Car steamed up on way to work...

Eurorunner

My car blew up ie. its started billowing steam. on the way to work this morning. As it wasnt possible to open the bonnet, I abandoned it and got a lift the rest of the way.

Anyways, as I'm, 40 miles from home, I'm wondering what the chances are of being able to get it home without doing any damage?


I suppose it could be a water pump problem, a leaking or burst pipe, a possibility that there was inssufficient water there (it was a month ago that I last checked the water level).

1997 Opel Astra saloon.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

mike65

Sounds like a tow job (to be safe), the car clearly overheated if you were on the open road when it blew then low coolant level sounds like the cause (if it were in town traffic the cooling fan might not be working). Did you notice any movement on the temp guage? Does it work?

Mike.

Eurorunner

Sounds like a tow job (to be safe), the car clearly overheated if you were on the open road when it blew then low coolant level sounds like the cause (if it were in town traffic the cooling fan might not be working). Did you notice any movement on the temp guage? Does it work?

Wasnt in town traffic - open road, driving fairly fast as nothing on road at that hour of the morning but that should help and not make it worse.

I was concerned about the temp. guage from the moment I bought the car exactly one year ago. My local garage man reckoned that it was nothing to worry about as he believed that with Astra's they always read very high??

hmmm...is a long way to tow. I might go back out there after work, top up the water, see if i can see any leaking pipes - let it run for ten minutes and see how it is. Last service was in January

mike65

Running a car with a dodgy temp guage is asking for trouble to be honest. I needed a 70 mile tow only a few weeks ago, its not that trumatic! If you needed to call out a tow-truck that would cost a bomb but if you can use a tow rope and a large diesel car/4x4 it can be done.

Mike.

BrianD3

Re: if the car is leaking coolant - I have driven cars before where the coolant needed to be topped up every 10-20 miles or so due to leaks. I have also seen cars where the coolant would gush out from full to empty within a minute or two of starting the car. If it is the former scenario I'd drive the cars and bring loads (gallons) of water with me. Don't let the coolant level drop too low as you don't want to be throwing several litres of cold water into a hot engine. You want to time it so that you top it up when it gets to the min mark in the reservoir (this may invlove stopping every few miles) Be careful when opening the tank cap as pressure will be released and roasting hot coolant could spray out.

If it's a major gush, then i'd get a tow.

Also keep the heater on full blast all the time and keep all the windows open. This will take quite a bit of heat from the engine. Don't go above about 50 mph. It may be that the car is overheating even though there is no coolant leak (head gasket or water pump may be gone) The advice would be the same - keep the heater on and don't go too fast and keep an eagle eye on the temp gauge, if the temp gets too hot then it's probably time to pull over and get a tow.

It could also be that you have a themostat problem. If your themostat is stuck closed no matter what you do your car will probably overheat. you will know if the themrostat is opening if the radiator gets hot after running for a few minutes. If the thermostat doesn't open then it may be an easy job (for someone with some mechancial experience) to just take it out and drive the car temporarily with no thermostat.

GB15

I know people do it all the time but is it legal to tow a car yourself?

Lex Luthor

40 miles is too far...you'll get 1 mile down the road and the steam will come out again....sounds like a burst pipe. Best get someone to tow you home...happened to me once but I was only a mile from home and limped it all the way there and at that it took me half an hour.

unkel

BrianD3 wrote:

Re: if the car is leaking coolant - I have driven cars before where the coolant needed to be topped up every 10-20 miles or so due to leaks

I drove my former car to the garage (3 miles) and I needed to top up the coolant with 2 liters of water every mile. Big leak in a hose :eek:

mike65

The force of a pressurised system (even if breached) means its nearly going out faster than you can put it in.

Mike.

Eurorunner

I made it to my next best destination of choice - which was 30 miles away. Topped it up with water - then drove 15 miles. It took a 2 ltr. bottle of water to get it back up. By the time I got home, it was in need of another 2 litres.

The fan was not running so my guess is that the 'stat is gone.

How expensive of a fix is this?

How much damage is likely to have been caused to the engine in the long run? I suppose thats difficult to quantify really?

Eurorunner

Got it into the garage and initially they thought it was just a leaking pipe. Pipe replaced and it was still overheating. They reckon that theres a pinhole in the Rad and they will have to strip it down to see if theres any damage to the Head?
I was given a ballpark figure for repairs based on worse case scenario - ie. replacement of radiator and head - €500-600. Even after that I was told that the car still might not be reliable.

Its a 1997 Astra 1.4 with 110k miles/NCT'ed until Jan 08 - bought 12 months ago for 2,200. I'm wondering if its worth reinvesting in it? If I do buy again, I have to go after something for the same sort of money (more bills these days with mortgage having kicked in) - so could be back to where I started.

What do you think?

Lex Luthor

unkel wrote:

I drove my former car to the garage (3 miles) and I needed to top up the coolant with 2 liters of water every mile. Big leak in a hose :eek:

thats not the best thing to do, especially if thats a BMW you're driving...last thing I would be doing is putting cold water into an aluminium block that is very hot....easy to crack it, especially if you kept doing it.

Looks like you got away with it though