4 problems on 1 car in 2 days. All seemingly unrelated?
Discussion
If anybody who is mechanically minded can make any connection please feel free. 
Car is a 1990 Astra.
First a couple days ago, it refused to start. Turned out to be a flat battery, had drained itself within a day. No idea why and hasn't done it since, nothing was left on. Then an air hose liberated itself of its jubilee clips, but to be fair it looks like the original jobby and is a bit worn. Back on tight now and was running fine.
But nonono, car wasn't done. Just on a short (3-4 mile) journey home, it kept 'kicking'; it felt like either dipping the clutch slightly and slipping my foot off the side, or like the fuel was being cut off very briefly (fraction of a second, but enough to make a jolt. All under 30 mph). Possibly a misfire? Never experienced what they feel like or if you notice them though? Or transmission related? Clutching at straws really Car has under 1/4 of a tank but I've run it below the red before without problems and I was under the impression the 'crap in fuel' was an urban myth?.
Oh, and a big cloud of steam sitting in traffic a mile up the road from the above. Just one burst though, came from the front end of the bonnet and right hand side. Car wasn't running hot by any means, barely off the 'blue' on the temperature gauge. Pulled to the pavement with the engine still running. Couldn't see anything leaking, still had the correct amount of coolant in it
Only thing that's just came to my mind is that it had radiator sealant pumped through earlier in the year, although I would've thought if that had broken it would be losing coolant?
Even I'm struggling to believe this many faults in the space of a couple of days on a car that's run otherwise perfectly can be coincidence, but I can't see anyway they could be related? If anybody can, I'd be very grateful
The car is a few miles over when the last service was due, but literally under 30 miles over and it's already booked in for a full service on Monday. Starting to dread what's going to be found lol
Car is a 1990 Astra.First a couple days ago, it refused to start. Turned out to be a flat battery, had drained itself within a day. No idea why and hasn't done it since, nothing was left on. Then an air hose liberated itself of its jubilee clips, but to be fair it looks like the original jobby and is a bit worn. Back on tight now and was running fine.
But nonono, car wasn't done. Just on a short (3-4 mile) journey home, it kept 'kicking'; it felt like either dipping the clutch slightly and slipping my foot off the side, or like the fuel was being cut off very briefly (fraction of a second, but enough to make a jolt. All under 30 mph). Possibly a misfire? Never experienced what they feel like or if you notice them though? Or transmission related? Clutching at straws really
Car has under 1/4 of a tank but I've run it below the red before without problems and I was under the impression the 'crap in fuel' was an urban myth?.Oh, and a big cloud of steam sitting in traffic a mile up the road from the above. Just one burst though, came from the front end of the bonnet and right hand side. Car wasn't running hot by any means, barely off the 'blue' on the temperature gauge. Pulled to the pavement with the engine still running. Couldn't see anything leaking, still had the correct amount of coolant in it
Only thing that's just came to my mind is that it had radiator sealant pumped through earlier in the year, although I would've thought if that had broken it would be losing coolant?Even I'm struggling to believe this many faults in the space of a couple of days on a car that's run otherwise perfectly can be coincidence, but I can't see anyway they could be related? If anybody can, I'd be very grateful
The car is a few miles over when the last service was due, but literally under 30 miles over and it's already booked in for a full service on Monday. Starting to dread what's going to be found lol
First incident unrelated.
Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
ETA Oops read OP wrong, thought you said water hose, not air hose, could still be the case though......
ETA2 first port of call would still be head gasket
ETA3 to tell you that if there is air elsewhere in the coolant system it could still register as full in the header tank.
Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
ETA Oops read OP wrong, thought you said water hose, not air hose, could still be the case though......
Edited by binlicker on Tuesday 26th October 20:18
ETA2 first port of call would still be head gasket
ETA3 to tell you that if there is air elsewhere in the coolant system it could still register as full in the header tank.
Edited by binlicker on Tuesday 26th October 20:20
Edited by binlicker on Tuesday 26th October 20:22
binlicker said:
First incident unrelated.
Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
Heaters getting very warm very quick, as per normal. Am I right in thinking HGF would present itself as mayo under the oil cap, or is that just not universal with all failures? Coolant leak would make sense but it isn't actually losing any. Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
rb5230 said:
you have "booked in" a 1990 astra for a service? surely worth more than the car. chuck it away and get another.
Useful advice, but not quite what I'm after.Gradually teaching myself how to work on it, but as I rely on it quite heavily and it has (until now) proven to be more reliable than most cars half its age, I don't yet trust myself doing the full services.
