Ummm... help!

[volospian]

Hi,

I'm new to Cerbera ownership and picked it up on Saturday. Most of it seems OK, but there seems to be a coolant leak, around the reservoir/battery area, so I think it may be a split pip or loose joint or something.

And it stinks of fuel and seems to be leaking (was about 1/4 tank on Sat, it's only been started to move it around my drive on Sunday and now it's showing empty).

However, her'es the biggy... I can't open the damn boot. The look seems to have worked itself loose somehow. The mechanism is working, you can hear it clicking, but it won't release the boot... so I can't even put any fuel in the damn thing to take it anywhere to get it fixed.

Anybody help? Any way's of releasing the boot from inside the car? I can get into the car fine.

Cheers,
Rich

[TT Tim]

Clicking doesn't mean it's working.

What you may be able to hear is the solenoid clicking but the actuator is fried.

This has happened a couple of times to me when the button sticks behind the badge.

It's a cheap and easy fix once you get into the car.

Tim

[RUSSELLM]

Where / who did you buy it from ?

[southendpier]

volospian said:

Hi,

I'm new to Cerbera ownership and picked it up on Saturday. Most of it seems OK, but there seems to be a coolant leak, around the reservoir/battery area, so I think it may be a split pip or loose joint or something.

And it stinks of fuel and seems to be leaking (was about 1/4 tank on Sat, it's only been started to move it around my drive on Sunday and now it's showing empty).

However, her'es the biggy... I can't open the damn boot. The look seems to have worked itself loose somehow. The mechanism is working, you can hear it clicking, but it won't release the boot... so I can't even put any fuel in the damn thing to take it anywhere to get it fixed.

Anybody help? Any way's of releasing the boot from inside the car? I can get into the car fine.

Cheers,
Rich

Rich, speak to the previous owner he will tell you, or to the last garage that serviced it. You will not get that sort of information from this forum I'm afraid.

Also, if you car is shedding fuel that fast 10 litres or so, I wouldn't touch it, disconnect everything until you fix the problem. Did you not notice this before?

Unfortunately your story, for a first post, sounds a little suspicious. Sorry for being negative.

Get help.

[hugepiece]

the leaking of coolant could be the hose on the back of the expansion tank, I had the same problem a month or to back where the hose went brittl. Just take off the scuttle panel and the tank is held on my a couple of bolts, undo these and you should be able to move the tank around enough to feel where the leak is coming from. It could even be a crack on the bottle iteself or even a faulty cap. If it's been overfilled it will spray cooland out too- just fill to around the "seam" you can see in the middle of the tank - any more that that and it will probably force it out.

[optimax sniffer]

volospian said:

However, her'es the biggy... I can't open the damn boot. The look seems to have worked itself loose somehow. The mechanism is working, you can hear it clicking, but it won't release the boot... so I can't even put any fuel in the damn thing to take it anywhere to get it fixed.

I have just repaired my mechanism. If you can hear the clicking, I would guess the the solenoid is working but the small bit of bar/rod that pulls the lock has broken, as mine did. Mine has broken a couple of times at the solenoid end and I have had to form a new hook on the rod. Easy to do with a pair of pliers as the rod is only a mm or so thick.

[Scrooloose]

My boot catch has done a similar thing, except it's held onto the rod by a grub screw which has come loose.

Repositioning it and retightening has fixed it.

As far as the fuel thing goes, get it taken to a garage on a lorry and get them to check it over. Too many Cerbs have caught fire recently - fortunately with no casualties so far!!

[volospian]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, however, the car is currently nestling in the warm at Prestige Performance Cars in Melton. I finally got the boot open after following their instructions. The spring had come off the mechanism and it just wasn't releasing properly. It took about two hours of messing around to get it sorted, then I could put some fuel in and drive it over to PPC.

The fuel leak isn't bad. It is leaking but only a dribble, the apparent lack of fuel on the gague may be because the alternator isn't working properly and so the battery is not being charged.

They're going to have a look at the coolant leaks tomorrow as well, but think it's probably something to do with the expansion bottle, as has been mentioned. The seam or the T piece are the current suspects. Hopefully that shouldn't be much of an issue then.

They gave it a good look over and the story is not bad news, actually. It needs a bit of corrosion brushed off on the chassis and a new waxoyle, but nothing out of the ordinary. The diff is leaking slightly and the exhaust has a couple of pinholes in a small section. Apart from that, and the already mentioned faults, it's in pretty good health.

Hopefully I should get it back tomorrow... maybe... and can start to enjoy it. It's typical, it behaved well on the weekend, and then spat its dummy out when I actually wanted to use it.