Surprise on the hard shoulder - & byee head gasket

[JohnL]

I drove my project-ish MR2 to Glasgow today, because my main car is off for now (see the timing belt thread if you care). Anyway - it overheated on the way home, and so I pulled over to the hard shoulder, with clouds of steam billowing out from behind me, to let it cool down for a while so that I could get as far as the garage a couple of miles up the road and put some water in the radiator (I'd noticed some coolant loss before so suspected that was it).

So there I was, more or less dozing off, when two fire engines came charging past lights and sirens going. Maybe an accident, I thought ... when they suddenly pulled in in front of me and 10 firemen came out running towards me ... closely followed by a police car and an ambulance ... seems someone had seen a motionless driver in a car pouring "smoke" out of the back and dialled 999! Well if I had really been trapped in a burning car I'd have been very happy to see them but I was a bit embarrassed

But the less funny bit is that the policeman thought I'd blown the head gasket
- mucky coolant water
- Using a lot of coolant water
- Overheating
- spurting water out of the filler cap when the engine is running

Boo. At least the firemen gave me some water for the radiator

[deltaf]

Blimey mate! You aint havin much luck are ya?

[JohnL]

That's the way the cookie crumbles - if I wasn't such a tight git ...

Recent woes:
New wheel bearing for Subaru Impreza
Pothole putting alignment and balance out on MR2
Pothole denting wheel on Omega
F**k knows what with Omega timing belt replacement
Cylinder head gasket? on MR2
Not to mention half a ton of rust on the MR2, and a bent bonnet, which were all there when I got it.

Still, nothign disastrous - got to keep

[HarryW]

JohnL said: That's the way the cookie crumbles - if I wasn't such a tight git ...

Recent woes:
New wheel bearing for Subaru Impreza
Pothole putting alignment and balance out on MR2
Pothole denting wheel on Omega
F**k knows what with Omega timing belt replacement
Cylinder head gasket? on MR2
Not to mention half a ton of rust on the MR2, and a bent bonnet, which were all there when I got it.

Still, nothign disastrous - got to keep

Re the omega timing belt, I take it it's impending if so, do you have a 'master fit' near you as I think this may be part of their fixed menu items. I can't remember the exact price when I last had mine done (nearly 3 years so must be due again soon )but south of £120.

H

[JohnL]

If you're intertested, the tale of the timing belt is on the thread "problems with a new timing belt" under "Engines" in the GS.

Interval for replacement is 40,000 miles. Apparently they increased it to 80,000 around '97 then reduced it again as they'd had some breakages (said my local dealer), and now recommend 40 even where it says 80 in the book (like mine does, '98 car).