I guess I was lucky, John - the car kept going for some years after that: it wasn't a lucky car though, it was stolen twice, once just after I had it resprayed British Racing Green! Suckers must have thought it was a fast car!
John in Brisbane -----Original Message----- From: PDML <pdml-boun...@pdml.net> On Behalf Of John Sessoms Sent: Saturday, 11 August 2018 3:23 AM To: pdml@pdml.net Subject: Re: Automotive fun The Escort was a great economy car, but if it ever overheated enough to pin the gauge, you were looking at a new engine. Aluminum cylinder block warped. The dealer advised me it would be cheaper to replace the engine than to try to repair it. Plus that Escort had a plastic radiator that could "leak" bits into the new engine to block coolant flow, causing the new engine to fail as well. YMMV, but that's how *my* Escort wagon died. On 8/10/2018 00:02, John Coyle wrote: > That's a terrible tale of woe, Larry - you have my entire sympathy! > On a similar note, in 1975 I changed the head gasket on my 1969 > Escort, using original parts from the local distributor. All seemed > to go well, but then, 60 miles into a two-week planned holiday > visiting several places in the UK, the temperature gauge hit the stop, > steam issued from under the bonnet, and when I popped the lid, the > engine looked very, very hot! It took us hours to get home, topping > the radiator up every twenty miles: when we did eventually get there, I took > the head off again and found that the new gasket had only had the water channels punched out on one side, so all four cylinders were getting no proper coolant flow! > Needless to say, I had a few cross words with the supplier. > > Hope you get yours fixed, too, > > > John in Brisbane > > John > > -----Original Message----- > From: PDML <pdml-boun...@pdml.net> On Behalf Of Larry Colen > Sent: Thursday, 9 August 2018 7:01 PM > To: Pentax-Discuss List <pdml@pdml.net> > Subject: Automotive fun > > I've peeved in passing about my recent car problems. In particular, > the mystery water loss on my Subaru. I finally gave up and ordered > the $300 worth of parts to do the headgasket replacement that I tried to save > money on when I put the motor in the car. > > Monday night I had the heads off, found evidence of blowby into the > cooling jacket which explained both the water loss and the lack of > other typical blown headgasket symptoms. I was all set to put the new > headgasket in yesterday morning when someone commented that I really ought to > take the heads into the machine shop to be checked out. > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157672026815098 > > Yesterday morning, I toss the heads in my van, fill the gas tank and the van > won't start. > Eventually I buy about $).25 worth of gas, pour a tiny bit down the > throttle body, the van starts up, runs fine and I head into Santa > Cruz. I get about another two miles further on, and the van breaks down for > real. > > This morning I realize that the registration and smog are due on the > van. I paid the registration online to avoid late fees, kind of hard to smog > a vehicle that won't start. > > The problem with the van is probably the fuel pump. $200 for the part, > in the gas tank. The full 35 gallon fuel tank that has to be removed > to get to the fuel pump. I could pay my mechanic to do the job, but > that's another $200 that I don't have, particularly since I can't get to work > without a running vehicle. > > The heads are back on the Subie, though not torqued down. If nothing > else goes wrong, it should be running tomorrow afternoon sometime. I > won't bore you with the story of the dumb ass mistake I made yesterday > that cost me something like four hours. On the bright side, I'm now pretty > damned good at assembling Subaru cylinder heads. > > I understand that things come up, and we each face a series of crisis > in our lives. I'd greatly appreciate it, however, if the Universe let > me finish with on crisis before it throws the next one at me. > > In other news, it seems that Mom has flipped her shit and now thinks > that Debbi, the friend who is taking care of her and pretty much > giving her a place to live so she doesn't have to be in a home, is trying to > kill her. > > > > -- Science - Questions we may never find answers for. Religion - Answers we must never question. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
