My car just loves me!! the %^&)*%$

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

There was i pootling to work this morning, hit the normal traffic in Milford waiting at the lights.

 

All of a sudden i see the temperature guage is off the scale, then the coolant level light starts flashing, follwed soon after by a ton of steam from the engine bay.

 

I managed to get the car to the side of the road (was in the second lane!!) which wasnt helpful as noone stopped for me, popped the bonnet to see the collant hose had come off, ok easy fix me thinks! but also thought of blown head gasket!

 

On second look i see that the hose hadnt just come off but had taken half the flange with it so and not leaving enough for the hose to be clamped too. so i call the RAC....

 

90 minutes later Mr Patrol man turns up...

 

Looks at it and agrees it looks like the head gasket had gone, not happy at that point as it was only replaced a few months ago.

 

Anyway... he said that the best thing would be to try to get another part, might be difficult he says as people dont keep G60 paerts in stock, so i tell him that GSF usually keep the flanges in stock.

 

So he takes the flange off (not easy as alot of you will know - especially when its raining!!) we leave my C on the side of the road, and go off to GSF about 20 mins away. get the part, and get back.

 

He bolts the flange on with quite abit of swearing! fills the collant system up and we start the motor to let it get to temperture

 

100^oC comes and no fan cutting in, 110^oC comes and still no fan so thinking rad fan switch gone too.

 

So we look to just hotwire the fan as a temp fix. but we find there to be no power to the fan! so check the fuse by the relays infront of the header tank to find the metal strip type fuse has gone, Mr RAC didnt have spare so 'bogged' it by using an inline blade fuse holder instead, still no power, checks fuse in cabin and finds a 30amp fuse had blown.

 

fits fuse and fan comes on - YAY!!

 

so looks like one of the fuses blew which caused the other to blow, which meant the fan wasnt coming on so in traffic the temperture just kept going up! so think it rules out a blown head gasket!

 

Also while we were playing trying to get the fan working we discovered that the Blue temp sender is knackered so will be getting a replacement from VAG shortly.

 

When the RAC guy arrived i got the usual 'i love these things' but other than that i cant fault the RAC guy, great chap very friendly, very knowledgeable with a tricked out van! we spent ages talking about his Ford's and the G60. and what really made it for me was when he arrived he shook my hand, never had a recoveryt patrol person do that.

 

Finally arrived at work in Guildford 5 hours after i left home! beaking my previous record for the trip of 4 hours when my head gasket died!

 

Thought id just share that with you! its always a nice suprise to have a £4 fix when you were expecting a £700 fix!!

[Tempest 0]

That's good news! Great that the RAC man actually really got stuck in into your problem, rather than just organising a tow to the nearest authorised (i.e. expensive) garage.

 

Might be an idea to phone up the RAC and ask them to pass on your gratitude to the guy who helped you out. Might not make much sense, but at least, if the guy does get such a message, it might make his day. It's little things like that in life that make it more bearable rather than just taking it out on people :-)

 

Being in the PC trade, I too enjoy more the happy customers who actually thank us than the moaning types (unfortunately it's human to moan and hardly ever praise ...).

 

Tempest

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

That's good news! Great that the RAC man actually really got stuck in into your problem, rather than just organising a tow to the nearest authorised (i.e. expensive) garage.

 

Yeah i was very impressed with the guy, was amazed he was willing to do that by the side of the road in the rain! and to drive a 40 min round trip just to pick up a £4 part was superb of him.

 

Might be an idea to phone up the RAC and ask them to pass on your gratitude to the guy who helped you out. Might not make much sense, but at least, if the guy does get such a message, it might make his day. It's little things like that in life that make it more bearable rather than just taking it out on people :-)

 

I passed my thanks onto the guy personnaly and ticked all the 'very impressed' boxes relating to him on the review thing on the PDAs they have.

 

He may of been a ford man at heart, but think i can let him off for that!

[Phil K 0]

I'm amazed that he went for the option of taking you to GSF and then going back to fit the part and get you mobile... I had to call recovery a while back and all they said was yeah your fueling is out - where do you want it towed to :roll:

 

Admitedly they couldn't have done anything for a quick fix but they could have tried just to humor me :lol:

 

Also - never get fooled into thinking your car loves you as it will only prove you wrong :?

[Jim 2]

Nice story! And i'm sure that roadside repair was well worth the yearly fee for the RAC all by itself!

 

I've yet to have to call out the AA in 2.5 years of being a member (quick touch of wood so not to tempt fate!) so I want it to be nothing less than an amazing experience when I do finally have to push the button! :)

[Supercharged 2]

I got some of those fuses (had to buy 10) - I'll bring a couple to the RR day...

[dr_mat 0]

Might be an idea to phone up the RAC and ask them to pass on your gratitude to the guy who helped you out. Might not make much sense, but at least, if the guy does get such a message, it might make his day. It's little things like that in life that make it more bearable rather than just taking it out on people :-)

 

I passed my thanks onto the guy personnaly and ticked all the 'very impressed' boxes relating to him on the review thing on the PDAs they have.

 

He may of been a ford man at heart, but think i can let him off for that!

 

Actually bypassing the "metrics" and writing a letter to his dept would really go a long way to a) embarrassing him and b) protecting his career. :)

 

Stats would have shown that he was probably better off towing you to some place and getting off to the next call sooner rather than sorting you out...

 

Speaking as a person who works in "support", you very rarely get any positive, personal feedback when you've put in the extra effort required.

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

I got some of those fuses (had to buy 10) - I'll bring a couple to the RR day...

 

Nice one Steve, ill take a couple of your hands at the RR day 'just in case'!!

 

Nice story! And i'm sure that roadside repair was well worth the yearly fee for the RAC all by itself!

 

For sure!

[Phil K 0]

Saw you on the A3 again this morning matey - nice to see it's still running :D

[mattosmond 0]

thats awesome..... if he had taken you to a garage i bet they would have changed the headgasket charged you for it then found out it wasn't gone....

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

Does anyone know of the blue and black temp senders are normally kept in stock at the stealers?

 

Just phoned Peter Cooper in portsmouth to be told that there computer systems are down so they couldnt help!

 

Does anyone have the part numbers by chance?

[fatdaz 0]

Does anyone know of the blue and black temp senders are normally kept in stock at the stealers?

 

Just phoned Peter Cooper in portsmouth to be told that there computer systems are down so they couldnt help!

 

Does anyone have the part numbers by chance?

 

they had to order myn in for me, took a few days.

 

cnt remember part numbers sorry

[dubrado 0]

Thats really worried me now cos pretty much same thing happened to me and ive just got the car back and handed over 500 big ones!!

[chubbybrown 0]

I think well worthy of writing to head office and tell them hes proctected your renewal for many years to come.

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

and this morning......

 

there was i on my way into work, when i notice the temp guage going up and up and up, so i pull over and pop the bonnet.

 

checked everything with a multimeter and i discover that the earth wire to the fan has snapped!

 

Sure enough, put the 2 broken ends together and hey presto the fan comes on, then rummage through the boot to try to find some insulating tape to bodge it back together to get me to work.

 

Unfortuanately the cable isnt quite long enough to stay in contact so it again gets a little warm!

 

Managed to get to Halford and pick up some cable, connector bloc, insulating tape and a small screw driver, ready to fix her properly at lunch time!

 

all this, and it wasnt even 9am!! marvelous!