Spot of advice, please gents

[Taff]

as some of you may know and some of you won't, a couple of weeks ago my Escort failed me.

For the record, it's this one:-

 

 

Now, a run down of the fault is:-

vanishing coolant

Temp gauge swinging from max to min

heater blowing cold when on full and max temp is indicated

slight misfire now and again when warm (i.e. not from cold starting, but after a few miles, the occasional misfire kicks in)

barely audible rattle from the top end

chocolate milk on dipstick.

down on power after you have travelled 10 miles or so.

 

It's been sat for a fortnight and I just went to try it and it burst into life firm time, bloody thing. It had a half litre of k-seal a couple of weeks ago and still played up.

 

I suspect it's the head gasket and it looks like the cheapest I can do the job for (assuming there is nothing else wrong in there) is going to be £80-ish (the timing belt probably needs replacing while it's off, no record of it being changed that I can find). Now, while £80 isn't much, the car only set me back £300, I don't really like it at all (fuckin' Sheryl Crow cd stuck in the player doesn't help) and I'm going to need reliable motoring for a 55-mile daily commute, starting middle of next month. Plus I really can't be arsed fixing it.

 

Any suggestions that don't involve getting too involved? I wondered if an oil change was worth attempting, (hoping the k-seal has now done it's stuff and all I have is a sump of contamintad oil, but I admit it's a long shot.

 

The other alternative is put it up for sale (it has MoT until August) or send it over the bridge, which ever pays the most. After all, it isn't the most desirable car of Gods good planet.

 

Suggestions?

 

 

[spike60]

If you need reliable motoring on a 55 mile commute a 16 year old Escort with a blown head gasket ain't it. If you're going to use it do it properly, cam belt and all or it will surely bite you on the arse. Fresh oil and nowt else at this stage a waste of money, methinks.

[Junkman]

There are exactly two possibilities.

 

One:

 

Two:

[fordperv]

K seal won't really seal and already blown headgasket, i wouldnt bother to change the oil until you have fixed the headgasket and had the head skimmed, if it was me making the decision to frag it or not I'd be looking at the overall condition of the car, rear chassis rails, sills etc if the condition is decent do the work it needs and you should be trouble free*

 

If it's a rotter take it to the bridge

[dave21478]

I dunno what engine yours rocks, but a friend of mine has a 1.6 16v one of these and it did exactly as you describe. Peering down the plug holes revealed one cylinder and piston crown to be spotlessly clean compared to the others.

 

The head gasket change was a piece of cake - very basic job with no special tools required. Only point of note was the bottom pulley bolt was MEGA tight beyond impact guns and scaffolding bars, but positioning a breaker bar on it 6 inches away from the bottom arm and spinning it on the starter (spark plugs out) cracked it off first try.

 

It hadnt overheated as such so I didnt skim the head - it looked fine with steel ruler and a torch. Gasket set, new head bolts were included in the set iirc, new timing belt and water pump and away it went.

 

Hers is an estate and while its not the last word in refinement or handling, its a useful car that costs pennies to run. Shame to bridge one for the sake of a gasket, assuming its not rotten.

[Cavcraft]

I'm with KLF and Tammy Wynette on this one.

[sierraman]

If you can find an Escort that's just failed the test, for £100 or so with a decent engine chuck that in. Benefit of this is you will also get a car with plenty of spares for the next time it goes tits up.

[Mr Lobster]

If the rest of the car is good then its worth doing the head gasket. If not get it weighed in.

[purplebargeken]

Arse, there was a certain silver estate here with a lovely low mileage engine that could have been had. If only we'd known.....

 

I have a wheel here for you. Not the same as a hed gasket I realise.

 

The car went to Redcorn breakers in Tottenham. Maybe they still have the engine. Maybe.

[twosmoke300]

If its loosing power after 10 miles I reckon its borked beyond a simple hgf job.

[Taff]

Arse, there was a certain silver estate here with a lovely low mileage engine that could have been had. If only we'd known.....

 

I have a wheel here for you. Not the same as a hed gasket I realise.

 

The car went to Redcorn breakers in Tottenham. Maybe they still have the engine. Maybe.

 

I know mate and thank/sorry about that!

 

 

 

All good advice and thanks. I think it's going to the bridge, I have zero enthusiasm for the car.

 

anyone want it? It's in Trowbridge, BA14 postcode

[Sigmund Fraud]

I would try ebay, starting at bridge money. Perhaps there is someone out there* who loves Mk.VI Escorts and would want to fix it ?

 

*Admittedly, such a person would be far more likely to be "in here" rather than "out there" ! 

[EssDeeWon]

PBK was struggling to almost give one away recently, and that one run lovely, so I don't fancy your chances with selling that tbh.

 

Look out some bargains on here, and put the bridge money towards an autoshite approved used motor.

[derskine]

Screp it

[fordperv]

I would try ebay, starting at bridge money. Perhaps there is someone out there* who loves Mk.VI Escorts and would want to fix it ?

 

*Admittedly, such a person would be far more likely to be "in here" rather than "out there" !

I love my ford's but even i bridged one a few months back, in fairness it was due a weldathon on the back chassis legs.