@Wildman 's luck is rubbing off on me - although really, it seems the last couple of weeks EVERYBODY has had a crappy time with complete bullshit. So - I'm off to Jax to pickup a new Speed Queen washer, 150 mile round trip. Getting on the freeway, it seemed that the Jeep was just slightly sluggish, but otherwise I'm rolling along on I-95 going 70. There was a cluster of trucks, so I burst momentarily to 80-ish, and rolled 75 for a minute or two before returning to 70. Cruised a bit more - I'd been keeping a watch on the temp gauge as its been hotter than balls, and today was no exception. Suddenly, I'm in the red. I slow down to 60, and it dropped right back to its normal position. Figure I'd better pull over and check things. That was a bit of a "clustermug" of course, got off the freeway and had to go through a maze to get somewhere I could park. Popped the hood, puke bottle was normal, no leaks anywhere, no blown hoses, no cracked radiator, etc. Well, WTF?
Let's try this again, got back onto 95, and the Jeep was pretty sluggish, and the temperature starting climbing. Ok, we need to abort the mission - get me off this damn thing and I'll see if I can bootleg the thing home on US 1. Got maybe 10 or 15 miles back towards home, but the Jeep was just more and more sluggish, starting to heat up, and the vacuum gauge was pegged at about 1 even under moderate acceleration. Fuck. This isn't gonna work. Pulled off at a senior's rest home and called for roadside assistance (Progressive). Told them I wanted to the thing hauled home, so for $377, they did just that. They showed up quickly too - sure beats AAA that I'm no longer a member of: I'd still be there if I had to depend on them.
BUT - I still had the trailer. Talked to the owner of the parking lot, and got permission to leave it there, but when I told the tow truck driver that there was a $100 tip for him if he could get the trailer onto his flatbed, he made it happen.
Working theory, with no facts to back it up: Clogged cat.
