Problem with your car?

[di30]

Re: Problem with your car?

It's not going in a garage now, it's all planned to get done for Saturday afternoon in our own little garage lol, hubby will be working maybe until mid day that day, he will get on with it when he's home, then inlaw will turn up to take over.

So happy about that, will save some money too.

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

When you sell a car it's always a good selling point if you can state (and show receipts for the parts ) that the cam belt has been recently changed.

Why modern cars rely on rubber bands to make the engine work, I have no idea. The old timing chain or gears was a much better idea.

If a cam belt fails it often means a totally trashed cylinder head and often as not catastrophic damage to the pistons.

I'm glad it's only the water pump, it must have been condensation from the exhaust that you saw.

I think you best course of action is to get an MOT on it then sell it on before you get another large bill.

By the sounds of the mileage your son is doing a car with a slightly larger engine may be an idea. Although insurance and fuel cost will be higher, at the moment low mileage larger engined cars tend to be cheaper. The larger engine will cope more easily with the strains of a 6 hour drive.

I have just picked up a mint 2003 with 56K on the clock complete with Sat Nav and every extra for 1K reason it's a 2.3 ltr

Even so If I don't race it I will get close to 40 mpg on a run.

Regards, Handy

[cymruambyth]

Re: Problem with your car?

I'm glad to hear that you problem was solved so cheaply, out gran voyager cost £1200 to have both head gasketts replaced a couple of years ago.

[di30]

Re: Problem with your car?

When you sell a car it's always a good selling point if you can state (and show receipts for the parts ) that the cam belt has been recently changed.

Why modern cars rely on rubber bands to make the engine work, I have no idea. The old timing chain or gears was a much better idea.

If a cam belt fails it often means a totally trashed cylinder head and often as not catastrophic damage to the pistons.

I'm glad it's only the water pump, it must have been condensation from the exhaust that you saw.

I think you best course of action is to get an MOT on it then sell it on before you get another large bill.

By the sounds of the mileage your son is doing a car with a slightly larger engine may be an idea. Although insurance and fuel cost will be higher, at the moment low mileage larger engined cars tend to be cheaper. The larger engine will cope more easily with the strains of a 6 hour drive.

I have just picked up a mint 2003 with 56K on the clock complete with Sat Nav and every extra for 1K reason it's a 2.3 ltr

Even so If I don't race it I will get close to 40 mpg on a run.

Regards, Handy

Excellent advice, thank you Handy yet again, 1st class!

Well we do hope its just that of the water pump.

However, when hubby came home from work, he rang inlaw to thank him and then hubby raised the issue of oil loss, where it seems to be that Jamie had to fill on regular, more often than it should be.

We did fill with new oil yesterday, and inlaw said he will check into it on Saturday.
So wondering if the water pump problem can also be a cause of losing oil very quickly?

Sorry for all the questions lol thank you.

Luckily for now Jamie is not travelling like he was, but still has to travel a lot, but really don't think all that distance in that car helped it.

I too think it will be a good idea to MOT it, once we get these jobs sorted, then get rid.

[di30]

Re: Problem with your car?

I'm glad to hear that you problem was solved so cheaply, out gran voyager cost £1200 to have both head gasketts replaced a couple of years ago.

Thank you.

Blimey that is a lot of money!!!

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

Severe overheating of the engine due to coolant loss can damage the cylinder head / gasket.

Oil loss can also be caused by high mileage and general wear to the cylinder bores and piston rings. How many miles has your sons car done?

Personally I don't worry too much about an engine that uses a bit of oil, say 1/2 litre every 2,000 miles or so as long as it passes the emissions test for the MOT.

At least if you have to top up the oil, you are adding fresh so the oil won't get as tired.

Most common loss of oil on modern cars below 100K miles is a leak somewhere say on the crankshaft seal or Cam Cover Gasket? both relatively easy things to fix.

Regards, Handy

[di30]

Re: Problem with your car?

Severe overheating of the engine due to coolant loss can damage the cylinder head / gasket.

