50+ and proud of it.

Having spent 2 days the other week doing the head gasket on my son's Peugeot 106, I was less than impressed when I got a phone call today. "Dad, All the water has just come out of the radiator." "I topped it up to the top like you said" (Oh, it's my fault now?") "and it's all come out."  "Ok, what did you do? Was it leaking?" "No" "In that case, you've put too much in and it's just chucked it out to find its own level. Bye." I was driving, so not really impressed. I sent a security text - "make sure there's some water in it before driving home". When we all got home, I took a look. "Ah, that's not good, there's oil in the radiator cap" "Well, the antifreeze I topped up with did look a little strange" "Eh? What can did you use?" "That one" He pointed to the old can I filled up last week with old engine oi

Sooo, I decided to service the Astra and also fix the tiniest of water leaks from the thermostat housing. It was barely visible and the only tell-tale sign was a slight reddish smear on the head. Thinking ahead, I rang the Vauxhall dealer to see if they had a thermostat housing gasket. Thursday: *ring* "Hello main dealer, have you got a thermostat housing gasket?" "Yes, it's £49." "WTF? How much?!" "Yes, it only comes with the thermostat." Bloody hell, I knew main dealers were dear, but that's taking the p. *ring*  "Hello local motor factors, have you got a thermostat housing gasket?" "Yes, it's £79." "WTF? It's £49 at the main dealer!" "OK, we'll do it for that, I'll order one for you." Friday: I took the day off for the job. Servicing? Easy. Even doing the fuel filter with those bloody stupid clip things was easy. I removed the thermostat housing and then th

Having just spend last weekend doing the head gasket on my son's Peugeot 106 I felt less than happy when the MIL light came on the Astra last night. It's always lost some coolant "somewhere" but other than that it's run pretty well over the years. The Vauxhall dealer simply taking a "wait and see" approach, which translates to "rather than fix a minor (leak) problem we'll wait until it goes bang and charge you sh*t loads".   I pulled (and cleared) the codes. "Cylinder 3 misfire", and, it required about a litre of water to get the coolant level right. I started to suspect a head gasket. So armed with a credit card, I drove to the local factors. On the way, it started to misfire quite badly..., and then miraculously run properly..., and run just fine on the way back too. I bought nothing, but ordered plenty.   I pulled (and cleared) the codes again. "Cylinder 3 misfire". Ok. Check the oil - absolutely no water ther