Sold Dollywobbler's Bluebird - Buy an award winner! £SOLD

[mat_the_cat]

I'm wondering where I'll get a heater matrix.

 

I got one made up for the Stellar, as I suspect they are even less common than Bluebird heater matrices...

 

https://www.eastendradiators.co.uk/

 

 

Cost was £90, but I needed a flange on the side for the heater tap which bumped the price up somewhat. Maybe you could do a feature on what to do when you can't get original parts any more?

[dollywobbler]

I'm a bit stuck with this one now. I really, REALLY don't want to spend any more on it, though I guess it isn't worth a vast amount as it stands. Still, I'm starting to think it'd be better to sell for £500-600 and cut my losses. I just don't like it. 

 

I'd reached this conclusion shortly before I nearly smashed it into the back of a lorry, which had parked up for a natter around a blind bend. The brakes are good, but I'm really not convinced by the tyres. I know it'd been pouring down, but it locked a front up rather too easily for my liking. Did get the truck driver's attention at least...

[Lacquer Peel]

I hope for a column about your bad (free?) tyres.

[dollywobbler]

Well, to be honest, I'd like to do more testing of them. This means I've already started to look for cars that use 185/70 R14 tyres! They're not dreadful, or I would have hit the truck, but front end grip is definitely not the highest. The Nokian all-weather tyres I have on the Honda are bloody superb, though that's probably not a very fair comparison.

[Ghosty]

Early 740s use 185/70/14.

[beko1987]

Early 740s use 185/70/14.

Yeah, the last volvo dw owned went swimmingly, nothing could possibly be any worse!

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, the last volvo dw owned went swimmingly, nothing could possibly be any worse!

 

Swimmingly certainly sums up the floorpan situation nicely...

[danthecapriman]

What happened to that old 740? I remember it being a bit of a turd! I bet it's not around anymore though.

[dollywobbler]

What happened to that old 740? I remember it being a bit of a turd! I bet it's not around anymore though.

 

ROFFLEd to Pandamonium. Not sure after that.

[hairnet]

Use Honda.  Take oil.  Sell Blu... you know the rest.

 

Enuff outta you [/jack Walsh]

[purplebargeken]

I had a stunning light green metallic Bluey,1.8 GLX auto, D744 DLA. Lovely green interior, uber comfy velour seats and an adjustable rear seat.

 

It was fantastic right until the point when the autobox shat itself, albeit rather slowly. Went via BCA at Enfield for a massive* amount of money.

[dollywobbler]

To help with the sale of this splendid vehicle, here's a video if it breaking down. Warning - starts loudly with the word CRAP.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I am slightly at my wits' end with this car. I have a cooling system I still don't entirely trust, a thrust bearing that is still honking, a heater that doesn't work and a sunroof which leaks (needs a new panel). Ugh.

 

 

Old  cars are shit, simples. They just are. A foundry is the best place for most of them.

 

If it's popping hoses, time to get a block test done as it could be pressurising and short of drilling a small hole in the stat and leaving the rad cap slightly loose, it will continue to do so. After a 10 minute run, the hoses should be hot but still squeezable - if they're red hot and rigid like a randy stallion's knob*, then it's over pressurised. Head gasket/cracked head. Joy.

[Lacquer Peel]

Or old hoses.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Oh, and I'd stick some steel seal in it. Unlike K Seal which is largely useless, it really does work. Two examples of cars recently fixed this way:

 

2002 520i, ran on three cylinders and pushing coolant out of the header tank. Pour this stuff down the top hose, reconnect it all, run on fast idle and one by one, the missing cylinders sprang back to life. After 15 mins it was running on six and it still does after 7 months.

 

2003 316i, ran on all four but pushing coolant out and fan cutting in all the time. This stuff worked within 10 minutes and it's fine now. 

 

Not a permanent solution, but its' a 500 quid Nissan not a Veyron. No, it doesn't clog up the heater matrix.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Or old hoses.

 

 

All of them? One by one? Really?

 

Okay then.

 

There are cars out there with hoses that are 40-50 years old and they still work without exploding. There is an underlying reason why this car is popping hoses.

[Lacquer Peel]

Oh right, I thought it was just the one.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 a heater that doesn't work 

 

 

On this matter - a blocked matrix won't cause the system to pressurise. However, it could just want flushing out and two that I say, bollocks to taking the dash out. Vectra B's were an utter sod for this and the fix was to disconnect the heater hoses at the bulkhead and stick a hose in one end with the heater set to hot. Like a baby's arse, a gallon of brown rusty coloured shit would fly out and as the blown stuff decreased, the flow of water through it would increase. Also - make sure the actual cable is doing it's thing. You would not be the first to discover that the slide veer/dial wasn't fullyopening the heater valve - another port of call. From memory it was the 1985 onwards Metro that used to do that - are the heater hoses both in and out as hot as the engine hoses?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

No need to be sarcastic Susan.

