The viscous fan decided to shave a grove into one of the coolant hoses resulting in a pin hole in it, thus splitting all the contents of the cooling system out!!!! 5hit i thought as i was in Heston and needed to get back home to Hertfordshire.
Eventually found a petrol station to re-fill with water and "go for it" on the M25.
I got her back home on 3/4 temp, turn her off and said to my self - "i'll fix it tomorrow" - - - - - - - - - - - forgot this almost immediately, jumped in her to go to work- got half way there and steam pi55ed out from under the bonnet!!!!!!! - turned around and 'ran' her back home (10mins) on FULL temp this time.
Replaced the damaged pipes thinking 'Idiot' - why the hell did i forget!
Also re-placed the rocker gasket as oil had managed to pi55 out down the side of the head, got it all back together - ran the engine for 5 mins only to discover smoke + an oily smell coming from the fire wall area of the engine? - 5hit i thought again, i've managed to blow the head gasket!!
Quickly ran her round to the local garage for a check and it turned out to be that bit of oil that escaped from the rocker had welled up in the housing for the spark plug and the heat from the engine was burning it off.
Thank god! for the sake off a coolant hose - this could of turned out to be an expensive fix!
Morale to this story - Always check things over in the engine bay on a regular basis - even if it's raining, you could save your self a massive head ache in the future.
After fixing all the problems on Sarah's car i am now out of the dog house and nearly back into the good books, just can't wait to have my sport on the road asap - this way, if i break that - it's only me that would be pi55ed of
So, keep them small but relevant checks up guys + girls - Neil.
