Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Hey guys! Haven't been on in a while, but here are some random thoughts about my car for anyone who cares haha:

It overheats. Even with coolant in it. The coolant starts boiling, and the reservoir doesn't seal properly. Therefore, on idling, and engine shutoff, it boils over, and leaks out of the reservoir... and out of some pipes too! It steams out of other crevices too, making an extremely steampunk sounding mechanical whistling noise. I've had the temperature gauge at over 120 on some days, on the highway, the only way to cool it down is to rev it past 4.5k... consistently.

Oh yeah, and the head gasket is going, so when the coolant does flow, it has a nice thick chunk of oil ooze mixed into it, which also leaks out of the car, on engine switch off, by the way. So whenever I park, I leave a nice yellow pool of muck in my parking spot, looks quite pretty!

My light wiring is messed up (it's not the bulbs), so only my low beam works on my left headlamp, and only the high beam works on the right headlamp.

None of my windows work (anymore), nor does the A/C. It still burns oil, or leaks it, or just drinks it, not sure what's going on, but I go through 5 litres of oil / 2 weeks.

It's going WELL!

Oh right, and my rear passenger side brake pad just fell off, too!

I'm going to be buying a KIA Forte Coupe (Koup, whatever), in the near future. I can't take the money sink that is the Merc, unfortunately.
 
katwalk said:
Yes, I am aware the mini is lighter, it should be for the lack of size :p
What I am saying is I have a fancy golf and a mini is smaller so bragging in comparison to a car that is not in the same class just because they are both retro doesn't work well. It is like me saying "My car handles better than a PT Cruiser" is not really an accomplishment as obviously a wagon that my mother used for transporting christmas trees on the inside would handle totally different.
Click to expand...
An S4 Avant could also transport X-mas trees :D
 
mclarensmps said:
It overheats. Even with coolant in it. The coolant starts boiling, and the reservoir doesn't seal properly. Therefore, on idling, and engine shutoff, it boils over, and leaks out of the reservoir... and out of some pipes too! It steams out of other crevices too, making an extremely steampunk sounding mechanical whistling noise. I've had the temperature gauge at over 120 on some days, on the highway, the only way to cool it down is to rev it past 4.5k... consistently.

Oh yeah, and the head gasket is going, so when the coolant does flow, it has a nice thick chunk of oil ooze mixed into it, which also leaks out of the car, on engine switch off, by the way. So whenever I park, I leave a nice yellow pool of muck in my parking spot, looks quite pretty!
Click to expand...

sounds to me that the main problem is the head gasket, it pressurizes the coolant, making it leak out of the top of the reservoirs and the hose-connections
pressurized liquids also can get hotter without boiling, so when you turn off the engine, the pressure falls away, and it starts boiling like crazy...

a new headgasket and a flush of the coolingsystem would do wonders i think...
 
prizrak said:
It really is not that hard to drive a manual, especially in something low powered like the Abarth 500. On subject why is the Abarth 500 an ideal car for you instead of the Mini for instance.?
Click to expand...

On the contrary, I think the more torque a car has, the easier it is to drive (speaking in manuals). My girlfriend has a tougher time with the Focus, but I taught her instantly on the Camaro, even my brother (13 at the time) was able to drive over the Focus.

If the prices for a 500 Abarth aren't over 20, or I could haggle down to 20, I'd love to have one. :mrgreen:
 
Yeah, I already know the head gasket is fucked, the thing is, I got the car like this, I just didn't know it had these problems till I drove it around for a few days. And to be fair, I didn't kill it, because it was still running at 120 degrees. I just turned it off (on the highway), so I could cool it down.
 
How much does the KIA cost? You could get a shop to replace the head gasket. The bad gasket could be the cause of your engine woes.
 
Bad Bowtie said:
On the contrary, I think the more torque a car has, the easier it is to drive (speaking in manuals). My girlfriend has a tougher time with the Focus, but I taught her instantly on the Camaro, even my brother (13 at the time) was able to drive over the Focus.

