Just a bit of a winge...
Discussion
This is exactly as the title suggests.
Well the Alfa. Sigh.
She was running SO sweetly on the way over to Ft William last weekend, the way back was a different story though.
She was running a bit hot from about 5 miles out of Ft William, I thought it was just 'cos we were stuck in traffic, but no, even on the open road (round Loch Linnie, awesome road MADE for that car) she was still running a little hot. We stopped in Aviemore for a scheduled break, had a look under the bonnet, and under the car. Coolant EVERYWHERE! Damn. Get a lift with a mate who was in the convoy to the garage for more coolant, put it in... cue an even bigger puddle on the tarmac. s
t. Phone AA, get them out, yep its as I feared, water pump has "gone". Then a petrifying lift back to home on the back of an AA truck. The driver obviously knew the road and was REALLY going for it.
So home at last.
Tow the car to the garage today, order a new waterpump to be delivered ASAP, ask the garage very nicely if there is any chance they can have it fixed by Friday, cue sucking of teeth, "perhaps, but we are really busy".
The reason I would like her fixed by Friday is that I am meant to be taking part in a classic car rally (just a fun thing) round Moray THIS weekend, which I have already paid (through the nose) for. My dad is also taking part in it in his MG B GT, which I know I can beat in the Alfa, as its the better car
. I REALLY don't want to do it in a Ford KA, how embarassing would that be!
Also ANOTHER BILL! Really?
Sigh.
Classic cars, who'd have 'em!
I thought I was ontop of the whole "preventitive maintenance" thing, evidently not. Although one small glimmer of hope is that at least I have not cooked the engine and blown the head gasket. Phew.
Feel free to share your tales of woe, or to cheer me up please
Well the Alfa. Sigh.
She was running SO sweetly on the way over to Ft William last weekend, the way back was a different story though.
She was running a bit hot from about 5 miles out of Ft William, I thought it was just 'cos we were stuck in traffic, but no, even on the open road (round Loch Linnie, awesome road MADE for that car) she was still running a little hot. We stopped in Aviemore for a scheduled break, had a look under the bonnet, and under the car. Coolant EVERYWHERE! Damn. Get a lift with a mate who was in the convoy to the garage for more coolant, put it in... cue an even bigger puddle on the tarmac. s
t. Phone AA, get them out, yep its as I feared, water pump has "gone". Then a petrifying lift back to home on the back of an AA truck. The driver obviously knew the road and was REALLY going for it. So home at last.
Tow the car to the garage today, order a new waterpump to be delivered ASAP, ask the garage very nicely if there is any chance they can have it fixed by Friday, cue sucking of teeth, "perhaps, but we are really busy".
The reason I would like her fixed by Friday is that I am meant to be taking part in a classic car rally (just a fun thing) round Moray THIS weekend, which I have already paid (through the nose) for. My dad is also taking part in it in his MG B GT, which I know I can beat in the Alfa, as its the better car
. I REALLY don't want to do it in a Ford KA, how embarassing would that be! Also ANOTHER BILL! Really?
Sigh.
Classic cars, who'd have 'em!
I thought I was ontop of the whole "preventitive maintenance" thing, evidently not. Although one small glimmer of hope is that at least I have not cooked the engine and blown the head gasket. Phew.
Feel free to share your tales of woe, or to cheer me up please
There's not much preventative maintenance you can do to prevent a water pump going, unless you'd heard it knocking and ignored it.
I'm sure if you tell them the importance of having the car back on the road for the weekend they'll pull the stops out. Find out which mechanic is doing it and bribe him with a case of stella. It's only a water pump - not exactly an engine out job.
I'm sure if you tell them the importance of having the car back on the road for the weekend they'll pull the stops out. Find out which mechanic is doing it and bribe him with a case of stella. It's only a water pump - not exactly an engine out job.
I had a water pump go on a MkIV Cortina 2.3 V6 Ghia
Not so bad you'd think...except I was on the Autobahn near Arau(sp) when it happened and the only German I could speak was "Mein auto ist kaput"
Car was towed off somewhere into the distance as we were left outside a small hotel in some village somewhere..had a call from Otto Schmidts the next day (translated by the receptionist) saying to pick it up..paid the bill and drove off..all very efficient but weird at the same time
Had missed the ferry home by a day but gave the V6 a good thrashing on the way back
Kurses ze wassa pumpen!
Not so bad you'd think...except I was on the Autobahn near Arau(sp) when it happened and the only German I could speak was "Mein auto ist kaput"
Car was towed off somewhere into the distance as we were left outside a small hotel in some village somewhere..had a call from Otto Schmidts the next day (translated by the receptionist) saying to pick it up..paid the bill and drove off..all very efficient but weird at the same time
Had missed the ferry home by a day but gave the V6 a good thrashing on the way back
Kurses ze wassa pumpen!
Water pumps seem to be the theme so far! Mine started to go on a drive down in the cotswolds a few weeks ago, impeller was spinning on the shaft under "ahem" hard acceleration. Got home ok applying only light pressure to the throttle pedal. Just had to wait for the part to be distributed once in the UK, during two double bank hoilday weekends!!!
I had a slight weep from the thermostat housing gasket on the Corvette, no probs thinks I, a ten minute job to replace the gasket. Starts to undo the first bolt with little 1/4" drive socket and ping, the bolt breaks! Lots of cursing then tackles second bolt and ..ping! Getting serious so removes the housing gets the welder out and welds another bolt to remains of 1st stud, stud shears again flush this time. I try the same trick with the second and the same thing happens! I make an attempt at drilling out insitu, but quickly give up, so remove carb and distributor then remove inlet manifold and it's off to the machine shop. 2 weeks later its ready with new helicoils fitted, another half day to fit it, the carb and the distributor, re-set the timing and its eventually finished. And all because of a weeping thermostat gasket!
G
G
I reckon it's something to do with that northern air...toured my modded Spitty 'round that way a few years back, had some great moments visiting friends in Inverness, the National Gallery etc. and discovered some great drives (beautiful bit of road alongside Loch Ness - do you know it?). Anyway, somewhere in the wilderness of the Highlands Spitty spat all her coolant out, due to the rain and spray I didn't notice until she started misbehaving, by then she'd blown a hole in the head gasket. I nursed her to a campsite and a couple of days later we called recovery - a very, very long journey home the only highlight of which was our recovery driver racing a Lancia Stratos! And we beat it! Sadly the poor Stratos was also err, recovering...Best of luck for the weekend.
The joy of classic motoring 
My 911 has also been aflicted by this northern air, it taking the decision to lower the front suspension all on it's own without asking...
Again not much preventative maintenance you can do on a torsion bar sealed inside a wishbone. Needless to say the replacements had so much grease around them I could barely pick them up!
My 911 has also been aflicted by this northern air, it taking the decision to lower the front suspension all on it's own without asking...
Again not much preventative maintenance you can do on a torsion bar sealed inside a wishbone. Needless to say the replacements had so much grease around them I could barely pick them up!
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