What Would You Do Folks ?

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

In relation to this thread/sale to set the context........ http://forums.sidc.co.uk/index.php?showtop...p;#entry1327500

I have this dilemma :-

Loooooooooooong story but "no"......

I ended up having a split in a hose and / or a dubious water pump. This led to a check engine light and a suspected ( but not yet 100% confirmed) head gasket failure. Very glad it happened to me as I am not in the habit of selling things that are not as described ( hence the detail in my advert). This led to the car overheating and me flat-bedding the car some 20 miles back to Aberdeen as a precaution. Temp gauge never yielded any warnings / lights or signs of overheating. So the deposit was refunded to the potential buyer ( who was pretty gutted as he really liked the car )

Situation is now :-

1. Car starts and still drives fine

2. Very healthy sign is that is does not misfire whatsoever - very pleased with that despite my woes

3. Car has a FULL 12 months MOT from end of Dec. 2009

In summary, I shall :-

1. Get the head gasket checked out and repair the car after doing some diagnosing. Still sell the car thereafter, in that knowledge that I have satisfied myself that it's 100% ( likely do the diff @ the same time). Compression test and make some other vital checks via a competant person.

2. Sell "as-is" on Ebay with same level of detail in advert. Accept that I'll make a loss.

3. Break the car ( and break my heart) - they are many fine parts to be had. Not a great time of year to sell bits though

So, not entirely sure where to go now ! Watch this space

Regards, Cal

What would you folks do ? I do not intend to keep "her" although I dont really want to sell her.

All comments appreciated

Calum

p.s anyone got a flat-bed / trailer that would be willing to help me shift the car from Cove to north of Inverurie. Dough will be furnished to anyone who can help out.

[thefastone]

Thats a shame Cal, I dont know what I'd do, but what was the guy buying it saying? take it he suddenly lost interest after it happened?

[bob wrx]

break it you make alot more back! ive recently broken a v3sti i made about a grand! kept the rebuilt engine for my car along with hks front mount! didnt take too long to shift the bits either! also broken a wr1 with wuz most the bits gone within the week! made some money and got brembo brakes and the semi closed deck block for nothing!

for getting your car shifted call blackhill autos from banchory on 07711120164 scot will probably charge you about £30 he can usually do it the next day from you calling! say you got his number from bob and he give you a good deal!

[fai17]

I'll get it checked out first and go from there.

It might be just OLD hose that caused the problem.

[gus the bus]

I'll get it checked out first and go from there.

It might be just OLD hose that caused the problem.

I'd go that route too. No point in breaking a perfectly good car if its just a "minor"ish problem. If you get the diagnosis then you can analyse the costs and take it from there:driving:

[WUZ]

You know my view.......................... KEEP IT!

I fix it, you keep it. Deal?

[euan_r]

get it sniff tested that will tell you one way or the other.

if its relatively minor phone the boy that wanted it and see if hes still needing it.

the dash temp gauge is crap and stays fairly linear over a large temp range. surprised the cels on though. our legacy split a metal pipe under manifold the other week and still got it home from inverurie, no cel. did change the oil as well just incase it got heated up a bit.

lol at wuz

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

Had ( & perhaps still have ) two Elise owners interested - one is a very genuine guy but he has had two head gasket failures on his Elise so is understandably cautious. The other is a keen bean to but cannot produce the greenbacks till February.

I am torn like Natalie Imbruglia !

I could realistically do with the cash just now but not desperate. Equally I would love to keep her as once the diff issue and gasket issue is sorted she is 110% a damn fine satisfing sensible / yet bonkers vehicle. As for the sound she makes

Flat bedding or towing to Wuz's @ the time of year with snow aint gonna happen either but his offer is massivale appreciated

I know I could break her and get semi-decent money too. It's just time and hassle. I could do with towing it to a Bombay yeard and letting hundreds of efficient Indians trip her like a plague of locii.

Bad time of year to happen too. WUZ is also a bad man in that he is planting the Nordschleife seed once again !

Whatever decision I make it will be a serious head versus heart debate.

One thing is for sure...........I very much appreciate the input from you guys

[RA Dunk]

Flat bedding or towing to Wuz's @ the time of year with snow aint gonna happen either but his offer is massivale appreciated

If it's the headgasket (depending how fooked it is) it's still driveable just keep it off boost, I drove mine home from a mapping session with Andy from his place back to mine 35 miles north of Aberdeen then every day for a further four weeks (all off boost) till Wuz came home from offshore and got it fixed

One way Andy told me to keep an eye on it was through the heating system, If you have no heat comming through you're heater's your running low on water in your system, keep an eye on your header tank level and keep it off boost

Fill your header tank to its max turn the heaters up full then give it a blast if your heaters turn cold chances are it is your head gasket (remember to bring water to top up header tank again)

Don'y know if this is the right way or the wrong way but it worked for me

[colin_ross]

There's a couple of other ways to tell also. Run the hose from the top of your expansion bottle up to the bottom of your windscreen, if you pressurise the water jacket the water will spray up and alert you. Second is plumes of white smoke out of the exhaust.

This is of course assuming you have a replacement water hose to replace the burst one.

I posted on your for sale thread Callum. If it's going I'd say fix and flog rather than break but it's up to you. Personally I'd hold onto it and enjoy it doing what you bought it for. Get it all sorted for the spring and then get your sorry ass along to some meets and you'll soon know if it's staying or going.

[fai17]

Cal....maybe its sign that she doesn't want to leave you yet!

Fix and enjoy it.

[lumsden26]

keep it til after xmas/spring see how you feel once the dissapointment of it breaking down has gone. If you break it then its a better time for selling whole or as parts. Might also give you time to fix her then decide to keep it??

[WUZ]

letting hundreds of efficient Indians trip her like a plague of locii.

Speaking as a man that has worked there for a 3 year period, I can categorically state................. the above does NOT exist

[johnnyr6]

Gutted for you Cal..

Been pondering over mine for months now so i know how you feel.

Funnily enough i always find excuses not to sell mine.....

So far,

Johnny

[wilky]

Ill bet its fine.

I had the lower pipe split with a stone on that exact engine, same story as you, and the engine is still going strong.

Don't worry be happy.