It's been one of those days...

[Bren]

Have you ever done a job right first time only to fuck it up when you do it another time?

 

I replaced the thermostat housing on my wifes old fiesta zetec a few months back - did'nt take the alternator out, just when in through the n/s headlight and replaced the housing with no problems.

 

My sister (a student) has the same type of car with the same problem, to save her some cash I offered to do the job for free. Replaced the offending part. refilled the cooling system and took it for a run after checking the hoses were warm.

 

About a mile from home the temp increased rapidly  pulled over and had a look - coolant pissing from the housing. Topped it up and tried to get back home but temp rose again so pulled over and called AA.

 

AA man had a look and had it running - he was happy for me to drive it home with him following. Made it home without the temp rising to dangerous levels.

 

Once home, whipped housing off and replaced thermostat - it was the original item. Put everything back, topped up with coolant - temp reamined steady at halfway but no coolant was circulating. Turned engine off, put hot water down the top hose into the engine and it pissed out of the thermostat housing. Obviously an airlock has formed here.

 

I removed the item again, however I have run out of daylight and I will need to remove the alternator for better access. I hope I hav'nt killed the car, it ran ok but had no coolant circulating around it. Maybe it's just as well I hav'nt found a new motorbike yet - I may be giving some of the money to my sister.

 

Maybe I should take my tools to the local car boot... 

 

 

[Faker]

Shit does happen friend. Chin up, it'll be grand.

[fordperv]

these things come to test us, chin up and dont give up

[panhard65]

Could be the water pump impeller has cracked. They cleverly made them out of plastic so they can crack and fall off then they don't circulate the water properly.  A very difficult fault to diagnose as sometimes when the engine is cold the impeller will grip and circulate the coolant only to pack up when it gets warm. Good luck with it

[Angrydicky]

Yes. Stripped down the door latch mechanism in my A35 as the drivers door kept coming open while driving. Found the culprit, the spring that works the latch had lost all its springyness and had actually rusted through and broke into three pieces when I removed it. To remove it involves taking the lock barrel out which is held in by a spring clip. This is usually a bastard as you need tiny hands and a lot of patience with bullnose pliers, which I haven't got with me at the moment. Surprisingly, it came out easily with no tools required, the only problem is that once I had fitted it all back together I realised I'd fitted the rod which goes through the new spring the wrong way round. Could I get the lock barrel out again? Could I heck. After struggling for 45 minutes I ended up levering it out with two screwdrivers and breaking it in the process. So currently the car's parked outside on the street with the barrel just wedged in the hole while I wait for the A30/35 club spares man to take a secondhand barrel off one of the breakers in his back garden and post it to me. Which will almost certainly mean I'll now have a different key for the door, which is irritating as unusually, this car had kept all three of its original locks from 1959.

 

On the bright side, I can now drive the car without the door flying open any more, and the old lock was so worn it could be operated by any old key, screwdriver or teaspoon handle, so hopefully the new lock will be an improvement in that sense.

[Bren]

After stripping and refitting the thing three times I gave up - car went to local garage who asked if I had tried fitting a genuine ford part. When told no, mechanic said they had initially started using pattern items but then started having problems getting them to seal, so they only fit oe housings now.

 

A new OE item cured things. It goes to show, sometimes you are better off using genuine parts.

[Cavcraft]

I had the same sort of thing with a previous Transit Di I had. It'd not long since had a new fuel filter but still caused me fuel problems until my local garage told me to bin the pattern filter and put a genuine one on. Ran perfectly after that.

[dollywobbler]

Dicky - no idea whether you can do this with Oztin bits, but my mate changed the tumblers over between two 2CV door locks just so he could keep the original key. Haven't got a clue how difficult that was - he was the sort of chap who'd drive across the country to get exactly the right bolts, even when you couldn't see them.