Why does disaster always strike on a Sunday?

[abz 7001]

Just arrived home with the Elise on a flatbed truck courteousy of the fourth emergency service! Question what can you do about it on a Sunday?

Stopped in the car park of the local Argos and caught a cloud of hot steam in the face as I got out to see all the coolant leaking onto the road through a gap in the undertray by the driverside front wheel! Luckily the car was relatively cool, and it only happened as I stopped and turned off, as there was no trail of coolant leading into the space!

Now what? Hopefully its just a clip or pipe come loose and not as dead rad! Either way the frontclam is gonna come off so the underside damage from speedhump scrapes can be fixed and the front plate removed at the same time!

- so hopefully not a monster bill! Gonna get Sinclaires to sort it out and have an oil service, get new plugs and leads, get the airfilter cleaned, all other levels checked and the geometry done as some nasty potholes have caused some rattles and pulling in the steering!
Anyone got any suggestions for maintenance that is good practice whilst she is there? Its a 2002 S2 ST with 9500 miles on the clock!

Its tempting to get a crp whilst in too....ummm hope its a cheap problem !!

>>> Edited by abz 7001 on Sunday 26th October 16:37

[cinqster]

I find things like this normally happen at noon on a Saturday so that all the local service/parts departments have just shut. Had the same symptoms on mine yesterday lunchtime and spent most of the day trying to find somewhere open that sells Unipart green coolant - GRRRR!

I was pooping myself that it was the rad, but it appears to have just been a loose hose clamp - care of the dealers that changed the front clamshell recently - who shall remain nameless until they sort out their bad workmanship for me!

It was suggested to me that the nearside clamp can be got at from inside the wheel arch liner but I managed it from the bonnet area and it's a pain to do - just incase anyone else has to do it?

Good luck + hope it's not the rad?

John S.

[cuzza]

Bad luck Stuart,

Sounds like what happened to me a few months ago and I though - oh no, holed rad but it was a badly attached pipe clip that made the hose blow off. Cost me about £225 to get fixed.

Hope that's all it is.

[cinqster]

Cuzza,

How on Earth did they rob you of that much for a loose hose clip? It's hard to get at, but any good mechanic would have reached in and tightened/changed the clips before going any further...even I managed it?!

[cuzza]

It needed the clam taking off and the system refilling and bleeding - almost all of that was labour (4 or 5 hours IIRC) I could reach the hose but couldn't get it back on again plus you can't get to the bleed valve either.

[cinqster]

Cuzza,

Don't want to upset you mate, but you can reach the bleed valve from inside the bonnet - you just reach alongside the rad.

Unless they changed the design after '98 - mine's a '99.

John S.

[cuzza]

It takes more than that to upset me!

I could just reach it but couldn't do anything with it. The clip wasn't loose, the clip had gone and the hose was off and couldn't be put back on in situ (I tried, believe me).

Not really fussed about it - I know the car was fixed up properly. Haven't we had this discussion before or was that someone else???

[cinqster]

Not me, I only did the job at the weekend!

[abz 7001]

Cheers for the kind words cuzza!
Well I definitely wont be getting my hands dirty! Trust me its safer that way!

Well she is off to Sinclaires tomorrow on another flatbed and will probably be gone a couple of days but wil get looked after I am sure. She will think its Xmas come early . Watch this space and I will probably have some news tomorrow evening! :thumbup:

[steff]

You can get to the rad hoses by taking out the front wheel arch liner. The hardest part is cutting the old rusted screws out, but its nothing a hacksaw can't fix Just remmember to unscrew the fuse box on the passenger side and remove the tyre foam can on the drivers side.