My car broke down on the way home.

Metalface Mark

Metalface Mark

Metalface Mark

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I have a Vectra V6 (02), on the way home from the jay Z concert, stopped at the lights, i noticed smoke coming out the engine :( Managed to make it home and it cut out in the drive way, i noticed then the temperature was sky high.

After i popped the hood, there was a brown liquid coming out of the place i put my water, theres a puddle of something under the car now too.

Any ideas what it might be?
 
Faulty head gasket over pressurising the cooling system, causing the coolant to escape and lead to overheating perhaps.

Certainly could be that way if you mention brown liquid... oil + water = yuk
 
agw_01 said:
Faulty head gasket over pressurising the cooling system, causing the coolant to escape and lead to overheating perhaps.

Certainly could be that way if you mention brown liquid... oil + water = yuk
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Is that likely to be expensive to fix?

It only had its 40k service 2 weeks ago :mad:
 
Yes thats fairly serious, brown water is the anti freeze in the coolant. Its was coming out of the expansion tank because the water had been boiled by the cylinders. Under warranty I hope?

Dont use the car or it'll get even worse, it'll be a new gasket or maybe a head skim. Price in general would range from 50 to 500 depending where you take it.
 
silversurfer said:
Yes thats fairly serious, brown water is the anti freeze in the coolant. Its was coming out of the expansion tank because the water had been boiled by the cylinders. Under warranty I hope?

Dont use the car or it'll get even worse, it'll be a new gasket or maybe a head skim. Price in general would range from 50 to 500 depending where you take it.
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I dont think i could use it, it conked out on my driveway. Im afraid its not under warranty, although its a bit annoying, the car worked fine till i put it in for a service and timing belt change.

You live and learn i suppose.
 
If the engine won't run from overheating, then you're looking at probably 2 head gaskets plus skims, hopefully nothing else :(

Also depends on what caused the overheating in the first place.

Now if it was an old chevette, than that would be different, drove one of those round a friends grounds (15 acres) without water, it eventually died, pinking like anything.(no **** sherlock :D )

Waited a while then started it up and carried on again :p repeat over and over.
 
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Well the timing belt going would be worse, maybe this wont be too bad. Iam no expert but if you catch it early enough you might be ok. Do these cars often do this, 40k isnt much.

You might well find the car works fine in the morning, unfortunately its still best to not actually use it till your sure of the problem and a solution.

Is there mayonise looking stuff under the oil cap or maybe in the dip stick, thats a sign of water in the oil
 
Lopéz said:
£900 for a head gasket change? Is the gasket made of diamond-encrusted platinum or something?

Don't get it looked at by a main dealer unless your wallet enjoys being bumraped.
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That quote was not off a main dealer. :eek:
 
Buy a haynes step-by-step manual and do it yourself! 40 quid to take the head to a garage and have it skimmed, £15 for a head gasket & £10 for head bolts; ding dang do! Will take between 2-4 hours; bank on a day, you got the weekend, get on with it :p .
 
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Lopéz said:
£900 for a head gasket change? Is the gasket made of diamond-encrusted platinum or something?

Don't get it looked at by a main dealer unless your wallet enjoys being bumraped.
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Sadly main dealers aren't the only garages who charge extortionate prices... most do in my experience.
 
dirtydog said:
Sadly main dealers aren't the only garages who charge extortionate prices... most do in my experience.
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Theres a garage next to my work, literally the next unit, so ill tow it there. I opened the bonnet this morning, the water is full of oil, when i had it serviced they said there was a bit of oil in the cooling system, and to keep an eye on it, i suppose i should have paid a bit more warning to my oil light coming on for the past week and 1000 miles when i was at idling at low revs :p

I started it this morning to see if it started, turned it off straight away. Theres a big pile of gooey brown liguid underneath the car, which looks to have bubbled out of the water input bit.
 
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