Cheryl
September 14, 2017
Ryan had been searching Craigslist all summer to find a car for himself, but was having no luck. Then he and his dad went to a mechanic shop down the street to look at a 2008 Ford Explorer. Ryan got in the car and pretty much instantly fell in love, despite the lack of functioning A/C and the worst cigarette smell you’ve ever smelled. The car was pretty perfect. It had a great sound system, plenty of storage for friends and/or items, and 6 cup holders all within reach of the driver seat. They bought the car that day.
October 2018
After almost a year of being a very reliable vehicle, Ryan’s Explorer sprung a coolant leak from a hose in the engine bay. The leak was pretty minor, but his parents weren’t happy about the coolant leaking into the driveway. So Ryan got help from his friends at Wakefield Tire, where he worked at the time, to help him find the leak and fix it. And Ford charged him over $80 for a small rubber “t” hose.
November 2018
One morning, Ryan got in the explorer to drive to school, and he heard a noise while he was driving. He didn’t have time to check it out before school, and then after school he immediately had to go to work. He didn’t notice the noise again until later that night after work, and as he was driving home, it got worse. Finally he pulled over and got out to inspect it. The noise was coming from his back right wheel. Someone had loosened the lug nuts on that wheel so that they would fall off as he drove the car. There were only 2 lug nuts left on the wheel, and the other 3 studs had broken off from the wheel bouncing back and forth when he stopped and started driving. Ryan went around and checked the rest of his lug nuts to make sure that they were tight. A few days later, the same thing happened to the back left wheel, but he caught it quicker this time. In the end, he had to replace all the lug nuts on the back two wheels, and all the studs on the back right wheel.
February 2019
Ryan’s explorer sprung another coolant leak, but this one was much worse. One day, Ryan started his car and coolant started gushing out the bottom behind the back left tail light. He turned off the car and grabbed a bucket to try and catch the remaining coolant. Upon further inspection, he learned that it was leaking from one of the hoses on the rear heater core. When he tried to remove the hose, he noticed that the hose had been cut, and it had been cut through the metal fitting that was attached to the heater core. So when he pulled the hose out, it had the part of the metal pipe inside of it. To fix it, he would have had to order an entire heater core. Instead of that, he just bypassed the heater core with a new hose.
March 2019
Ryan was driving home from the next town over in his explorer when all of a sudden all of the lights on his dashboard started lighting up. The car beeped at him for a few seconds, and then the car died. When it wouldn’t start again, he called up Jay to drive out to him and help jump start the car. Then instead of calling a tow truck, they limped the car to Wakefield Tire. On the way, it died roughly every quarter mile, so they had to stop and jump start the car many times on the way. Finally they got it to the shop and learned that the explorer needed a new alternator.
June 2019
Ryan was driving down a narrow street and nicked a mailbox on the side of the road. He broke a chunk of plastic off of his passenger mirror. Luckily, there was no damage to the mailbox. Ryan found the piece that broke off, brought it home, and glued it back on. The broken mirror can be seen in Burnout Episode 4.
July 13, 2019
With the explorer fully charged up from a brand new alternator, Jay and Ryan set out in their daily drivers to record a new episode of Burnout and find out which of their cars was worse. They found a secluded area and set up a mini autocross. Check out Episode 4 of Burnout to find out what happened.
Early Summer 2021
Ryan’s Explorer continued to be a pretty reliable car for just about 2 years. Until one day when the car wouldn’t start. Ryan knew immediately that he needed either a new starter or a new battery. So he tested the battery and it was holding charge. He got a new starter and the problem was solved.
Late Summer 2021
Ryan often parks his explorer on the street in front of his house because the driveway is usually full. Just like any other day, Ryan parked his car on the street, but this wasn’t any other day. Ryan’s mom was throwing out an old couch, and so she brought it out to the curb. And to this day, it’s still unclear of exactly what happened, but somehow Ryan’s mom dropped the couch onto the passenger side view mirror and completely shattered it. The same mirror that he had previously cracked and fixed for Episode 4, was now in a thousand pieces on the curb. So Ryan ordered a new mirror from Rock Auto and installed it on his car.
January 2022
Once again, Ryan’s Explorer wouldn’t start. Except this time it was very easy to figure out what it was. In the last 2 years, he had installed a brand new alternator and starter. That just left the battery. So he tested the battery and it was fully dead. So he ordered a new battery through Jay’s Dad and then made a tutorial video on how to install a new battery in your car. He also made another video about general tips on replacing your battery.