Overheating and stranded

I was out of town for most of last week, at a company site in CA.  When I travel to our offices in California, I usually take the early AM flight Monday from PIT to SFO and drive to San Jose.  This flight is usually at 100% capacity.  However, this week, I departed on a Tuesday and found myself in a row with an unoccupied middle seat, and on the way back on the red-eye Friday, same seating arrangement!  Unusual. What was also unusual was the pair of basset hound "emotional support" animals waiting to board the plane I just departed (was too tired to get a picture, sorry!) on Saturday morning.  We have a basset hound, they're great dogs, but they smell, shed and drool more than the average traveler.  While the bassets display excellent temperament, they tend do want to do their own thing and will put their weight into getting their way, so I can't imagine one being on a lap and compliant for even a short flight.

Overheating

When I returned to airport lot, I jumped into the car and made it about 5 miles down the highway to discover the engine heat climbing.  I also heard a bit of a weird noise coming from the engine, a high pitched whine.  I stopped on the highway's shoulder, let things cool-off then got off the highway and stopped again at a gas station, then at a McDonalds, Rite-Aid, Golf course -- each time the temperature made it too close to the red-line for me to be comfortable.  After 2 hours, traveling about 18 miles, I stopped at the King's in Monaca called my wife to meet me for breakfast and then AAA for a tow home. 

I didn't want things to get too overheated, as that could cause the a head gasket to break or worse, the block to crack.  Since I hadn't called AAA in a while for a tow and I wasn't that far from home, this was covered under the cost of my membership.

By this time, I was tired and just a little more than frustrated.  This would be the first time the car left me stranded.  At least I was close to home and could easily get to help.  But still.

There's a few things this could be:

1. Water pump
   The engine was overheating because coolant wasn't circulating through the system.
2. Thermostat
   Coolant was being blocked from flowing through the system, resulting in poor cooling.  Maybe not the problem, in many cases the coolant will still circulate through the heater core before the thermostat opens... But I wasn't getting heat, so maybe not.
3. Radiator
   A blocked Radiator can result in decreased cooling efficiency. 
4. Coolant leak
   Could be a problem... But I found that the system contained lots of coolant and the cooling system was under pressure, so I think I can cross this one off the list.

Recall, that I replaced the water pump and thermostat already.  Could one of the new parts failed?  It would seem so, but that would be a real bummer.  There's some interesting things of note I'm mulling over:

• Heater wasn't working.  This could mean a the pump was not circulating the coolant or the thermostat wasn't opening to let the water circulate through the heater core
• A squeaking noise was heard as I was exiting the airport.  I thought it was the wheel, but maybe the water pump?

I have some yard work to do, so won't be able to tackle this problem in the next day or two. Considering these parts have been replaced once already, I'm not that happy about having to do the job again.

Despite the car problems when I got home, the trip was great.  One of the great things about the San Jose area: all of the great food around the area! The people at the office might think the various Korean hot pot and Pho places are pedestrian, but it's a delightful culinary break for me.  One of the new things I tried was persimmon, a crisp fruit with what I can describe as a sweet, crunchy pumpkin taste.  There's a much musher variety of persimmon as well, but the firm variety makes for the best out of hand snacking.  Can't find any in these parts, so I'll have to bring more back from my next trip.