On the way back from a bike ride, at dusk on the motorway, the engine started to cut out... Brrrr! I made it back, i'm used to drive old cars in various state of disrepair.
Wanting to avoid another costly repair, i checked the engine myself. The mechanics who had changed the head gasket had tightened the spark plug so much that i broke the first one i checked:
Back with a new spark plug, i looked for other problems and found that the botch repair i did on the air filter housing - to get me to the garage last time with the back firing problem - could be causing the fault: the gaffer tape wasn't holding the two pieces together anymore, instead it was flapping inside the duct, reducing airflow to the engine. This time i glued it - again to get "to the garage":
By then i was thinking that it was wise of me to have abandoned engineering for a more intellectual career. Not surprisingly, this was not the cause of the problem and the car is now at the garage. Hearing my tale, the mechanics suggested a faulty temperature sensor, something that is quite common after a blown head gasket...
The story doesn't quite end there. As i was emptying the car, i noticed liquid dripping under the engine bay: a gas leak! - my car runs on LPG- So i can count myself lucky that this was found before bringing the car to the garage, not after!
1 comment:
Everytime I hear about car problems I'm so glad I've outsourced mine.
http://www.citycarclub.co.uk/default.htm
I just wish City Car Club had more of a business approach and less of the "Hay! This is good for everyone" kind of approach. If they really started selling this as outsourcing your car and treating their customers as, well customers rather than fellow-believers then they could be onto a winner.
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