If it starts to become a problem regularly, then it'll be sorned and when money permits a sleeper will be built
Until then I'm just going to look after it until I can afford something decent as a daily 
No point running it into the ground for the sake of it, imo anyway vit4 said:
binlicker said:
First incident unrelated.
Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
Heaters getting very warm very quick, as per normal. Am I right in thinking HGF would present itself as mayo under the oil cap, or is that just not universal with all failures? Coolant leak would make sense but it isn't actually losing any. Everything thereafter probably is, possible head gasket, or perhaps a coolant leak. Car has over heated hence the poor running, a car air locked or with air in the cooling system won't always register as running hot as there is no hot water round the temperature sender to register a reading. Double check you have sealed the system completely, that the system is full of water and that there are no air pockets in your cooling system. Are your heaters getting warm?
Flat battery, I had a car which did that, but only when I REALLY needed the car, never found what was wrong, are you sure things like the boot were closed fully?
As for the kicking, maybe ignition leads needed a spray with WD40 or the like, try running the engine with the bonnet up at night and see if you see blue sparks. If you do, a new set of ignition leads are worth getting, change one at a time so that you don't mix up the pattern - a world of pain otherwise!
Also, check that the earth lead between engine/gearbox is in good nick, as I had a 'stuttering' problem with a car which turned out to be this.
As regards the big cloud of steam, sometimes in cold wet weather the radiator fins are damp on the outside (was it raining/damp when this happened?), the engine heats up enough to send warm water to the radiator, and if you are sitting stopped, suddenly there is a big cloud of 'steam', which always looks worse at night.
If there is antifreeze in the engine and it was think there will be a strong smell in the engine compartment.
Good luck, we all had to learn!
As for the kicking, maybe ignition leads needed a spray with WD40 or the like, try running the engine with the bonnet up at night and see if you see blue sparks. If you do, a new set of ignition leads are worth getting, change one at a time so that you don't mix up the pattern - a world of pain otherwise!
Also, check that the earth lead between engine/gearbox is in good nick, as I had a 'stuttering' problem with a car which turned out to be this.
As regards the big cloud of steam, sometimes in cold wet weather the radiator fins are damp on the outside (was it raining/damp when this happened?), the engine heats up enough to send warm water to the radiator, and if you are sitting stopped, suddenly there is a big cloud of 'steam', which always looks worse at night.
If there is antifreeze in the engine and it was think there will be a strong smell in the engine compartment.
Good luck, we all had to learn!
munroman said:
Flat battery, I had a car which did that, but only when I REALLY needed the car, never found what was wrong, are you sure things like the boot were closed fully?
Haha Always the way! But to be honest, there are hardly any electrics on the car like that; boot light is disconnected and was shut properly anyhow. Interior light was off. Radio & everything was off. Half hour charge, jump start and 20-30 minutes running and it was back putting out 10-11 volts Very random. It's been fine since too.munroman said:
As for the kicking, maybe ignition leads needed a spray with WD40 or the like, try running the engine with the bonnet up at night and see if you see blue sparks. If you do, a new set of ignition leads are worth getting, change one at a time so that you don't mix up the pattern - a world of pain otherwise!
Also, check that the earth lead between engine/gearbox is in good nick, as I had a 'stuttering' problem with a car which turned out to be this.
Would've noticed sparks when I stopped after the steam; was dark and was poking about for a good few minutes with the engine still running. Will check the earth in the morning Also, check that the earth lead between engine/gearbox is in good nick, as I had a 'stuttering' problem with a car which turned out to be this.
munroman said:
As regards the big cloud of steam, sometimes in cold wet weather the radiator fins are damp on the outside (was it raining/damp when this happened?), the engine heats up enough to send warm water to the radiator, and if you are sitting stopped, suddenly there is a big cloud of 'steam', which always looks worse at night.
If there is antifreeze in the engine and it was think there will be a strong smell in the engine compartment.
Ahhh If there is antifreeze in the engine and it was think there will be a strong smell in the engine compartment.
This could explain it very nicely. Night and tipping it down, also had the bonnet up earlier the day checking the air hose was still tight so that would make sense. Thank you If you are only seeing 10-11 volts with the engine running after 1/2 an hour that points to a dodgy battery or alternator, it should be well over 12 volts, sometimes as high as 14+.
If the Earth lead is ok, then that points to the above, that might also lead to problems with the ignition, as the voltage is too low to get a decent spark.
If the Earth lead is ok, then that points to the above, that might also lead to problems with the ignition, as the voltage is too low to get a decent spark.
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