My car is broken!
So, after the drive to Coventry, my car started spewing out lots of steam and got very very hot. Stopped at a petrol station, refilled the coolant. Got me home. Checked the next day, the water was empty. So I booked it into a garage. I went for the one that answered the phone on a Saturday afternoon.
Perhaps I should have picked the one that had parking. Actually I found myself not quite liking the mechanic. Perhaps it was that he was smoking. I dropped it off anyway because I needed to get to work.
They checked for leaks and didn't find any. Apparently the emissions are way over where they should be. The diagnosis is a head gasket problem. While this is comon in Rover/MGs of my car's vintage, it has had the head gasket replace in the past. And the reasoning seemed very reminiscent of the symptoms that don't on their own indicate failure. Although I do have a few of them.
Now, I did get the used car warranty when I bought the car. Will need to look into that. I have no idea how that works in practice. Was hoping the mechanic would be able to tell me but sadly not.
Thing is, if it is a head gasket problem, and I do need to fork out some of my own cash, I wonder if it's worth it. It's an expensive job. Especially when the engine's in the middle rather than the more traditional and sensible front. It probably means there's a lot of hassle involved getting the thing out.
For now I'm travelling by bus.
Perhaps I should have picked the one that had parking. Actually I found myself not quite liking the mechanic. Perhaps it was that he was smoking. I dropped it off anyway because I needed to get to work.
They checked for leaks and didn't find any. Apparently the emissions are way over where they should be. The diagnosis is a head gasket problem. While this is comon in Rover/MGs of my car's vintage, it has had the head gasket replace in the past. And the reasoning seemed very reminiscent of the symptoms that don't on their own indicate failure. Although I do have a few of them.
Now, I did get the used car warranty when I bought the car. Will need to look into that. I have no idea how that works in practice. Was hoping the mechanic would be able to tell me but sadly not.
Thing is, if it is a head gasket problem, and I do need to fork out some of my own cash, I wonder if it's worth it. It's an expensive job. Especially when the engine's in the middle rather than the more traditional and sensible front. It probably means there's a lot of hassle involved getting the thing out.
For now I'm travelling by bus.