Oil loss can also be caused by high mileage and general wear to the cylinder bores and piston rings. How many miles has your sons car done?

Personally I don't worry too much about an engine that uses a bit of oil, say 1/2 litre every 2,000 miles or so as long as it passes the emissions test for the MOT.

At least if you have to top up the oil, you are adding fresh so the oil won't get as tired.

Most common loss of oil on modern cars below 100K miles is a leak somewhere say on the crankshaft seal or Cam Cover Gasket? both relatively easy things to fix.

Regards, Handy

Jamie first had this car back in 2008, it was then about 36,000 on the clock, to date now just under 90,000, so for a small car like his, rather a lot.

The bottom paragraph, I think that probably sounds very close to it, are these costly items to buy Handy?
Thanks.

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

Parts like oil seals and cam cover gaskets are relatively inexpensive. Crankshaft oil seals normally involve the removal of the timing belt so that's a job you could look at at the weekend.

Sumps and Cam covers are normally replaced using silicone sealant (should be an Automotive type but in an emergency I have used Bathroom type ) to form a gasket.

It's a few years since I did any work on a Corsa, but if I remember correctly they are not too bad to work on as unlike a lot of cars there is room under the bonnet to reach things like water pumps and timing covers without having to take the thing apart completely.

At 90,000 it should still be worth fixing.

Regards, Handy

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Problem with your car?

The bottom paragraph, I think that probably sounds very close to it, are these costly items to buy Handy?

They shouldn't be, even if the big end cover or the gumption pin also has to be replaced.

[CleverClogs (RIP)]

Re: Problem with your car?

At 90,000 it should still be worth fixing.

What about the gearbox? Don't some jalopies use the engine oil to lubricate the gearbox?

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

Your right Clever. I'm not sure about the Corsa? I do remember that when you do the drive shafts on some front wheel drive cars you can expect to lose a drop of oil when you remove the shafts.

The old mini I believe was one of the first to use engine oil to lubricate the gearbox. Now that was a car you could take apart and rebuild in a single day.

Not like the modern ones where you need a degree in electronics to change a spark plug.

Regards, Handy

[oscar]

Re: Problem with your car?

Why modern cars rely on rubber bands to make the engine work, I have no idea. The old timing chain or gears was a much better idea.

Apparently, they are more effficient and more reliable.

Makes you wonder why BA, Qantas etc dont use them.

[oscar]

Re: Problem with your car?

I have a question for mine now!.

Jave an oil leak on a Pug 306, which at a quick glance (without crawling underneath) seems to be coming from the seal between the engine and gearbox.

I know they have seperate resevoirs. What I want to know is, can I lose engine oil from that seal? Also, is it easy to replace, or is it easier to "fix" with some sealant in a pump gun?

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

Oscar, I will get back to you on this one in a short while. not familiar with pug's, but there are products you can get, which are only about (in my experience) 20% effective that will revitalise worn seals.

Regards, Handy

[Handyman]

Re: Problem with your car?

Hi Oscar, sorry It's taken me a while to get back to you. I have been looking for a 306 engine/gearbox diagram. Best way of detecting oil leaks is to clean off the old oil with a degreaser such as gunk. Spray it on while the engine is warm, leave it a while, work it in with a stiff bristled brush (if you can safely reach) apply again then wash off with water (beware the hose pipe ban ) at least then you have a fair chance of seeing where the problem lies.

You can't just plaster silicone around to act as a dam. It would never hold. If it is coming from a seal there are products you can add to your oil that makes the rubber swell. This is only a temporary bodge because it will never replace what has worn away.

If it's a leaking sump in most cars, (not my Szitibushi) you can drop the sump and re-seal without too many problems with RTV silicon. If it's coming from the bellhousing then it's normally the clutch side Crankshaft oil seal and that's a major strip down for an item that is relativly relatively cheap and only takes a few minutes to fit. But unfortunately the Gearbox and Clutch has to come out. That's why I mentioned the oil additive as a stopgap measure.

Sorry for going on.

Regards, Handy