If the prices for a 500 Abarth aren't over 20, or I could haggle down to 20, I'd love to have one. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
I found an Acura TL and a Fiesta to have the same amount of difficulty which was not, but miata dflghjdfhgjk
 
Haha you guys are right, and I thought long and hard, but that will only be a fix until the next bit breaks. I need something to get me to and from work reliably, and I'm still not sure if I'm going to get rid of my current car, or just drop it off somewhere until such time that I can maybe get some work done on it and bring it back to life.

The KIA costs 20k Canadian, but I'll be putting 5K down on it at 0.9% financing, which will run me about $350/month, which is not bad for a small 2 door with 170bhp. It doesn't look that bad either, to be fair.
 
Those are generally solid and built proof cars. Before spending 20k on a new car, I'd take the W201 to a good shop and have them take the head off. If there is damage beyond the gasket, get rid of the car. Otherwise I doubt it would cost over $5k to get the whole thing fixed.
 
katwalk said:
Yes, I am aware the mini is lighter, it should be for the lack of size :p
What I am saying is I have a fancy golf and a mini is smaller so bragging in comparison to a car that is not in the same class just because they are both retro doesn't work well. It is like me saying "My car handles better than a PT Cruiser" is not really an accomplishment as obviously a wagon that my mother used for transporting christmas trees on the inside would handle totally different.
Click to expand...


Ah, sorry. :blush:, I misread you.
But anyway. The 1.4, 100hp version of the 500 is pretty neat, with the short-gearing and all. I can only imagine how much fun the Abarth is.
 
Bad Bowtie said:
On the contrary, I think the more torque a car has, the easier it is to drive (speaking in manuals). My girlfriend has a tougher time with the Focus, but I taught her instantly on the Camaro, even my brother (13 at the time) was able to drive over the Focus.

If the prices for a 500 Abarth aren't over 20, or I could haggle down to 20, I'd love to have one. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
I disagree, I seem to have a harder time in more powerful/torquey cars where they are very sensitive to the throttle. del Sol was no problem, A4 was a little bit trickier but it also has AWD so that didn't help. My friend's 240 with a stock SR and a super heavy klutch was easier mostly because the clutch had a lot of feedback. The Z I end up either stalling or peeling out because I can't find a good amount of throttle to give.
 
Last edited:
prizrak said:
I disagree, I seem to have a harder time in more powerful/torquey cars where they are very sensitive to the throttle. del Sol was no problem, A4 was a little bit trickier but it also has AWD so that didn't help. My friend's 240 with a stock SR and a super heavy klutch was easier mostly because the clutch had a lot of feedback. The Z I end up either stalling or peeling out because I can't find a good amount of throttle to give.
Click to expand...

How does AWD makes things harder?
 
Adunaphel said:
Sounds like the fan clutch is dying/ has died.
Click to expand...

How so? Usually when a fan clutch fails, it cause the clutch to lock up spinning the fan a t a 1:1 ratio with the pulley it is attached to.
 
Spectre said:
Because large numbers of women buy them. See PT Cruiser convertible sales, see Sebring convertible sales, see Beetle convertible sales, etc., etc.
Click to expand...

At least none of those cars have an SUV stance/ride height. I was 2 lanes and a whole dealer lot away from this thing and it looked absolutely huge.
 
CrazyRussian540 said:
At least none of those cars have an SUV stance/ride height. I was 2 lanes and a whole dealer lot away from this thing and it looked absolutely huge.
Click to expand...

The Murano looks taller than it actually is. Also, women buy Jeep Wrangler 2WDs for the same reason.

Cellos88GT said:
How so? Usually when a fan clutch fails, it cause the clutch to lock up spinning the fan a t a 1:1 ratio with the pulley it is attached to.
Click to expand...

Many "thin" import fan clutches fail the other way - the clutch doesn't lock up and the fan just slips.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top