 

 

 

"I've been chasing leaks and over-stressed parts in the cooling system. It just leaves you wondering what's going to fail next."

[Lacquer Peel]

It's fucked

[twosmoke300]

On the other hand I have known 3 vehicles that Steel seal has done fuck all to help despite quite minor head gasket leaks .

It does clog all the coolant passageways in the head / block tho as I found when I fixed them properly

[derskine]

Oh, and I'd stick some steel seal in it. Unlike K Seal which is largely useless, it really does work. Two examples of cars recently fixed this way:

 

2002 520i, ran on three cylinders and pushing coolant out of the header tank. Pour this stuff down the top hose, reconnect it all, run on fast idle and one by one, the missing cylinders sprang back to life. After 15 mins it was running on six and it still does after 7 months.

 

2003 316i, ran on all four but pushing coolant out and fan cutting in all the time. This stuff worked within 10 minutes and it's fine now. 

 

Not a permanent solution, but its' a 500 quid Nissan not a Veyron. No, it doesn't clog up the heater matrix.

 

I disagree, why do people wince at changing a head gasket so much? You're right, this is a Nissan, not a Veyron, hence, a head gasket change isn't rocket science.

I'd steer clear of any sealant designed to fix this, regardless of if it works or not, loads of adhesive shit floating around in your coolant is never a good thing.

[twosmoke300]

True but im guessing you havent done a HG on a modern diesel people carrier 

[derskine]

Yeah, I have no experience of moderns because I don't like them - but the subject here isn't a modern engine.

[Bobthebeard]

The waterless coolant brings back memories. A friend put the same stuff in his MGB. It blew a hose in similar circumstances 120 miles later. Can't see how the coolant would cause this. But. Just saying.

[phil_lihp]

It's a shame you haven't bonded with the Bluebird after all the work you've done - it is hugely improved from what it was when you bought it, mechanically and cosmetically, so there must at least be some satisfaction in that but I know from experience how dispiriting it is when you keep fixing a car and it keeps going wrong in new and exciting ways almost immediately afterwards.  You can't win them all but on the plus side you have given it a new lease of life so a new owner isn't starting from scratch with it.

[SiC]

Isn't the lack of pressure required, supposed to be the "thing" with the waterless coolant?

 

IIRC you have to clean out the system thoroughly before filling with waterless. Maybe this cleaned out all crud that had been bunging up perishing parts?

[SiC]

Maybe the bluebird needs to be parked to one side for a couple of weeks/months and see if the enthusiasm returns.

[richardthestag]

Oh, and I'd stick some steel seal in it. Unlike K Seal which is largely useless, it really does work. Two examples of cars recently fixed this way:

 

2002 520i, ran on three cylinders and pushing coolant out of the header tank. Pour this stuff down the top hose, reconnect it all, run on fast idle and one by one, the missing cylinders sprang back to life. After 15 mins it was running on six and it still does after 7 months.

 

2003 316i, ran on all four but pushing coolant out and fan cutting in all the time. This stuff worked within 10 minutes and it's fine now. 

 

Not a permanent solution, but its' a 500 quid Nissan not a Veyron. No, it doesn't clog up the heater matrix.

 

steel seal - didnt work on the staaaag, not only that bit it bunged up the rad with Turkish delight. 

 

Oh and the money back warranty? good luck with that one, needs to be installed by a mechanic, and then verified that it failed again by a mechanic. by the time you have paid for all that shit you may as well have avoided all the aggro of bodging it in the first place.

 

reviews are 50/50 on it for example

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steel-Seal-SS-Gasket-Repair/product-reviews/B004FTUBY2

 

Stuck thermostat might cause heater not to work if it is stuck open, and it might raise pressure if stuck closed, i.e. the rad is hardly part of the cooling circuit. get a block tester of the bay to check it or look for bubbles in the expansion tank.

 

Didnt I read that waterless coolant runs cooler, therefore the heater is less efficient - or did I dream it. 

 

Oh and old hoses wear out and become brittle, a 5 year old coolant heater hose off my rangie could be torn apart by hand! that system runs at about 12psi pressurised so not exactly stressed

[dollywobbler]

This car was suffering leaks from almost every joint, as soon as it was back together again. I don't think it's over pressurising, but I do think it was run with a knackered head gasket for quite a long time, which has weakened every joint and the occasional hose. I know that hose was soft, as I'd squeezed it before, but hadn't realised it was dangerously soft.

 

Heater matrix has been flushed several times. The first time, a torrent of icky muck came out, and it went from no heater at all to slightly warm. However, once you're on the move, or set the fans to high, there isn't enough heat.

 

It's not very surprising that I didn't bond with this one really, as I didn't bond with the first one either! Dynamically, they're just not a very exciting car. I think I really do need something with a V6 in it.