Right need to nurse the banger til 26th help
Discussion
I bought a Omega CDX estate 2.0 two years ago to take me to france, the Cat on it was bodged on, and it lost oil slowly, HG more than likely.
It has been a star and has driven me 20k miles, france and back many times and down to dorset regulary. All this for the £700 purchase price and then two mots all of which have cost me the princely sum of a new tyre, new fuel cap and a wiper motor that I broke my self.
Now I have always known she has had a slightly dodgey head gasket, but always topped her up with oil and kept driving her, now I am going travelling in 14 days for 6 months, the other day ( 150 miles ago ) I noticed that her coolant level was down and she ran lumpy at idle, something she has never done. Once on the move she runs fine and mpg hasn;t really changed.
Now after doing some research seems like this means a cylinder is low on compression and it is probably caused by the gasket seal.
Now I need to make a trip to dorset and back and go on many runs to the tip before I leave, I am guessing asking how long I have with her is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string, but with only the trip to dorset being the major one I am thinking with only one cylinder down I should be alright to drive it for another few hundred miles ?
now any tips on anything I can do to try and give the poor girl a fighting chance of making it ? carrying round oil and water in the car now, have a RAC membership just in case. I am figuring I don;t use her for trips that aren't essential and she might just make it til the 26th ?
It has been a star and has driven me 20k miles, france and back many times and down to dorset regulary. All this for the £700 purchase price and then two mots all of which have cost me the princely sum of a new tyre, new fuel cap and a wiper motor that I broke my self.
Now I have always known she has had a slightly dodgey head gasket, but always topped her up with oil and kept driving her, now I am going travelling in 14 days for 6 months, the other day ( 150 miles ago ) I noticed that her coolant level was down and she ran lumpy at idle, something she has never done. Once on the move she runs fine and mpg hasn;t really changed.
Now after doing some research seems like this means a cylinder is low on compression and it is probably caused by the gasket seal.
Now I need to make a trip to dorset and back and go on many runs to the tip before I leave, I am guessing asking how long I have with her is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string, but with only the trip to dorset being the major one I am thinking with only one cylinder down I should be alright to drive it for another few hundred miles ?
now any tips on anything I can do to try and give the poor girl a fighting chance of making it ? carrying round oil and water in the car now, have a RAC membership just in case. I am figuring I don;t use her for trips that aren't essential and she might just make it til the 26th ?
Normaly either all the water goes and the engine overheats, or the oil gets so messed up that the engine overheats and siezes if the waters going into the oil.
If its burning water you can often see large plumes of steam coming out of the exhaust beyond what you'd get on a cold day etc.
If its burning oil you can run out, or the smoke can get so bad that the police pull you
If you look at the plugs and one looks crystal clean that can also mean that waters getting burnt.
Running with the rad cap on only loosely can sometimes help.
Just cause its idling a bit lumpy and loosing water I wouldn't assume a head gasket if theres nothing else pointing to that, lots of reasons it can idle lumpy and lots of places to loose water
If its burning water you can often see large plumes of steam coming out of the exhaust beyond what you'd get on a cold day etc.
If its burning oil you can run out, or the smoke can get so bad that the police pull you
If you look at the plugs and one looks crystal clean that can also mean that waters getting burnt.
Running with the rad cap on only loosely can sometimes help.
Just cause its idling a bit lumpy and loosing water I wouldn't assume a head gasket if theres nothing else pointing to that, lots of reasons it can idle lumpy and lots of places to loose water
My old man drove his old 928 S4 for about 3 months with a dead head gasket. He filled it up before he departed both to and from work.
I can still remember being about 10, getting woken up 30 or more seconds of that distinctive 928 starter howling away, punctuated by the odd cough, which gradually got more frequent until they joined together to form 4 and a half cylinders of vaguely usable power.
I would then wait for the cloud of oily water vapour that had by then engulfed the driveway to blow through my open window.
I think the first time I ever heard the word 'cretin' was our friendly Porsche mechanic showing my Dad the old headgasket against a nice new one. I wont say 'held up against a new one' because it was in so many charred bits he had to reconstruct it in an oil pan.
I can still remember being about 10, getting woken up 30 or more seconds of that distinctive 928 starter howling away, punctuated by the odd cough, which gradually got more frequent until they joined together to form 4 and a half cylinders of vaguely usable power.
I would then wait for the cloud of oily water vapour that had by then engulfed the driveway to blow through my open window.
I think the first time I ever heard the word 'cretin' was our friendly Porsche mechanic showing my Dad the old headgasket against a nice new one. I wont say 'held up against a new one' because it was in so many charred bits he had to reconstruct it in an oil pan.
It has always had a oil leak and the mechanics have said it was the HG, I thought it was, and mech mates said it was, that and the 2.0 ecotec is known for weak HG.
it was low on coolant and didn;t over heat when stuck in traffic when I first found out ( 5hr journey from Swanage to Northwick hospital in rush hour ).
She has been a absolute star since I have had her and has never missed a beat even with seriously unloving owner, fingers crossed she can hold out.
it was low on coolant and didn;t over heat when stuck in traffic when I first found out ( 5hr journey from Swanage to Northwick hospital in rush hour ).
She has been a absolute star since I have had her and has never missed a beat even with seriously unloving owner, fingers crossed she can hold out.
I was thinking about radweld, would this actually help or make it worst ?
I can understand it helping with a normal rad leak where the excess goes to the "outside", but if it is leaking to a cylinder would the radweld make the situation worst ?
I like the idea just don;t want to get all smart and feck myself self up.
I can understand it helping with a normal rad leak where the excess goes to the "outside", but if it is leaking to a cylinder would the radweld make the situation worst ?
I like the idea just don;t want to get all smart and feck myself self up.
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