Head Gasket Failure
Discussion
Went to trundle over to Austec this morning as the storms in the South-East justified a drive out, arriving at my destination almost five hours later (a 50 mile drive).
Alas while sitting on the M25 my temp needle got closer and closer to the dreaded red area even the usual quick blast of air cooling didn't stop it as usual, so I pulled way off the (bloody scary) motorway by which times strange noises were emanating from the engine bay and called the AA.
Asked for a flatbed, but as usual they insisted that their man might be able to solve it, after an hour he turned up, I started the engine and he topped up the water, it spluttered so I started again, he then diagnosed a misfire on one cylinder (to be honest I wasn't listening carefully enough) and I'd blown a head gasket
Got there and they were great, giving me a proper-sized car rather than the usual trinket for my return journey. So I now have an H plate Cavalier for
until I pick her up later this week.
Even better got a call with the good news that its not blown, but the wiring for the cooling system is shot to bits and they've sorted it all out now
Alas my tyre cannot be repaired, but its a good chance to get my tracking sorted and steering wheel straightened up. After they'd sorted a friend's Griff 500 he insisted they'd fitted power steering!
Waxoyl and 6000 mile service to go, new RE720 to arrive and they're having a look at my cabin ventilation (lack of), dodgy alarm and adjusting window heights followed by a rolling road test. They've even diagnosed my "sump baffle" issue to the engine mounts I had done last year being dodgy..
All in all I'm very impressed with Austec, and considering my stress level when I arrived there this morning I'm a lot happier
I'm so close to asking them to have it "Podified"tm, perhaps next time.
Bloody useless AA.......
Alas while sitting on the M25 my temp needle got closer and closer to the dreaded red area even the usual quick blast of air cooling didn't stop it as usual, so I pulled way off the (bloody scary) motorway by which times strange noises were emanating from the engine bay and called the AA.
Asked for a flatbed, but as usual they insisted that their man might be able to solve it, after an hour he turned up, I started the engine and he topped up the water, it spluttered so I started again, he then diagnosed a misfire on one cylinder (to be honest I wasn't listening carefully enough) and I'd blown a head gasket
Got there and they were great, giving me a proper-sized car rather than the usual trinket for my return journey. So I now have an H plate Cavalier for
until I pick her up later this week. Even better got a call with the good news that its not blown, but the wiring for the cooling system is shot to bits and they've sorted it all out now
Alas my tyre cannot be repaired, but its a good chance to get my tracking sorted and steering wheel straightened up. After they'd sorted a friend's Griff 500 he insisted they'd fitted power steering!
Waxoyl and 6000 mile service to go, new RE720 to arrive and they're having a look at my cabin ventilation (lack of), dodgy alarm and adjusting window heights followed by a rolling road test. They've even diagnosed my "sump baffle" issue to the engine mounts I had done last year being dodgy..
All in all I'm very impressed with Austec, and considering my stress level when I arrived there this morning I'm a lot happier
I'm so close to asking them to have it "Podified"tm, perhaps next time.
Bloody useless AA.......
Picked her up yesterday afternoon and she's running fantastically, it was like having a new car The drive home, although pouring down made me realise I couldn't part with it at all..
They performed the 6K service with rolling road, full chassis strip and waxoyling, four wheel alignment and replaced the cooling fan electrics - not once on my trawl back through London during school rush hour did the temp even reach ninety.
They also attended to a number of niggly jobs, such as raising the windows, adjusting the pedels (for heel & toeing) which they decided what too much admin to charge for All the work had a seperate line-item, rather than just the usual tagging of a massive number of labour hours at the end of the invoice.
Everyone else's praise of Austec is well deserved they are a top outfit.
The drive home, although pouring down made me realise I couldn't part with it at all.. They performed the 6K service with rolling road, full chassis strip and waxoyling, four wheel alignment and replaced the cooling fan electrics - not once on my trawl back through London during school rush hour did the temp even reach ninety.
They also attended to a number of niggly jobs, such as raising the windows, adjusting the pedels (for heel & toeing) which they decided what too much admin to charge for
All the work had a seperate line-item, rather than just the usual tagging of a massive number of labour hours at the end of the invoice. Everyone else's praise of Austec is well deserved they are a top outfit.
Podie said:I was even chatting to them about the Leon Cupra-R I've got on order and they've said they can tweak that too and gain a lot of power
Good to see someone else writing about Austec having had similar service to myself...
And even better it couldn't be spotted by SEAT thus keeping my warranty intact. Austec's reputation must be very good in the industry too, as Paul was saying a local SEAT dealer had been enquring about tuning standard Cupra's to Cupra-R spec...
Podie said:
I'm so close to asking them to have it "Podified"tm, perhaps next time.
Good to see someone else writing about Austec having had similar service to myself...
Was just speaking to them on the phone about sorting out a suspension problem. Bloody loud Chim on the rolling road in the background - sounded great. Particularly impressive as the Chim was not only the otherside of the office wall but downstairs as well !! Very nice people though - looking forward to taking the S in to be sorted ...
WonkyGibbon said:Some of the stuff they get up to is mighty impressive, there was a Rover SD1 chassis there that they were fitting a supercharged chevvy block to ready for the Cannonball..
Was just speaking to them on the phone about sorting out a suspension problem. Bloody loud Chim on the rolling road in the background - sounded great. Particularly impressive as the Chim was not only the otherside of the office wall but downstairs as well !! Very nice people though - looking forward to taking the S in to be sorted ...
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