An escape from car-related calamity

[westernind]

On the way up to the Dark Door summer barbecue last weekend, a wrong turn resulted in a short stop to check the map, at which point I screamed at S to turn the engine off now. Smoke appeared to be coming from under the bonnet.

It turned out to be steam. Damn. Radiator leak? A judgement call... Engine temperature not yet critical, so I limped the car the remaining half a mile to the hotel carpark and called Green Flag. And discovered I'd only bought roadside assistance instead of recovery. That's what comes of getting blasé because we do less than 4,000 miles a year. Ooops.

"Radiator leak? Nothing we can do, which garage do you want it taken to?" says the man on the phone. But he's persuaded to send a blokey up to check it out, and it turns out to be the top radiator hose, split at the engine end probably due to a slight oil leak from the distributor cap. He chops off an inch and a half, refastens it, refills, and it looks like we've dodged the bullet, caught it before any serious overheating, no new radiator or towing costs or writing the car off due to blown head gasket. (It wouldn't be worth getting fixed.)

I also don't have to find time to get it sorted before this weekend, thank you Fortuna! We're going to Arundel for a couple of days, the excuse being to see an ex-colleague of Simon's playing Hermia on the Saturday night, and the car is more convenient. Easier to remain plan-free for the back end of the bank holiday.

Mind you, now no excuse to swap the car for something else. This Mazda Imola (jumped-up-323-with-spoiler) just isn't practical for most things I need out of a car. Primarily to use as a mobile storage trunk for riding gear, and to go to the garden centre. A slopey hatchback is highly unsuited to being a shrub taxi.

Comments

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

Changing the radiator top hose is a job easily done yourself, which should take no more than half an hour. Unscrew it, shove the new one on, tighten jubilee clips, pour some more water into the refill, run the engine and bounce the car for a couple of minutes, then top up the water. If you're feeling really enthusiastic you could check the coolant level, but that's just as easily left for another day.

[westernind.livejournal.com]

And replace the jubilee clips. The ones on it are spring types rather than adjustable.

Interestingly, Simon was the one to spot the leak from the hose. After filling the radiator and starting the engine, the Green Flag guy and me were both watching for signs of dripping under the radiator, but (not knowing any mechanics and thus having beginner's mind) S was scanning everywhere.