General It Dieeedddd! :(

[chrizzlephaa]

Went to Halfords to get some speakers... Yay! Almost got there and my car started to sound like an old deisel van... When I parked I had a look under the bonnet, and everything looked ok. No smoke, no leaks.. weird, I thought. So drove home. about 10 mins later, it gets worse, I lose power (not all, just alot!) and eventually.. It stalls and wont start again.

My phone was dead so I was crapping myself what I was gonna do, as I was still a while from home, not on a residential road and there wasnt a payphone for ages! OH NOOOOO!!

I thought ill give it one try and SUCCESS!!!! drove it to our mechanics straight away who said it may be head gasket. :bang:

So now I have some nice Pioneer speakers...and nowhere to put them


So yeah, hows everyone else's day been?

 

[danbt]

I feel for you.

I had my HG go 2 weeks after I bought it about a year ago.

Nasty nasty nasty. :bang:

 

[rallycinq]

Head gasket is an effect, not a cause.

How were the fluid levels at last week's check?

Cheers

SPD

 

[chrizzlephaa]

fluid levels are checked at least every 2 weeks and topped up as needed... However, I think one of the hoses are leaking as its needing topping up every other day- which is being done & bled weekly.

I've been out and checked the oil cap & stick and there's no white residue... Im stayin optimistic about HG lol!

 

[dave]

sounds like gasket has been gone between a water way an cylinder for a while, that would be where its going.

 

[rallycinq]

fluid levels are checked at least every 2 weeks and topped up as needed... However, I think one of the hoses are leaking as its needing topping up every other day- which is being done & bled weekly.

I've been out and checked the oil cap & stick and there's no white residue... Im stayin optimistic about HG lol!

Get the leak issue resolved quickly. Could be a hose, could be water pump, could be pipe.

Whatever, it needs found and sorted.

Cheers

SPD

 

[chrizzlephaa]

new hoses and thermostat at weekend. as long as this issue gets sorted. Engine warning light is on too :/

 

[rallycinq]

new hoses and thermostat at weekend. as long as this issue gets sorted. Engine warning light is on too :/

Thats easy then, it should have stored the code.

Get it read.

Cheers

SPD

 

[chrizzlephaa]

Yeah, fortunately our mechanic has a code reader.. but the light only came on after I left his lol! Sod's law huh? makes his job easier I guess..

Ill post up when I know something, just so if anyone in the future has the same problem they may stumble on this page

 

[1PuntoCarl2]

hope its not too bad mate. i know its a horrible feeling it really pissed me off when i had troubles with my old saxo - fortunatly for me i havn't had any bigs problems in the punto *fingers crossed*

 

[Puntodriver1991]

Serves you right for going to Halfords to get speakers:nerner::devil:

Only joking.

Feel for you mate

 

[MikeSalt]

I can offer you some comfort in that head gasket replacements on the 8v engines seem to be very effective (not like old Rovers where you pretty much wrote off the engine because of it). As long as it is a proper job (skimmed, oil and filters, coolant (including fixing leaks), cam belt kit, new head bolts etc...) it should last a good while (I've done >30,000 miles on the new one with no trouble).

There are two major causes of head-gasket failure. One is thrashing the engine before it is warmed up (guilty, your honour) and the other is a cooling problem. You say you were topping up regularly, which suggests a leak. A leak will reduce the pressurisation of the system, therefore lowering the boiling point of the coolant. This forms boiling gas-pockets, which leads to hot-spots, which causes gasket failure.

 

[burtz]

Hope you get it sorted mate!