My car broke down on the way home.

[Metalface Mark]

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?

 

[Metalface Mark]

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

Is that likely to be expensive to fix?

It only had its 40k service 2 weeks ago

 

[Metalface Mark]

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.

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.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Thanks for the advice guys, ill let you know how i get on.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Sadly main dealers aren't the only garages who charge extortionate prices... most do in my experience.

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

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.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Ignore all warning signs on vectra V6, then continue driving after smoke coming out = new engine time. Wallet at the ready.

Well, i didnt ignore all warning signs, I ignored one, since the onboard computer wasnt telling me to check my oil though, and the car was running fine, it seemed like it was a faulty light, guess not.

 

[Metalface Mark]

I guess ill have to suck it and see, it cost me £3600 last december, and ran a treat until i put it in for its service

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions though, ill keep my fingers crossed its not too bad.

 

[Metalface Mark]

Well, got word today that the engine is goosed, both head gaskets have gone, theres a little oil cooler thats gone and basically wacked it all out, its cheaper to replace the engine than fix it.

The one thing that is keeping me sane is that i was going to buy a new car a year ago, and decided to buy a cheap second hand car for a year, and bought this for £3500, i would have lost more than that in depreciation, so im trying to keep a silver lining that fate deemed i would lose it one way or another.

So the hunt begins for a second hand V6 engine, anyone got one lying about?

On the up side, this weekend ill be seeing if i can reserve a new Civic Type R for their launch (march i think).

 

[Metalface Mark]

A bad move driving it when smoking mate, it couldve been salvagable if youd have stopped and got towed. Head on over to migweb.co.uk and have a look in the forums.

The guy at the garage said that it wouldnt have made much difference, it didnt help, but the damage was done before it conked out.

Its taught me a valuable lesson about driving with any warning light on, one i wont make again.