

thethinker42 said:

My main character drives a pickup truck; I haven't decided on a specific model, but just your basic pickup.

I need his truck to break down on the interstate. It needs to be something that requires a tow, but isn't going to cause him to spin out/flip/etc when it happens.

Any thoughts?

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Blown alternator.

When the alternator no longer works and the truck's systems have drained the battery dry then truck no more move.

Or, here's a simple idea. He runs out of gas. Especially if it's an older truck that hasn't been taken care of very well. The gauge could be completely off saying that the tank is full when it's empty - but most likely shows empty even when full. Has something to do with the tank's 'float'. He thought he had enough gas but seriously misunderestimated. Or his fuel line had been punctured/cut.

Though, depending on how psycho the girl is...the last one could make the most sense.

Rabe...

Off topic, there's something poetic, in an oxymoronic way, about a pickup breakdown.

The only pickup breakdown I've ever suffered from was because her hubby drove up just as we were leaving the bar.

I swear I didn't know she was married.

thethinker42 said:

My husband suggested having the timing belt break. That's what I'm leaning towards right now.

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What happens depends on the engine design. For (older?) American cars, the engine will just stop running, and it's a couple hundred dollars to install a new timing belt. For imports, the pistons hit the valves (it might make an 'interesting' sound), and for what the repair costs you might as well buy a new engine.

The gas gauge malfunction mentioned above is a very real possibility. We've had two, different make pickups, both with dual tanks and in both cases the gauge for one of the two tanks stopped functioning (even though the trucks were well maintained.) It's fairly expensive to fix the problem so we "planned" to always have the malfunctioning gauge tank full and use the one that worked. Unfortunately when teenage daughter drove the truck that didn't always happen.

Other possibilities could be drive train problems (broken universal joint that drops), radiator leak that makes the engine overheat (or water pump goes out), broken fan belt, blown fuse to ignition module (double check that one), gummed up pvc valve - in all those cases the truck would be controllable. It's funny, over the years I've had multiple cases of truck and car break downs but it's hard to sit here and remember what all caused them. The dropped drive train was not fun! Puma

If you want something different and exotic, have him in a diesel truck (three quarter ton or above, a real pickup) and the CPS (cam position sensor) breaks. Engine will immediately shut down, with absolutely no excitement. Diagnosis is easy, as the engine will crank, but the tachometer won't read.

Cure is simple, as all you do is put in a new one. Most guys learn to carry one in the glove compartment. Takes less than an hour.

Depending on how self reliant you want to character to be, he can diagnosis this himself and fix it, or call a tow truck, where the driver diagnosis immediately on getting there, and quotes a price of about $200 with the tow, or he lent his to a friend so he doesn't have his, and has to call a buddy to bring one to him.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I've had the fuel pump go out on my pickup when I was driving it. I was on a city street, not a highway, but the end result would be the same. No gas makes it to the engine, so it just stalls out. At highway speeds, it would be very easy to just coast to a stop on the side of the road.

Could even be a clogged fuel filter. Had that problem on my 1978 Toyota. Just driving down the street and the engine died. When the car cooled down, you could start up again, go a few miles, died. Inexpensive part, easy fix if you knew what the problem was. It was a pain in the a** in Phoenix in July, dressed in the suit and nylons and high heels cause I had a business appointment. According to the Toyota garage it was because of the dirty gas we were getting at the time.

MM

A hole in a radiator hose, or the radiator itself, or the water pump going out, would cause it to become super heated and lose compression and die along side the road. The super heat could also cause the head to warp.(there by needing a machine shop to fix), or a new head, or just a replacement of the head gasket.

Ether way, alot of steam is produced and makes for some good rubber-necking.

alternator blows, fuel pump fails, fuel filter gets clogged.

In the case of all three, he's getting towed, cost is moderate (couple hundred bucks) and he's on his way the next day, or later that day.

If he's mechanically inclined, and has a couple wrenches, he could undo the fuel filter and possibly get it clear enough to get into town. (This would be a late 80's or older truck. the fuel filter is on the gas line, running along the rail under the truck about where the driver's seat is. picture a square grapefruit, for size and shape, but not color.)

thethinker42 said:

So could that happen if he's already on the interstate? What would the truck do when it happened (rattle? shake? die? lose control?)?

(I'm really showing my "car illiterate" colors today...)

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Car loses all power and dies. Then momentum comes into play since nothing at all is working (including any power steering there may have been) and the car comes to a coast. Brakes would still work, as they're not electronic in most cases, so he could stop at the side of the road.

But no real big deal other than the car no longer works.

Rabe...

A busted fan belt is a pretty minor fix so the MC probably wouldn't be too upset with replacing it. (You can actually rig a temp one with panty hose... don't ask...)

Okay, I think a few upstream have said something similar, but I would like to add:

I was towing in the mountains with my diesel and going uphill when something snapped and I realized the power steering was now dead. Well, not only that, but the power breaks were dead. It took a helluva lot of effort to get on the shoulder AND stopped (and mind, we were going uphill! Though we were leveling off).

Now forgive me, because I don't recall which belt snapped, but it was one that ran between some pulleys. The pulleys had locked and the belt wasn't happy. That created a chain reaction to the power steering and breaks (and something else a little less important iirc).

Either way, it was not an amusing experience, and given the downgrade just ahead of me I might not have survived had the pulley/belt held out for a few hundred more feet.

Hope that's helpful to someone...

If it's gonna break down, don't pick a Toyota Hilux; they're indestructible. Ask YouTube.


Might I suggest the fuel tank getting fouled with dirt? That might drag into the carb but it'd be a relatively easy fix.

Based on my knowlege of country music, there are two preconditions to pickup truck breakdown, vis:

1. Your woman run off;

2. Your dawg done died.

Mike Martyn said:

Based on my knowlege of country music, there are two preconditions to pickup truck breakdown, vis:

1. Your woman run off;

2. Your dawg done died.

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Ya got y'r priorities back'ards thar, son.

Have the guy throw a serpentine belt. Common thing on an older truck, especially if the waterpump/alternator pulleys throw a bearing and lock up.

Kryianna said:

I've had the fuel pump go out on my pickup when I was driving it. I was on a city street, not a highway, but the end result would be the same. No gas makes it to the engine, so it just stalls out. At highway speeds, it would be very easy to just coast to a stop on the side of the road.

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I wrote a novel where a car broke down on the interstate because the fuel pump went bad, so that's what I was going to suggest.

Bahamut -

That was your serpentine belt. On different vehicles it runs different things, but usually it's the air conditioning, the power steering/brakes/etc, the cruise control, and sometimes it affects your alternator, depending on how your rig is set up. Right now I drive a 1992 Pathfinder that has no serpentine belt on it, but the fan belt runs the alternator and power stuff so it's no biggie. My old car that I had, the serpentine belt broke while I was driving, and first the A/C started to go warm, then it started losing power, and finally the battery went dead and the car wouldn't start or run.