HELP Please! Diagnose breakdown!

[rob_and_kate]

Hello all!

Catastrophe! My car is broken, I have a rough idea what's up (from searching the net) but I'm not sure, tell me what you think?

today I was driving my Daewoo Matiz down the motorway at 60mph for about 20miles with no problems, when I cam off the motorway I notice a slight smell of burning, sure enough the temp gauge was off the scale, resting on the pin at the far side! I stopped, there was some smoke, not too much.

I flipped the bonnet and sure enough the water tank was empty! I filled it up, the water boiled in the tank! after 5-10mins cooling down I started it up and drove it about 1/4mile to a better spot to stop, this was trouble free.

(note: dunno if this tells you anything.. when I replaced the coolant tank cap I noticed a fairly fine line of steam coming from behind the block, with a fizzing sound)

I left it a good while, checking the temp gauge until it was down to 1/4
I checked the water level, it was down well below the minimum line, about 1cm visible water at the bottom, I assumed I'd boiled the water away!

I topped up again. but the water just dropped in front of my eyes. from the full line, back to 1cm again in about 20secs.

Checking the dip-stick I found that the oil had lots of water in it, and was way above the max line, obviously this explains the disappearing water from the coolant tank!

I drove the car home, at 30mph on the streets, the car seemed to drive fine, and held at 1/3 temp (usual) after 15miles it started to climb and some smoke began, so I stopped, cooled off and re-watered, again it drove home fine.

From what I have searched on the net it seems like a blown gasket or a cracked cylinder block, is that right? any other ideas?

we're talkin big money to fix yes? £100s?

[Greenblurr93]

sounds like a headgasket to me, the extra pressure in the cooling system probably blew a hose which would explain the hissing sound from the back of the block. Youre probably looking at about a 600-700 US dollar job.. (dont know the conversion rate)

[rob_and_kate]

thanks for the quick reply ! I thought so!

think it's new car time!

btw having just returned from the USA I can tell you the conversion is near enough $2=£1 (1.9 - 1.95)

However, things cost twice as much over here! oh yes the UK downright SUCKS!

rejoice! you live in a motoring paradice compared to the UK!

for example:

1 US gallon of gas, when I was in Florida was $3.30 (and on the TV people were complaining about this.
a US Gallon is 3.7 litres (ish) our petrol is about £1.10 ($2.20) per litre, giving us £4.07 $8.14 per US gallon!!!!

a new ford focus? $13,000+ in the US? £12,000+ here ($24,000!)

I SO wish the US had the UK's immigration system so we could live there!

[UncleBob]

just a head gasket, assuming that the drive home with water/coolant in the oil didn't destroy your bottom end

Granted, it might have already been destroyed before the final leg of the trip, but as a general rule, when you get water in the oil, assuming you want the engine to live to see another day, you don't drive it, run it, or look at it cross-eyed until you fix it

Unfortunately, only one way to find out how badly its damaged

[Greenblurr93]

yeah well, i guess everything is relative, and by now its almost $4 US per gallon

And yeah Ford's are made here. and have to be imported there, more cost put into the sticker price.

Now is you took a car local to you and tried to sell it here, i think it would cost quite a bit more as well.

Good luck.

[rob_and_kate]

not that simple, all Ford's sold here are made here!
(other than mustangs, but there aren't many of those here!)
whats a nice English jaguar cost there? the basic on is about £22,000 ($44,000) here

Everything costs more here! my favourite DC sneakers? $50 in florida £50 here!

UK SUCKS! (and no, the salaries aren't more! and yes, the lowest earners still pay 20% tax)

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by rob_and_kate

UK SUCKS! (and no, the salaries aren't more! and yes, the lowest earners still pay 20% tax)

Move to Canada. It's easier to emigrate than the states, with most of the same opportunities and financial benefits.......

At this point, it may be better to swap an used engine from a wrecked Daewoo. It may be a cheaper alternative than trying to fix what you have.

As noted above, driving the car with water in the oil may have caused considerable engine damage, specifically to the engine bearings. Therefore, IMO these should be looked at first. One should be able to drop the oil pan and inspect. If they are wiped out, the crankshaft would need resurfacing and new bearings installed, which requires engine removal.

Also, driving the car in an overheated form may have damaged / cracked / warped the cylinder head. Furthermore, the head may have already had
issues which caused the gasket to blow.

SO, IMO save yourself some time and check out prices for installing a used engine before repairing what you have. It may be cheaper than repairing the existing one.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by rob_and_kate

not that simple, all Ford's sold here are made here!
(other than mustangs, but there aren't many of those here!)

Except for the ones made in Europe, and Brazil and Mexico, and with parts made in Australia and Japan?

Bloody whinging pom.

[J-Ri]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

At this point, it may be better to swap an used engine from a wrecked Daewoo. It may be a cheaper alternative than trying to fix what you have.

From what I've seen of Daewoos, the engines tend to fail in all of them. A used engine may not last very long, and may do exactly what yours did.